Case Studies

Circuit Systems (India) Limited (CSIL)

Introduction
Businesses across the globe want to move to enterprise solutions to address the challenges of increasing demands of the customers and the emerging competitive trends in respective industries. The challenges facing companies are also quite paradoxical. Organizations today are looking for standardization of operational procedures and processes while at the same time, they also demand flexibility at the same time. Such customer requirements call for dynamic solutions which are tailor-made to meet their existing needs and potential ones to push them fast forward.

The Company-Circuit Systems India Limited
Circuit Systems (India) Limited counts among the largest PCB manufacturers in India, and is a one-stop source for all PCB requirements. With state-of-art manufacturing facilities at Gandhinagar (India), and a rich 12 year experience, CSIL has managed to gain strong foothold in the electronic industry. The company boasts of a strong customer orientation that, Paresh Vasani, Managing Director of CSIL avers "We want to assist customers to fulfil their requirements at the pinnacle of technology." Also, the company is a key supplier to various giants from industries including Telecom, Automobile, Process control, Industrial applications and various R & D establishments among others.

To stay ahead of competition, the company believes in keeping pace with the latest technologies and the directives that are being legislated to put in force from time to time and lead free norms the latest directives that are to be enforced.

The Business Case
Competition has created multi-dimensional pressure, and it was critical for the company to stabilize the internal processes, and most importantly trace and manage the ever increasing demands for change within and outside the organization.

Moreover, CSIL was poised to achieve tremendous growth with increasing business opportunities. and the management of and a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction, the implementation of world class Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system was inevitable.

Selection of ERP System
CSIL formed an evaluation committee with background and experience from various experts within CSIL. This resulted in the formation of a dedicated team headed by Mr. Nitin Pandya (Vice President - Sales and Marketing) to be monitored directly by Mr. Paresh Vasani (Managing Director) & Mr. Sharad Shah (Director) for selection of the most suitable ERP system for the organization. Says Paresh Vasani, "CSIL took a very comprehensive strategy to evaluate all possible products available in India starting from products offered by global Mac's to local Indian vendors. "After initial short listing, we invited all product vendors and explained our requirements, gave details about our business flow and expectations from ERP. After a rigorous 4-month evaluation process, Infor ERP LN was the chosen solution. Paresh Vasani testifies "we had series of meetings with each vendor and we felt that Infor ERP LN can deliver what we wanted from product point of view and also from implementation point of view."

The driving factors in selection of the product were-

• Infor's long term product strategy,
• Focus on Hi-Tech Electronics vertical and
• In-depth world class solutions for Manufacturing industry

Critical Issues Resolved

• Document Management System of PCB Designs & Specifications
  The item is the heart of the product design. A slight change in the item specification calls for a complete redesign of the PCB; therefore, a dire need was to ensure proper approval of specifications, and any need for redesigning. This was done by customization of ERP LN and integrating it with the PCB design software used at CSIL.
  
  The sensitivity of item specification is such that a slight change in the feature of an item used in manufacturing the final product results in the complete product redesigning. By the solution provided by MSL, CSIL could manage the history of a design, and retrieve the original / old data at the click of a mouse for any decisions or further changes.
  
  
• Managing change in PCB Design
  Managing the changes in PCB design due to engineering complexities was one of the top priorities, as the same were not completely captured in the legacy systems. Therefore, there was no traceability of changes at various stages when a new specification in the design would be raised even after the production has started. This was a challenge for the company to create a process of defining, authorizing specifications, as well as ensuring execution of the same.
  
  ODM (Change Management Solution) was implemented, which offered management of the process in line with Customer specifications providing real-time control minimizing human discretion and making it process-oriented.