Deploying Infor M3 solution to assist a French heavy equipment manufacturer achieve adaptable ERP system
The client is a French heavy equipment manufacturing company dealing in products like forklifts, cherry pickers, tele handlers, and other heavy machinery. The company has a manufacturing unit established in India that exports telehandlers, backhoe loaders, and skid steer loaders worldwide. Before our engagement, the client faced a significant challenge in implementing an ERP solution that best suited the business operations of the European and Indian regions. The client required operational agility to meet the unique business needs in the Indian region through a unified integration that would connect the French and Indian entities. The defiance to this change was a legacy ERP suite with a redundant architecture with low customization options to adapt to localizations. This system resulted in manual intervention to run business processes that reduced business velocity.
The organization was determined to tackle the challenge by leveraging the standard Infor M3 solution. However, the implementation faced issues in complying with regional business exigencies. To address the situation, the organization approached Birlasoft for a digital transformation drive to facilitate a sturdy and robust ERP solution to enhance business resilience and operational agility. As a part of the engagement, Birlasoft assisted the client in deploying the Infor M3 solutions to replace the legacy ERP system.
The Challenge
1. Legacy ERP prevents decentralized business operations
With the changing business landscape, the client entailed fluidity and agility in the business structure. The organization was heading for rapid expansion across Asia, requiring a Global ERP solution to modernize business processes. Manual operations were burdening the business in the French and Asia regions because the legacy ERP system couldn't accommodate brisk system integrations. The redundancy in the existing ERP also created a significant barrier in coordinating and exchanging business information across multiple teams, resulting in slower business operations. The older ERP was never designed to check efficiency and deployment over global locations, resulting in the increased cost of centralized IT systems. It caused increased data fragmentation across the organization, subsequently affecting visibility, control, and data governance.
2. Disparate system hindering the business growth
While the internal team rolled out Europe-specific business implementation, the client faced resource challenges to meet the unique local business needs. Due to a lack of knowledgeable resources and skill sets to address local business, the client faced a roadblock to an efficient rollout for the Indian region. The disparate system spread across divisions diminished agility and raised significant business growth constraints. With legacy operating systems and the localization of processes, the client also required a standard taxation framework to meet the growing fulfillment challenges in the business. The legacy ERP also hampered the transparency in real-time data information, impacting the operational efficiency of the business processes. The lack of visibility altered productivity and overloaded team collaboration, which duly affected the business goals.
The Solution
1. Fully integrated Infor M3 rollout with Edge solutions
Birlasoft assisted the client in successfully rolling out Infor M3 with advanced edge solutions to modernize and completely replace the legacy ERP system. We deployed the new ERP with best practices to transform business operations across the enterprise. Birlasoft also migrated crucial data masses by replicating mingle, webmass, and factory track from the French to Indian establishment. This migration enhanced the client's capability for efficient material and inventory management.
2. Modernizing customer data management and e-invoicing implementation
Birlasoft understands organizations' unique needs to expand businesses in the Indian region. We modernized the customer data management system by deploying the query tool to Indian users. Birlasoft also developed queries to fetch crucial data and reports as and when required. We also developed programs exclusive to India-specific GST to enhance invoicing processes for domestic and export operations. With the e-invoicing implementation, the client has streamlined financial goals through a swift invoicing process.
3. Training and documentation for key users
Birlasoft helped the client to train the critical users through simplified documentation to manage the ERP process. We also created matrices and flow charts to ease the usage for all users. Birlasoft identified the vital areas for business enhancements and reformed system processes with unique localization to comply with the needs of the Indian region. We introduced cutting-edge solutions and methods to enhance the efficiency of the deployed ERP system. This process helped the client to gain greater visibility at each stage of business operations to improve decision-making and eliminate costs by reducing manual supervision.
The Impact
By implementing the Infor M3 solution, we empowered our client to establish unified, integrated, and growth-oriented business operations across the organization. The newly implemented ERP harmonized European and India-specific integrations to infuse reliability, maximize effective collaboration, and execute seamless business processes.
Our intervention strategically impacted our client's operational efficiency by reducing wastage across all business lines, bringing significant profitability, and meticulously improving the material management process. This strategic transformation enabled our client to improve inventory accuracy with real-time information and predictive insights resulting in growth and scalability to achieve more significant operational and financial goals.
Additionally, the client derived some significant direct and indirect benefits through a modernized ERP solution:
Direct benefits
- The client achieved greater compliance by focusing on taxation and localization processes to address unique Indian business exigencies.
- The client improved traceability for in-production and finished products.
- The supply chain was optimized through EDI capabilities using a network integration to collaborate with customers and vendors.
- A modernized ERP solution assisted the client in enhancing production capacity with process automation and cross-enterprise collaboration.
Indirect benefits
- The transformation enabled our client to augment operational efficiencies, including planning, ordering, process facilitation, taxation compliance, and effective marketing execution.
- The new ERP solution is now an effective tool for managing market demand through demand sensing.
- Replacing the legacy system, the client has improved decision-making to accelerate financial processes
Birlasoft continues to collaborate and invest in the client partnership to maximize the returns on investment. We achieve this by utilizing the solution capabilities and enhancing the process by constantly improving the client's digital transformation roadmap.
