Murudeshwar Ceramics upgraded its SAP ERP system in order to integrate its business processes and enable its growth plans. By KTP Radhika
Based in Hubli in Karnataka, Murudeshwar Ceramics Limited (MCL), one of South India’s leading manufacturers of ceramics and vitrified porcelain tiles, has been using IT to enhance its business operations from its inception back in 1988. Apart from Hubli, the Rs 250-crore company runs another manufacturing unit in Pondicherry and it has around 80 distribution branches spread across the country. Initially, the company was using a COBOL-based system. It moved from that to SAP and, for the past 11 years, MCL has been running its business using the latter. Till 2011, it was using SAP 4.7.
That said, as the company grew and its business expanded, it felt the need for greater visibility into operations and needed to track things in a more efficient manner. It also wanted to integrate business processes in both of its manufacturing units and its branches to take stock of transactions occurring at the latter.
Narayan Manjunath Hegde, Vice-President (Finance), CFO and Head IT, MCL, said, “Our business grew rapidly in the recent past. So did the number of businesses transactions. Therefore, we felt a need for good application and infrastructure support, which would help us scale seamlessly. We also needed greater visibility into what was happening within our units and to be able to track all movements in each branch.”
Keeping these targets in mind, the management decided to upgrade to SAP ECC 6.0. It roped in Enteg, a SAP Services and SAP Partner that offers niche software services and solutions, for the project.
Rather than executing a mere technical upgrade, Enteg’s experts worked with the MCL team to enhance and customize the ERP solution in tune with the company’s specific requirements.
Rajagopalan Babu, President, Enteg, explained, “Before the process started, we had a detailed discussion with MCL’s functional heads. We understood their specific needs and customized the solution accordingly.”
The project was started in August 2011 and completed in October 2011. The Enteg team said that the whole process was executed standalone and it was done so smoothly that it did not affect the company’s day-to-day business. Along with the upgraded SAP program, Enteg deployed a customized Java-based solution for better connectivity with its branches. This enabled it to carry out all of its transactions even under conditions of poor Internet connectivity.
Babu said, “Usually, we used to face challenges in training and change management during a SAP upgrade. Data migration would also be a hurdle. However, in MCL’s case, the users were experienced and, consequently, the process went smoothly.”
The benefits
The upgraded system supports the company’s business processes. Moreover, the upgraded SAP version is completely Web-services enabled. This has enhanced the capability to connect with branches.
Hegde said, “The implementation has brought in efficiency in business processes, in accounting as well as in inventory systems.”
With the new version, MCL has been able to have sales realization of each material item as per various dimensions such as grade, size, code and branch.
“We could also get storage-bin-wise stock reports,” said Hegde.
With the new version in, the efficiency and performance of business have improved as have the workflows.
“Now we are able to develop additional reports and modify existing ones with ease. The upgrade enabled us to make changes to sales analysis reports and easily download data to spreadsheets. We could also make modifications to the existing customer ledger in order to report balances even when there were no transactions in the period chosen.”
Apart from these, functional enhancements have been made to various modules. The new system helped implement state-wise number ranges for invoices, credit management for all customers, include service tax, secondary cess and enhance the CIN functionality, among other things.
With the upgraded system, MCL’s overall flexibility for doing business and capability to expand has risen.
“In the new system, we are able to get reports on region-wise profitability analysis with better connectivity with our branches. As our business expands the new solution will help us to scale new heights,” concluded Hegde.
