While BFSI may be the biggest spender and IT/ITES the most likely to try anything new, India’s manufacturing sector has a history of innovation when it comes to IT
When you think of manufacturing as a sector the first thing that comes to mind is a factory. But there’s more to these organizations than simply the act of making things which gives the sector its name. Manufacturers have to source raw materials, ship finished products, dealers, supply chain and more. When it comes to using IT in fresh and innovative ways, manufacturers are second to none. Whether its Asian Paints using tablets or any of a host of smaller players resorting to Cloud computing, mostly SaaS, this sector’s alive to the possibilities that IT brings to the table.
In this issue, we have covered the use of ERP in manufacturing in terms of what these companies are doing now that they have an ERP system in place. Most are extending their systems to encompass fresh areas like mobility, UC, CRM, BI/analytics, SCM et al. In many ways, ERP has become the Shahenshah of all enterprise apps in this sector assimilating all other apps in the process. The Cloud is having its effect on manufacturing ERP with the SaaS model catching on with SMBs.
The other area that we have covered is that of PLM where the trends are all about 3D visualization, collaboration, shorter product lifecycles etc. Mid-market players are looking for modular solutions that they can grow with. Of late, PLM tools are incorporating some smarts though you still need a proper BI system if you want to retrieve or use third party data.
When it comes to the Cloud, it’s mostly the smaller players who have adopted SaaS-based solutions even for ERP, something they were loath to consider earlier. The competition is fierce here with the likes of SAP, Microsoft and Salesforce.com duking it out as well as smaller players like Ramco and newer Cloud entrants like Zoho.
All in all, its an interesting time to be in IT in the manufacturing sector. Whether it’s a case of leveraging tablets for expediting the workflow or using the Cloud for getting access to world-class tools on per-user/per-month basis, things are certainly chugging along nicely.
– Prashant L Rao
Editor, Express Computer