Do IT Like Wockhardt

A global pharma and biotech company based in India, Wockhardt has grown by
inculcating two powerful trends which have impacted the world of
medicineglobalization and biotechnology. One of the leading players in the
healthcare industry, has a strong presence in the some it leading markets of the
world. The company has fourteen manufacturing plants in the US, the UK, Ireland,
India, and France. Wockhardts market presence covers formulations,
biopharmaceuticals, nutrition products, vaccines, and active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs).

Wockhardts team of 500 skilled scientists, its state-of-the-art
multi-disciplinary research capability, and consistent efforts have come
together to design six breakthrough biotech products, more than 750 patent
filings, and a pipeline of promising new molecules.

The challenges faced by the company were consolidation of data from various
manufacturing and research locations; the inability to manage rapid business
growths and integration of business processes; and real time management. The
legacy ERP application provided had been unable to resolve the problem, thus,
the lack of structured information had been delaying decision-making and was
affecting business negatively.

Leveraging IT

Wockhardt was looking for integration across all business functions, faster
information availability, and other organizational operations. It was also
looking for an alternate ERP solution. The company decided to replace its
existing IT landscape with a future-oriented solution that would support growth
and continuous innovation on a global scale.

Other objectives of deploying a new solution were to improve visibility and
to provide a common platform for the free flow of information, and to create a
central data repository. The company decided to deploy SAP as the solution to
help integrate and standardize global processes.

We wanted a world-class solution and SAP was the right product for a pharma
company. We wanted standardization tools, uniformity, and a single software
standard database so that consolidation of all these can be done in real time,
says Suresh Shenoy, senior VP, IT, Wockhardt.

With IBM as the implementation partner, the implementation started in 2005
and took around eight months to complete the deployment, going live in 2006.

The implementation of SAP has resulted in integration of data across the
organization. A single unified data platform and standardized business processes
have eliminated data entry redundancy and saved valuable time. Reports can be
quickly produced, and employees can update, retrieve, and manage data in
real-time. The company is now able to undertake better planning and improved
coordination across all levels. The newly implemented systems help in processing
of purchase order, and reduce the scope of errors and data elimination.

SAP solutions for e-sourcing and procurement, supply chain management (SCM),
and compliant manufacturing operations enable an organization to embrace
operational excellence, improve efficiencies, assure better quality, and drive
superior performance across the enterprisefrom the supplier to the customer,
says Nagaraj Bhargava, VP, Marketing, SAP Indian Subcontinent.

Wockhardt is tapping all the possibilities of IT for the fast growth of its
business. The company has Oracle for its back-end operations, Wipro solutions
for hospital management, and IBM AIX as the operating system.

Pradeesh Chandran

pradeeshc@cybermedia.co.in