Manali Carton makes use of ERP for strategic planning

Amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and dwindling economy, Manali Carton has been exploring the numerous possibilities that an ERP software can bring to the company. The firm, which was planning to go live with the software on 1 April 2020, was in for a shock when the government announced the nationwide lockdown on 23 March. This, however, stalled the company's plan to test the ERP software in real time.

Sandeep Jain, managing director at Manali Carton said that before the lockdown, the company was planning to implement an ERP system, which was customised to cater to the packaging industry's requirements. "We spent a year checking out various ERP system providers before zeroing in on Indus Analytics. The ERP was installed in two weeks including online training."

However, even before the company could start trials on the software, the Centre announced a nationwide lockdown. "After the initial shock, we decided to test the ERP in a virtual environment, working from our homes and teleconferencing using group sharing apps," Jain said.

"We made entries and tested out each and every process of the ERP. We found that the Indus Analytics ERP software was a good plug-and-play system. But we decided to fine tune and align it to our working style, incorporating various checks and balances in the entire value chain," he added.

Commenting on the ERP installation, Jain said, "We are delighted that we could use the lockdown time to get a best-in-class system which, we hope, will drive our organisation to give the best value to our customers, in terms of better lead times, OTIF deliveries, with consistent quality levels and customer delight. We thank Indus Analytics for supporting our endeavour even during the lockdown."

Meanwhile, on a positive note, Jain concluded, "Lockdown is not bad after all. Cheers!"

Parmeshwar Patidar, managing director at Indus Analytics told PrintWeek, "We have provided all modules of Indus Print ERP to Manali Carton. It is a multi-user, multi-location and cloud-based version, which has been installed on the private cloud handled by the company."

The major features of the ERP include estimation, approvals, product catalogue, sales order, jobcard, inventory, purchase, scheduling, production, dispatch, invoicing, plant and maintenance, and dashboard.

According to Patidar, Indus Print is capable of managing printing processes such as sheetfed offset (both reel to sheet and sheet planning), web offset, narrow-web flexo, corrugation (with offset combination), digital, reel-to-sheet conversion.

Manali Carton Industries is an ISO 9001 2015 certified company with a factory set-up at Chennai. The company manufactures corrugated outer boxes, UV offset printed value added cartons, with complex processes and automatic lines.