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Jindal Steel: Steeling With IT

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DQI Bureau
New Update

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Umesh Vashishta, Jindal Steel

For Jindal Steel & Power, IT is more than just software-it's a
strategic solution. IT within the company has already evolved from a support
function to a line function. With the steel industry struggling with diverse
problems, ranging from raw material to logistics to vast range of products to
address a wide spectrum of applications, the company is depending on IT to
re-design and innovate new processes.

Its operations are spread across a diverse range of products in steel and,
also, steel being a mix of continuous process and discrete manufacturing
industry, the issues right from raw material sourcing to global end-user
delivery, are fairly diverse. The need for seamless operations is taken care of
by the ERP system. The company relies upon the SAP ERP solution to smoothly
carry out its operations across its five locations.

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The ERP system has automated many critical areas.The system addresses the
entire spectrum of issues right from operation and logistics to statutory.
Jindal Steel has implemented a B2B portal for its OEM customers. This extranet
is presently being used for applications like market intelligence and queries.
It allows the customers to place queries, request for the availability of a
particular material, ask for quotes as well as carry out preliminary
negotiations online. In the next phase of this initiative, the company will
enable online transactions. Its intranet application is a part of the entire
Jindal Group's intranet, hosting a lot of useful departmental information.

Key
Highlights
-
IT no longer a support function but a core function

- Using IT to transition from selling inventories to selling capacities
Future
Plans
-
Migrate to Web-enabled apps

- Deployment of SCM and CRM

Jindal Steel's next agenda is to create an end-to-end info highway across
all the major manufacturing facilities for seamless flow of information, thus
reducing the overall costs and improving the base line of the organization. VPN
is being created across the steel network to increase operational transparency
and for smooth conduct of business. It also plans to migrate to web-enabled
application and wireless connectivity from the present hybrid VSAT-leased line
point-to-point connectivity.

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On the applications front, the company will be soon rolling out an HR
solution for e-recruitment by the first half of 2005. Also on the roadmap is the
adoption of SCM and CRM systems, once the ERP is stabilized.

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