Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR) is one of the largest manufacturers of passenger car rear-view mirrors in the world with a 24 percent share of the global market in production of exterior mirrors for light vehicles. They’re a global corporation with world class engineering capabilities. SMR has state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and a global customer base including all major carmakers in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Overall, they have 22 production and logistics centers located in 15 countries around the globe.
The Challenges of Implementing a Standardized ERP Throughout a Global Company
“Our main IT challenge is integrating all of our plants around the world onto the same ERP system,” notes Christophe Sib, Director, Global ERP and Quality Management Systems. “It’s imperative for us to have a consistent ERP system across the entire company with the ability to accommodate multiple countries and a variety of languages. The solution also had to be capable of being extended for regional differences while still allowing us to function effectively as a single integrated company.”
SMR faced a new challenge when a major customer approached the company about a large new contract for their Langfang plant near Beijing. This plant had been managed without an ERP system, and a stipulation of the contract required that SMR implement an ERP system at the Langfang plant before the customer would commit.
Experience Brings a Quick Response and Implementation
Having such extensive experience with QAD ERP, SMR’s IT team was able to implement the system very quickly. “We only had three months to get the Langfang ERP system installed, tested and live,” notes Christophe. “There were no problems with the software but we did have to work through some local expectations. Having QAD’s superior product and support was very helpful throughout the process.”
“We went live, and within two days the customer’s team came on-site to check if we had met our commitment,” notes Christophe. “They were very focused on the logistics and purchasing processes and certified everything was in place — the contract was quickly confirmed and the new project began.” Read the full story on SMR’s success with a global ERP standardization and implementation.
