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Ramco offers its expertise to Convenience Food sector to increase productivity
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Monday, 16 May, 2011, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Bangalore
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Chennai-based Ramco Systems, part of the Ramco Group, is a leading software company which is now looking at the convenience food industry in the food and beverage sector to drive its future growth efforts. The successful installation of its ERP system based on the SaaS model at the UK-based Great Food and Beverages (GFB) facility located at Manesar in Haryana allowed the company to prove its prowess in the space.
When Great Food and Beverages (GFB) decided to make its debut in the booming Indian FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) market, its key managers knew that in order to grow in this immensely competitive environment, they had to give the company a head start. A strong and robust IT foundation to streamline operations and business processes proved to be the perfect launch pad. As the market for its product Fruitchill grew, an ERP implementation became indispensable, stated Anamika Sharma, regional manager, Implementation, Ramco Systems.
GFB had plans to expand its business in India. “We knew we would be requiring pan-India marketing offices, and hence ware looking for an ERP system on the SaaS model. The company wanted to implement an ERP system that could streamline and systematise its distribution system and also let it track the sales of a particular product in a specific region. Considering these requirements, the Ramco ERP solution suited us,” stated Vijay Thakur, IT Head – Great Food and Beverages. After a lot of deliberation and product comparisons, the company decided to opt for RODE (Ramco On Demand ERP), he added.
The ERP SaaS model has inherent benefits. These include removal of physical infrastructure costs like installation and maintenance. Most applications are delivered over the Internet and managed by the vendor. The system also allows users to work on different software functionalities without having to bother about installing additional hardware or software, said Thakur.
The functions covered under the ERP system at GFB include standard modules on -inventory, procurement and sales management, financials and production planning and reporting. There is a special module dedicated to provide MIS Reports, which allows decision makers to 'measure, monitor and manage' business objectives and assess their progress over a period of time, said Sharma.
Since GFB had unique process-level requirements, it needed an ERP system that could be moulded to adapt to the needs of the organization. The Ramco ERP system was thus customized to address these needs, according to Ramco Systems.
Further, GFB also follows a 'direct to the customer' approach in its distribution policy. There are designated distributors all over the country, who place direct orders with the company. It in turn, delivers goods to these distributors , configured as customers in the ERP system. Once an order has been placed and the payment confirmed, goods are dispatched to the distributors which have employed sellers who reach it to the end-consumer. All this information on product tracking from the time an order is placed to the distribution point is included into the ERP system.
Another key feature for the FMCG Company is inventory management. The ERP system provided solutions to the order bookings, despatch, sales returns and stock balance, informed Thakur.
The entire ERP implementation was completed within 45 days. The SaaS-based model helped the company go live and help to witness improved controls and better management of operations and inventory. The management has been empowered for better decision-making capabilities owing to transparency in systems and the availability of critical information and data in real time, from anywhere and at anytime, stated Thakur.
“At the time of the ERP implementation, GFB had about 20 appointed distributors across the country. But now this number has risen to 70,” said Thakur.
Considering how IT adoption has helped GFB, which is the first customer for Ramco in the food and beverage sector, it has proved that marketing of convenience foods requires efficiency and companies in this space require a kind of IT solution which yields results, stated Sharma.
Ramco OnDemand ERP has placed ERP on the cloud. Last year, it launched RODE 2.0 in Delhi and this has helped it to showcase its over 300 customers and 2000 users
successfully running ERP on the Cloud.
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