With an increase in production capacity and the number of manufacturing plants in each location, monitoring and managing these plants via an integrated single system was the key challenge for Jindal Steel Limited (JSL). Manufacturing data was being captured via programmable logical controllers (PLC) and stored on disparate systems and there was a disconnect between the process and business information, leading to lack of process visibility at the management level. This, in turn, lead to inefficiencies in terms of production costs, inventory costs and product quality.

JSL already had an ERP implementation by SAP in place and the solution was to integrate this system with the company’s manufacturing processes. This was done by deploying  SAP’s Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (MII) application. With this deployment, the company was able to achieve a high level of transparency and visibility into the entire manufacturing process.

Post implementation, finished goods inventory was reduced by 25 percent within three months. By aligning and comparing process parameters with standard operating procedures, the company has been able to monitor and control process deviations and thereby improve overall efficiency by 25 percent and reduce plant maintenance costs by 20 percent. The organization has been able to achieve an increased production yield of around 20 percent while reducing the material procurement spends by 20 percent.

The deployment has also allowed the company to track the defect source for a bad quality product by analyzing the historical data of the process chain and thereby achieving a 20 percent reduction in defects post implementation.