ERP Implementation at a Leading Cast Iron Component Manufacturer
Company Overview
A leading cast iron component manufacturer based in Western India specializes in producing Grey Cast Iron and Ductile Iron Machined Castings for utility vehicles, commercial vehicles, tractors, and industrial engines. It is a TS 16949 and ISO 9000 certified organization.
Business Situation
The company aimed to implement a complete integrated ERP system covering Production, Quality Control, and Material Accounting to replace its older, siloed systems.
Solution
After evaluating various ERP solutions, the company selected IcSoft ERP Version 2.4 due to its robust production and quality modules and fully integrated capabilities.
Current Status
The company has been live on IcSoft ERP Version 2.4 since January 2008. Initially, they started with a 15 user license and operated a single unit. Over the years, the company has expanded significantly, now managing five units with a total of 120 ERP users. Additionally, they have successfully integrated their supply chain through Vendor Portal, which supports a user base of 1,000 vendors.
Challenges
The complexity of operations was heightened by subcontracted machining tasks, including:
- Daily creation of over 250 challans for inward tracking
- Jobs frequently transferred between subcontractors based on dispatch plans
- Partial completion of multi-process jobs leading to fragmented returns
- Difficulties in tracking challan-wise inwards
The previous system allowed negative stock during dispatch due to lack of stage-wise visibility and subcontractor-level stock analysis. Accurate WIP stock tracking at different processing stages was missing. There was also a need for comprehensive functionality to manage Inventory, Production Planning, Subcontracting, Financial Accounting, Quality Control, and Rejection Analysis. Although the old system reported rejection counts, it lacked root cause analysis and granular classification by process, employee, or vendor.
Benefits
- IcSoft ERP Version 2.5 was implemented across all three locations.
- The company began customizing reports and managing new location rollouts internally.
- MIS reports on rejections are used to monitor and control rejection percentages.
- Real-time information enables better and faster decision-making.
Key Outcomes
- Rejection handling and accounting for subcontract operations
- Subcontract transaction traceability and reconciliation
- Production and Quality MIS
- Stage-wise yield and scrap tracking (runner raiser, floor metal, etc.)
- Core-to-casting box ratio tracking
- Time-saving entry forms allowing multiple challans to be processed simultaneously
Results
The integrated ERP system now offers real-time and accurate reports, MIS, financial statements (including excise and VAT), material accounting, and rejection analysis from both in- house and subcontractor processes.