Autosystems: The Business Value of a successful ERP system

Solution 1: Although Autosystems had installed TRANS4RM ERP system, it had not extended TRANS4RM to its shop floor activities. It fact, the company managed variety of manufacturing processes through paper work. When Autosystems management decided to use ERP in shop floor processes as well, the management installed ActivEntry to move shop floor information to TRANS4RM ERP System only after Autosystems was satisfied that there were significant benefits such as: 1. Information could be incorporated into one ERP system in an orderly and timely manner 2. It would be easier to train shop floor employees to use the ActivEntry system 3. Installation of the system would enable the company to get timely information into the system with a lower risk 4. Implementation of an ERP based shop floor reporting system would have a positive impact on Autosystems ActivEntry system would give information about each plant and would provide information regarding labor efficiencies, cost of production and scrap. In addition, if accurate, timely and relevant data is entered from shop floor, Autosystems would be able to plan more efficiently, make optimum production changes such that labor and scrap resources are utilized to the maximum and wastage is minimized. In addition, Autosystems could discuss any issues related to labor and scrap with its production employees while the issues were current and important. All these reasons would help Autosystems with better production planning, inventory management, forecasting, labor management, improved efficiencies, better reporting, standardization, scrap management and greater visibilities. Hence, considering the above mentioned benefits of ActivEntry, the management of Autosystems thought it fit to integrate ActivEntry with TRANS4RM.

Group 7, Section A: Kinnari Shah | Kaushikkumar De | Mani Rajgopalan | Shyam Vaithiam | Tushar Chaudhari

Autosystems: The Business Value of a successful ERP system

Solution 2: The three business benefits of using ActivEntry that gave Autosystems the most business value are as follows: 1. Better production plans The case highlights that installing ActivEntry and entering timely and accurate data into the system helped Autosystems in better planning. It brought about an overall improvement in the efficiency of Autosystems. Availability of timely and accurate data helped Autosystems in making production changes in order to avoid labor and scrap problems. In addition, the system helped the company identify problem areas in production and employers were instantly able to discuss the issues with the employees while the problems were current and relevant. Data regarding inventory levels, labor issues, labor management helped in improving the overall visibility of the production plans and helped Autosystems with better decision making capabilities as reflected by the success of Autosystems planners. The presence of ActivEntry also helped Autosystems from getting away from their separate spreadsheets for planning. Employees were able to access all data from a single source and hence the requirement of creating and maintain manual spreadsheets was diminishing. 2. Standardization across the three plants The case mentions that prior to using ActivEntry, Autosystems used individual sets of paperwork for the three plants. Implementation of ActivEntry helped in reflecting the important information and brought about standardization across the three plants. Standardization not only helped in training employees for the software but also facilitated the company when staff members were transferred from one plant to another. Once again, standardization enabled that data would be available from a single source and that production managers would be able to view information of all the three plants from a single source. 3. Improvement in scrap rate due to facilitated reporting Regular keying in of the shift data and review of the audit information, helped the team leaders in reporting to the management and the teams. Keying in the data at the end of the day implied that the data was updated and that the progress could be check on a daily basis, which improved the overall visibility. This was reflected by an overall improvement in the scrap rate in all the three plants by 2.7 per cent and improvement in labor and cost of production.

Group 7, Section A: Kinnari Shah | Kaushikkumar De | Mani Rajgopalan | Shyam Vaithiam | Tushar Chaudhari

Autosystems: The Business Value of a successful ERP system

Solution 3: The changes planned for improving ActivEntry are classified as: Hardware changes:  Introduction of computers on the shop floor Autosystems worked without computer on the shop floor. Setting of 20 computer systems across the three plants was a basic facility that needed to be incorporated in order for changes to be brought about in the new system.  Introduction of bar code scanners, cables and scanning capabilities This change helped in better tracking of materials and relaying of information. Personnel changes:  Designating a new Production Analyst The job of the production analyst was created due to the use of the system. The key responsibilities of the analyst were to update the data at the end of the shift so that information could be reported to the management for daily updates and progress. Work Process changes:  Providing regular updates The team leaders were provided regular updates in relation to the performance of their teams.   Training of the employees Daily update systems.

The improvements which could be implemented apart from the recommended improvements are as follows: 1. Motivated production employees are big assets for any manufacturing firm. Autosystems should introduce performance or efficiency related compensation structure for production employees. With the help of ActivEntry and ERP, it will be very easy to monitor the productivity of individual employees. Such compensation structures will motivate the employees to work more efficiently and underperforming employees will have more incentive to perform. 2. Leave management systems should also be made a part of the ERP system. This would allow Autosystems to know the leaves taken by individual employees and hence will induce efficiency into the organization. By having such systems, an employee can be

Group 7, Section A: Kinnari Shah | Kaushikkumar De | Mani Rajgopalan | Shyam Vaithiam | Tushar Chaudhari

Autosystems: The Business Value of a successful ERP system

intimated about the number of leaves he/ she has taken and the number of leaves they are allowed to take. 3. Announcing schemes like Team of the Month. Such schemes would help in increasing the team spirit of the employees. 4. Any ERP or software system comes with periodic updates. Autosystems should conduct training programs on regular basis to keep employees abreast with latest software platforms.

Group 7, Section A: Kinnari Shah | Kaushikkumar De | Mani Rajgopalan | Shyam Vaithiam | Tushar Chaudhari