IFS brings in Application 7 to Lanka with DSI upgrade

DSI, the premier business conglomerate and market leader for footwear and bicycle tyres in Sri Lanka has upgraded its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in a bid to reduce overheads and increase productivity to further strengthen its position in the industry.

"The new solution which we implemented with the assistance of IFS helped the company to be the undisputed market leader in footwear," Chairman DSI Group D. K. Rajapaksa, said.

He said that the introduction of the ERP solution has not only improved the operational efficiency, but also reduced the inventories drastically.

"IFS helped to reduce the WIP, Raw material and Finished Goods inventories, their by increasing factory and storage spaces," he said.

Manager Technical Services, IFS, Saminda Ratnayake, explaining why companies need to upgrade their software, said it is mainly to be on par with technological change that takes place in the macro environment. "To absorb the latest technology and to be on par with processes change in the organisation and in the industry, it is important for firms to upgrade their systems," he said.

Ratnayake said that the challenges the company faced in DSI upgrade was that the 2001 to Application 7 version upgrade had never been done anywhere in the world. this was a jump from 3 Versions which was a huge challenge for the project team.

"Relatively there was a short period available, the upgrade had to be completed and tested within the April holidays.

All the business flows and scenarios, and reports had to be tested within this short period," he said, adding that the commitment from both the DSI and IFS project teams helped to overcome these challenges.

He said that the support extended from the DSI project team and staff members for the upgrade was very good.

All DSI users and the staff members were much excited about the new Version. Especially the support extended from the IT and Finance department was quite crucial for the successful completion of the project.

"The DSI staff and the users of IFS applications had a smooth transition without any disruptions to work, the first working day after the April holidays DSI went Live with IFS Application 7.

Many training programs were conducted for users to get familiar with the new application," he explained, adding that the advantages of the new application from the previous Applications 7 of IFS is that it has incorporated the manufacturing industries best practices, and contains much improved enhanced functionalities and facilities that meets the business requirements of DSI.

"Solutions for the Agile Enterprise" is the overall message for IFS application 7," he said.