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| Case Study |
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Global manufacturer enables seamless
information flow between manufacturing and planning systems |
Patni's solution
blurred the dividing line between plant operations and other
business functions of a large global manufacturer. The resultant
transparency among plant and business functions has paved the
way for enhanced levels of productivity and profitability gains.
The Client
The client is the world's largest manufacturer of single oxide
crystals and a leading producer of selected optical components
based on crystals.
The Challenge
Imperatives of growth and competitive differentiation were
driving the client to increase process yield, improve quality
assurance, monitor work-inprogress, and ensure effective asset
utilization. As the raw materials used for manufacturing crystals
were expensive and accounted for a major cost of production,
optimizing its usage was crucial. The company also realized
that any amount of effort to seek competitive differentiation
was inadequate, if the R&D efficiency did not improve significantly.
Hence, monitoring the process yield was high on the priority
list of the company.
Other important considerations were:
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Ensuring traceability and product quality assurance
through tracking of raw material grades, production lots,
and serial numbers |
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Rationalizing non-production spend to ensure effectiveness
of its R&D activities. |
However, the efforts of the client to achieve business efficiency
and process improvements were deterred due to the partial exploitation
of ERP capabilities and the absence of connectivity with its
plant engineering system.
The Solution
Patni conducted a business process study and systems audit at
the client location. Origin of business pains was attributed
mainly to inefficiencies in processes pertaining to inventory
tracking and quality management. To address these issues, Patni
suggested the implementation of Product Configurator along with
Baan IV modules pertaining to Lot Control and Quality Management.
Business analysts from Patni leveraged Baan DEM an Enterprise
Modeling Tool, to redesign some of the processes in Baan reference
models to accommodate specific requirements of the client.
Patni also identified that the client would have a distinct
competitive advantage if production-engineering data could be
used for decision-making in various functions of business other
than operations. Besides the shop-floor manager, business process
owners in customer service, quality, and finance would be able
to effectively use production-related data. Hence, the Patni
consulting team suggested integration between Baan IV business
transaction system and LabView Production Engineering system.
Patni also developed an interface that fostered data interoperability
between Baan IV and LabView. It could also capture data from
a barcode system.
The Technology
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ERP Baan IV |
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Production Engineering Application LabView |
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Programming VB, Baan Tools |
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Integration OLE |
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Database Oracle |
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Enterprise Modeling - DEM. |
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The Benefits
The implementation improved business efficiencies and increased process transparency.
Other significant benefits include:
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Automatic and error-free data acquisition reduced the
time and cost of activities like stock-taking |
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Savings of 30% in costs by elimination of duplicate
work and rationalized data |
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Traceability of material from receipts to shipments
without increasing data entry time |
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Online yield calculation for process analysis and taking
corrective measures |
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Top-down plant visibility and control over work-in-progress |
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Elimination of paperwork and building the base for enabling
a paperless office |
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Saving of 40% costs in software development and customization
due to effective use of onsite-offshore model. |
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