Usha Martin is moving ahead with the aid of technology while transforming its 50-year-old legacy infrastructure through a meticulously driven change management processes
JAYANTA BHOWMIK
USHA MARTIN
The challenge is not just with the technology, there is the issue of legacy culture and thinking around the process; there needs to be a fundamental shift around how, as a digital business, the value of the information you produce across the value chain.
The manufacturing industry has been traditionally slow at harnessing latest technologies and this is no different when it comes to digital revolution, already well-established across other sectors including media and finance. Given the immense volume of data the industry generates and collects, the mentality around digital is changing drastically and rapidly as companies began to better understand the beneficial impact it could have across the value chain and ultimately, in their product offering.
Jayanta Bhowmik, CIO, Usha Martin led the ERP migration from legacy BaaN platform to SAP Hana. The transformation or migration from old, decentralised, business unit-wise BaaN ERP platforms into the latest centralised SAP Hana enterprise ERP for the entire group was achieved through a huge change management process and business transformation across the organisation. This included shop-floor automation and integration of level 2 machine automation into the ERP.
“We are starting this journey to understand the added complexity and that with such a transition, much more work is required before it can be deemed an operational success,” Bhowmik opines, adding that immediate benefits are optimisation of efforts and improvements in efficiency, deduplication of work and achieving synergy in manpower, process to reduce the operational cycle.
Long-term benefits from deployment are a better flow of information and much effective coordination between organisation units, efficient integration of functions and units across the organisation, efficiency in supply chain, material handling, improved vendor and customer exchanges and experience.
Collaboration is fundamental to the success of any initiative, feels Bhowmik. “The best approach we follow is to involve stakeholders from relevant functions in the project as core team members and make them co-owners for blueprinting, realisation and final deliveries. This brings in a sense of involvement and responsibility which is conducive of a great organisational effort towards a common goal,” opines Bhowmik.
Legacy is a big issue in manufacturing in general and Usha Martin is no exception. With legacy machines and processes built and introduced over the last 50 years, the variance in digital adoption capability has been a challenge.
“We are in a transitionary phase from old infrastructure to new-age systems and the ERP transition has accelerated it further. More so for the compulsion of the new platform but people are realising the benefits fast and embracing the change. Friction is minimal now,” he says.
The company is now going through cycles of change and has planned a workable co-existence of both old and new infrastructure, with a roadmap of two years for complete transformation. Usha Martin runs seven manufacturing units across the globe with varying manufacturing capabilities and processes. “We are coming to the realisation that we have to make some fundamental changes around this capability if we are going to gain the full benefits of the digital revolution. With the value understood, stakeholders are learning fast how to best invest and harness this opportunity,” Bhowmik explains.
Comments