The long and winding ERP road

Few Indian software companies have taken the risk-heavy product route. Most have preferred to plump for services and mint money in the exports market. Consequently, when Ramco Systems took a shot at Indian ERP for the global market with Marshall, it had its fair share of critics. For a time it seemed that the company’s detractors had it right; despite being the first ERP system for the Windows server, and being launched by Bill Gates himself, Marshall sputtered and died. Most companies would have thrown in the towel. Not Ramco. It persevered, and today the company has finally pulled into the black on the back of its VirtualWorks platform that’s helping it gain clients, both in India and abroad. G Sankaranarayanan narrates the tale of Ramco’s ongoing comeback in this week’s lead story.

When it comes to processed foods, MTR Foods has a reputation that most companies would give their eye-teeth to own. All wasn’t hunky-dory in MTR-land however, and the company was facing problems with inventories. It used to buy 65 percent of its raw material in the agricultural season to get the best of the yield. This not only locked up the company’s working capital, some of the produce would get spoiled. The solution was to deploy an ERP, and MTR Foods has managed to raise its gross margins in the process. Akhtar Pasha has the details.

Simulation helps organisations gain better design and styling capabilities, and save on prototyping costs. Abhinav Singh finds that reality centres (RC) or visualisation systems are gaining ground in India as businesses use them to improve design and styling of products, and create simulated environments for research and development. Organisations such as ONGC, BHEL, IIT-Kanpur and the National Institute of Design at Ahmedabad are using RCs.

sandeepa@expresscomputeronline.com