Hindalco: Shining All the Way

It has implemented Oracle e-business suite covering all the business
functions viz, finance, manufacturing, order management, procurement and
maintenance. The solution also includes the CRM/SCM applications like istore,
isupplier portal, isupport and teleservices. In fact, Hindalco boasts of the
largest Oracle applications implementation in India in terms of complexity, user
base and application foot print.

This has helped Hindalco boost its efficiency across all areas. In
manufacturing, the cycle time was reduced to 11-13 days from 23.2 days (base
level). In procurement, it was able to save up to Rs 46.5 lakh through online
reverse auctioning. In sales, the working capital was slashed by 9% due to
reduction in finished goods inventory. And in finance, faster payment
realization made possible savings of Rs 4 crore in working capital.

Hindalco had to get 70 key users as change managers and change drivers for
the implementation of ERP and CRM modules, which involved training of over 2000
users on ERP across 20 locations. The company created online e-learning modules
through its knowledge management portal called AdityaDisha.

Hindalco has set up its data center at Renukoot, which is the biggest
manufacturing site and has the maximum number of users. It has one database
server, two applications server and one training, test and development server
connected to a SAN with a present capacity of 3TB, but scalable up to 23TB. It
has also used clustering technology to prevent downtime, investing in two level
DR solutions.

By implementing a vehicle tracking system using VI eTrans, which is a cost
effective solution over the other alternatives that use GSM/GPS/RF technologies,
the company has been able to provide realtime status of vehicles every 150 kms
across India.

Finally, under a Business Improvement Initiative called 'Project Everest,'
Hindalco analyzed its existing processes, then evaluated various solutions, and
finally, adopted best business practices made available by the Oracle
Applications ERP package, based on the recommendations of Accenture. In all,
Hindalco identified a total of 319 processes with 1243 sub-processes under
finance, sales, manufacturing, maintenance and materials.