ERP Success cases
You have probably heard a lot about ERP systems, especially about their implementation and its advantages and disadvantages. Here you will find that there are no unachievable targets, and that every effort brings benefits. These are the stories of people who found success through ERP implementation.
Bak Ambalaj story
When we talk about Bak Amabalaj, we are referring to a leading Turkish company that produces printed and non printed paper bags that are used for: food, beverage, hygiene and magnetic tapes. They also manage huge production levels, that is to say fifteen thousand metric tons a year. The use of ERP allows them to produce high quality products, giving them the possibility of growing fast and perhaps even leading the market in the long term.
Mehmet Fatih Ilgar is Bak Amabalaj’s IT manager, and he is in charge of ERP implementation. In a recent interview Mr. Ilgar tells how they felt the industrial reality before and after implementing ERP.
Mehmet states that before ERP, they could not specify relevant data to clients regarding some production parameters such as the types and amounts of paint to be used in a project. The special ERP that they are using at this moment gives them the chance to answer the questions of clients when it comes to these matters.
For this particular activity the process analysis can be very frustrating. But through ERP they have been able to transfer data stored in legacy systems into the new system, directly converting ERP in a time and labor saving manner. It should also be noted that errors frequently appear when this type of information is performed manually.
ERP has also improved their cost analysis, and Mr. Ilgar says that before ERP they were “somewhat in the dark” and that the staff was basing their quotes on the past use of materials and the resulting product. Today they have access to cost data instantly, and there is little need for any extra effort.
Kamco plastics goal
Kamco Plastics, Inc. has been providing engineered solutions for the plastics industrial technical dilemmas for more than thirty years. In 1994 Kamco began to use an ERP system in order to continue upgrading customers, offering business interactions between employees and clients.
It took only six months to complete the implementation of the ERP system for Kamco. This allowed the organization to handle the intricacies of the plastic business, a large number of different molds, inventory management, order entry and more in a fast and easy way. In addition to this, Kamco can serve clients around the world with consistent information anywhere, anytime.
By centralizing the information with ERP, they are capable of running different sites or even companies within the same database, and in this way they also centralize data management, reducing redundant activity.
The most relevant aspects to consider about the benefits provided by ERP in this case are as follows: improved ability of response to customer inquiries, simplified obtaining of periodical reports, reduction of redundant activity, access to historical data for scheduling future jobs, reduction of manual data entry, and the printing of bar code labels for improved inventory tracking.
For Kamco the key for success lies in automation, as this has brought several benefits for them and their clients.
Jada Precission Plastics and updates of ERP
Jada Precission Plastics Inc. uses two different versions of ERP. The initial version was established to help them in raising their competence levels, and it did. It actually helped them make the labor easier to carry on, but they felt they needed more than that.
After the acquisition of an updated ERP, the results were really attractive for the whole staff. The new software had been especially designed for them, while the initial one tried to solve Jada’s problems through packaged solutions instead of offering custom made functions.
The most important point of this experience is that vendors must provide you with appropriate solutions after having studied every case, and every single software eventually needs to be updated, but even an initial version can bring several achievements to any enterprise.
A different story: Athena Controls
Up to this moment we have been talking about organizations and how their reality changed through the application of ERPs systems. The case below is a bit different.
Athenas Controls, Inc. is living proof that an enterprise can not base their hopes and dreams in only one kind of software. They have learned that ERP is a useful tool that needs to be properly developed and used in a correct way. The company combined successful business practices with the ultimate generation of software adapted to their requirements. The results: they experienced an increase in profits even though they started the implementation during a period of profits deflation. In addition to this, they experienced a high cost reduction.
ERP Solutions in TISCO (Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited)
TISCO made several considerations before choosing an ERP because they were aware that customers are extremely demanding in the iron and steel fields. They carefully examined every single area inside the organization, their needs, their common activities and detected several possibilities of improving the quality of their daily tasks.
They finally found an ERP compatible with their specifications, and they even evaluated how their future operations would perform if they implemented the chosen system.
The implementation process took almost a year in this case, due to the volume of operations and the major steps to be taken. However, there is one thing to keep in mind, and this is that TISCO never rested during the learning and adaptation process. That is why they experienced a substantial increase in their profits in a short period of time.
ERP’s success in American Bible Society
The American Bible Society is a non profit organization that works with the objective of making the Bible available for every one in every language and format.
Although in this case we are referring to a welfare organization, we must take into account that they manage tons of information. They provide free services, but even then this organization needs to deliver as much as a business entity. In addition to this, sometimes they are expected to provide better services than others.
As the volume of data increased year by year, the American Bible Society was having several problems executing their operations. They were working on an old management software that did not provide for all their needs. Their employees IT skills were limited, and they were not able to deal with the updated software, even with the initial one. Trying to implement only an update of the old system was not satisfactory; in fact it was just a waste of time.
They decided to take the chance with the ERP technology that was available to them at that moment, but making it beneficial for all functions. After its implementation, there was no more confusion, and the work load became quite smooth. The right information was always available when needed and the departments enjoyed great connectivity.
Other additional advantages they enjoyed were a huge decline in the cost of licenses and the possibility of generating multiple targets reports. This was followed by an increase in the operational efficiency.
Steere Enterprises
The only supplier of Dual Process (a patented over molding process) used for automotive industries such as General Motors and Chrysler is Steere Enterprises. The company was founded in 1949 and produces a wide variety of products for this field. For the last twenty years Steere Enterprises has been leading the market, focusing on the automotive industry, whose accounts represent almost three quarters of their total business activities.
As the company kept growing they realized that the information was not being efficiently handled. They noticed that every department was using a separate software and the capacity of sharing data was very limited and it caused several inconvenient problems. Before deciding which ERP they were going to implement, they did an extensive and deep evaluation of the enterprise’s needs which even included interviews with several prominent members of the organization.
They finally got an ERP especially designed to add business intelligence to the manufacturing enterprises, and this increased their possibilities even more. This single source database provided valuable solutions for data visibility and reduced most of the typical mistakes that tend to appear while transferring data manually.
After only six months Steere completed the implementation of the core system and the additional modules. At present they are working with approximately 50 users. The continuous updating of the ERP brought the employees the chance to work with the same data in real time, and for that matter there has been a significant change in the ways that decisions are made, and even in the speed of the organization itself.
These real stories of real enterprises are showing you the keys for success. ERP is a completely necessary tool in the business world because it has the capability of assisting you and your managers in the right path at any moment, or any place. It usually does not take a long time to implement, but you will see huge benefits in a short period of time. The main areas that will benefit are profit increase and cost reduction.
