The 2500 crore Indian tyre major CEAT Limited has announced that the company has gone live on SAP as a part of its vision to a dopt the latest production and business practices and implement innovative processes that meet the changing demands of its customers. SAP implementation was completed in a record time frame of eight months.

Ceat joined hands with IBM Global Business Services, leading consulting major for SAP Business Suite implementation to form Project Maitree for the implementation of mySAP across all locations and functions of CEAT Limited ( India). Project Maitree had a core team of 60 members from Ceat and IBM with strong domain expertise.

Ceat Tyres Ltd. is the first automotive company to havecompleted a comprehensive SAP implementation across its entirenetwork.

This project enables standardization of CEAT processes by taking the best practices around the globe in Tyre Industry. The business process integration will unify Ceat's multiple business functions for real-time decision-making.

Mr. Paras K Choudhry, Managing Director, Ceat Ltd said " The company has spent close to Rs 10 crore on SAP implementation, and we are expecting a quick payback.. Ofcourse the productivity and revenues will also be boosted"

He added, " With the implementation of SAP the company hopes to realize its dream of a becoming the most efficient and competitive company in its vertical. "

At Ceat the SAP implementation covers the entire network consisting of Corporate office, 2 Manufacturing Plants, 34 Regional offices, 28 RDCs, 125 C&F Agents, 3,500 dealers, 1 Mother Godown, 15 Outsourcing locations, 8 RPD & Mixing locations

Mr. Jitendra Kine Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Ceat Ltd said, "Project Maitree with support from IBM successfully went live across 34 locations within a record time frame of eight months. SAP implementation will accelerate Ceat achieve a world-class status for its products and services and strengthen its leadership position in the industry."

Mr G Venkatraghavan, Partner, IBM Global Services, IBM India/SA said at the occasion, "At IBM we are focused on helping our clients to enable success. We worked with CEAT to reengineer their business processes and strengthen their business vision through the appropriate use of SAP. We are committed to working with our clients to provide them efficient and cost effective solutions".

The solution includes SAP SCM components of Demand Planning and Supply Network Planning apart from Business Intelligence, SAP HR/Payroll and other conventional SAP modules like Financial Accounting & Controlling, Sales & Distribution, Materials Management, Plant Maintenance, Quality Management and Production Planning.

It also integrates 500 SAP users across multiple locations in India , automates the supply chain and replaces distributed legacy applications, enabling CEAT to seamlessly migrate to a centralized and unified IT environment.

Key highlights of the Implementation:

• Bigbang implementation of all modules in over 180 locations.
• This Implementation enables migration from distributed, decentralized environment to Centralized, unified environment along with Standardization of Business Process.
• This Implementation replaces multiple distributed legacy systems.
• Implementation of this scale covers 500 SAP Users across all locations of CEAT.
• Automation of Supply – Chain with high level integration between all functions.
• Implementation of SAP ECC 6.0, APO – Supply Network Planning (SNP) and Demand Planning 5.0 along with Business Intelligence 7.0 in Tyre Industry first of its kind (with bigbang approach) along with SAP Core Components like Sales & Distribution, Materials Management, Production Planning & Execution, Plant Maintenance, Quality Management, Financial Accounting & Controlling.

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ABOUT CEAT

The flagship company of the RPG Enterprises, CEAT Tyres was established in 1958. Today, CEAT is one of India's leading tyre manufacturers, with an annual turnover of Rs 2,391 crores . CEAT's solid brand equity has empowered the company to establish a strong presence in both, domestic and international markets. CEAT tyres, tubes and flaps are renowned for their superior quality and durability, and is recognised as being 'Born Tough'.

CEAT offers the widest range of tyres to all user segments and manufacture world-class radials for all Indian vehicles including: Heavy-duty Trucks and Buses, Light Commercial Vehicles, Earthmovers, Forklifts, Tractors, Trailers, Cars, Motorcycles and Scooters, Auto-rickshaws Current Scenario: - Manufactures over 6 million tyres every year. - Enjoys a major market share in the light truck and truck tyre market - Operates from plants in Mumbai and Nasik - Exports to over 100 countries across USA , Europe, Africa and other parts of Asia . - Has a robust network consisting of 33 regional offices, over 3,500 dealers and more than 100 C&F agents. - Has a dedicated Customer Service department, comprising Customer Service Managers in all four divisional offices, assisted by 50 Service Engineers.

The board headed by Mr. R P Goenka, Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Harsh Goenka, Chairman and Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Vice-Chairman manages RPG Enterprises.