In Trading Improves Business Productivity by 40 Percent



Overview

Country or Region: India

Industry: Manufacturing

Customer Profile

Founded in 1996, In Trading Private Limited manufactures and supplies Indian wooden furniture and furniture-related accessories to the United States and United Kingdom.

Business Situation

Time constraints, monitoring product quality, supply-chain processes, cash flow, and the need for accurate material requirements were some of the reasons that In Trading deployed this solution.

Solution

In Trading commissioned Progression Infonet Private Limited to implement Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision®, which would enhance overall business efficiency and streamline processes within the organization.

Benefits

■ Better financial analysis

■ Optimized inventory management

■ Enhanced business performance

■ Increased business productivity

■ Better cutting plans

| | |“Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision was easy to customize, adaptable to our implementation needs, and provided the perfect fit for In Trading.”

Vikram Jain, Managing Director, In Trading Private Limited

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| | | |Situated just outside of New Delhi in the state of Haryana, In Trading Private Limited (In Trading) |

| | | |was founded in 1996 by Mr. Vikram Jain. In Trading is an exclusive manufacturer, supplier, and |

| | | |exporter of Indian wooden ethnic furniture and furniture accessories to Europe, the United States, |

| | | |the Far East, Middle East, and Africa. In Trading manufactures a wide range of wooden furniture made |

| | | |from Indian hardwoods such as sheesham, maple, oak, teak, and mango. Growing business demands, as |

| | | |well as the competitive furniture industry, led In Trading to evaluate and deploy Microsoft® Business|

| | | |Solutions–Navision® (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™), which has led to cost savings and higher |

| | | |productivity. The solution allows the organization to continuously monitor supply chain, cash flow, |

| | | |and work in progress—among other business processes. |

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Situation

According to market experts, the demand for furniture is likely to expand exponentially in the next few years. Liberal policies for foreign equity participation and foreign direct investments have given a further boost to the sector. The largest markets for Indian furniture are the United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Japan.

According to the ICON Group, the market potential for furniture is expected to reach U.S.$240 million in annual sales by 2005. Europe will be the largest market at 45 percent, followed by North America and the Caribbean at 28 percent, and then Asia with 15 percent of the world market. In essence, if a firm targets these top three regions; they cover 88 percent of the worldwide demand for furniture.

The Indian furniture market is estimated to be worth U.S.$7 billion/Rs 350 billion. Within this, the wooden furniture accounts for U.S.$1 billion/Rs 60 billion. Branded furniture is still in its infancy, and volumes are negligible. Of this, the imported furniture market is currently worth Rs 6 billion and is growing at three to five percent each year, according to industry analysts.

In Trading currently operates from a single location in the industrial town of IMT Manesar, where the manufacturing takes place. The company's corporate offices are located there as well.

Manufacturing is done in a mechanized, assembly-like manner. In Trading supplies wooden furniture and furniture-related products to the best-of-breed department stores, chain stores, and retail outlets in Europe and the United States. The company's annual sales is over U.S.$3 million/Rs 150 million.

Competitive prices, large production capacity, committed business dealings, and timely deliveries add to their reputation in the international market. Today the company has over 400 skilled workers and 20 administrative staff to ensure smooth management of its processes.

Over the years, In Trading has thoroughly understood its business from the use of solid wood in its furniture assembly, production nuances, packaging, storage, shipping, and distribution systems. However, the company's executives have realised that rigorous processes for quality control systems and delivery scheduling are needed to maintain profitability as the company continues to grow. Today, the company has specialised departments that excel in each manufacturing function, to supply furniture anywhere in the world.

Prior to implementing the new solution, In Trading used Tally as the financial and inventory package and a home-grown solution for payroll management. The company evaluated products such as Eastern Software Systems, Fourth-Shift, and other local solutions as well. The technology infrastructure prior to implementing the new solution consisted of a local area network with five PCs connecting to the Internet over an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) data line.

The older Tally solution did not allow the organization to track inventory or its orders to completion. The lack of information made it difficult for the management to make effective business decisions.

Also, with the market growing exponentially, In Trading wants to expand its business by 500 percent over the next three years to capture a greater share of the market. To do this, the management realised that it required a solution that would scale to meet its business requirements, bringing transparency and accountability in its processes.

Further, the increased pace of businesses and a competitive market scenario had reinforced the need for an efficient financial process at In Trading.

Solution

In Trading faced the challenge of meeting delivery demands on time and maintaining stringent product and service quality. It decided to implement a cost-effective business solution that would monitor all business processes and provide adequate information so that company management could make correct business decisions much more rapidly.

In Trading management decided to implement the Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision® business software to bring about transparency and streamline its business processes. Progression Infonet Private Limited was chosen as the implementation partner for In Trading, primarily due to its openness and clarity with which it proposed to streamline the production process, as well as inventory control and accounts.

The right choice in solution was clear too: “Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision was easy to customize, adaptable to our implementation needs, and provided the perfect fit for In Trading,” explains Vikram Jain, Managing Director at In Trading Private Limited.

Solution Overview and Implementation

Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has been implemented at a single location. Progression Infonet successfully deployed the following Microsoft Navision functional series modules: Microsoft Business Solutions for Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), as well as Human Resource Management.

The necessary system customisation was accomplished simultaneously with the deployment, as a parallel task.

Though the solution has been implemented at a single location, it is being accessed globally by In Trading employees and management. Today, the system has seven concurrent users and 35 named users.

Progression’s implementation has been instrumental in enabling the In Trading organization to benefit from Microsoft Navision as a comprehensive business solution. Progression ensured that impediments during implementation were resolved.

Benefits

In Trading’s business processes have dramatically improved with the implementation of Business Solutions–Navision by Progression Infonet Private Limited. The new system has allowed the organization to enhance quality control systems, production processes, and on-time delivery scheduling.

Better Financial management

Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision makes it easy to access financial information within the company, spot trends, and gain insight into ongoing business activities. By implementing the Navision Business Solution, In Trading is now better able to accurately track general ledger and budgets. This enables management to easily find relevant information quickly.

“We are able to carry out sophisticated financial analysis, which was not possible in our previous solution,” comments Vikram Jain, Managing Director Private Limited.

Optimized Inventory Management

With the help of the new solution, In Trading managers now have access to accurate information. Parameters, such as wood in stock, available seasoned wood, the sizes of raw materials, and other similar information, are readily available online. This has allowed the organization to have a clearer view into its business, thereby reducing the need to buffer raw materials stocks at each manufacturing process.

Enhanced Business Performance

Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has enabled In Trading to run their business in a more organised manner. The company is now on track to meet its growth objective of annual sales of Rs 600 million in the next three years.

Increased Business Productivity

With better information systems in place In Trading has been able to streamline business processes, thereby improving business productivity. Order processing from receipt until shipment can now take as little as 3 working days—as opposed to 10 days earlier.

Operational Transparency

Last but not least, the organization has obtained transparency into its business operations. This enables management to track various parameters, such as production timing and timed manufacturing output.

Future Plans

Progression Infonet is building a cut planner for the organization which will enable In Trading to reduce waste and standardize cutting plans for each design type.

Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship

and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:

dynamics

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| |Software and Services

■ Microsoft Dynamics

− Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision

− Microsoft CRM

− Microsoft Business Solutions Financial Management

− Microsoft Business Solutions Human Resources Management

− Microsoft Business Solutions Manufacturing

− Microsoft Business Solutions Supply Chain Management |Hardware

■ Compaq Sever (PIII, Single Processor)

■ Compaq, HP desktops (Pentium III and IV)

Partner

■ Progression Infonet

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© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, Navision, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published October 2005 | | |

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:

For more information about Progression Infonet, please go to:

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Vikram Jain, Managing Director Private Limited

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