Manufacturing · Technology
Replacing a legacy ERP with a custom cloud ERP for a mid sized manufacturer
A mid sized manufacturer was losing hours to downtime and manual work in an ageing ERP that no longer talked to its other tools. We built a custom cloud ERP with automated workflows and live dashboards, which cut processing time by 65% and downtime by 70%.
40%Gain in operational efficiency65%Less processing time, with the workflows automated70%Less system downtime- Client
- A mid sized engineering components manufacturer in Gujarat
- Region
- India
- Sponsor
- Managing director and finance controller
- Duration
- 20 weeks to go live, with the old system run in parallel for one month end close
Engagement model
O2E: Output Oriented Engagement
Scope was agreed as a set of modules with acceptance tests written with the finance and plant teams, and each module was paid for once it passed them in production.
How O2E worksThe team
- Solution strategist1
- Full stack engineer3
- Data and integration engineer1
- QA engineer (shared)1
The challenge
Where things stood
- The old ERP ran on a single on premise server and went down often, stopping order entry and dispatch until it was restarted.
- It did not connect to the accounting system or the plant spreadsheets, so staff keyed the same orders and receipts in two or three places.
- Production and stock figures were a day old at best, so the managing director made decisions from yesterday's printouts.
- The software was no longer supported by its vendor, and user access was shared through common logins.
The approach
How we ran it
Weeks 1 to 3
Process and data study
We sat with sales, stores, production and accounts to map how an order actually moved, and profiled the old database to see which masters could be trusted.
Weeks 4 to 12
Core modules
We built sales orders, inventory, production planning and purchase in two week releases, each shown to the users who would run it before we moved on.
Weeks 12 to 18
Integrations, dashboards and migration
We connected the ERP to Tally for accounting, built dashboards for daily output and stock, and ran three trial migrations of item, customer and open order data.
Weeks 18 to 20
Parallel run and cut over
Both systems ran side by side through one month end close. Differences were reconciled daily, and the old server was switched off only after finance signed off the numbers.
What it looks like
Representative screens
Drawn to show the kind of system we delivered. Client screens and data stay private.
Plant dashboard, today
Units produced
1,240
Orders dispatched
18
Stock value
INR 3.6 Cr
Pending approvals
7
- CNC line 186
- CNC line 272
- Assembly64
- Painting58
- Packing81
What we delivered
Modules and features
- Cloud ERP with sales orders, inventory, production planning and purchase modules
- Approval workflows for discounts, purchase orders and stock adjustments
- Two way sync with Tally for invoices, receipts and GST ledgers
- Live dashboards for daily production, dispatch and stock value
- Role based access with individual logins and an audit trail
- Migration scripts and reconciliation reports for the cut over
What changed
Outcomes
- 40%Gain in operational efficiency
- 65%Less processing time, with the workflows automated
- 70%Less system downtime
- Encryption and individual role based access replaced shared logins
Figures as reported by the client.
Their expertise in modernising our outdated systems saved us time and costs while boosting productivity.
Technology used
Solutions
Industry and platforms
Looking back
Running both systems through a full month end added work for the accounts team, but it is the reason finance trusted the new numbers on day one, and we would do it again. The item master needed more cleaning than planned: duplicate part codes from the old system took two extra weeks to resolve. On the next migration of this kind we would start data cleaning in week one, alongside the process study, well before the modules are built.
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