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IBM > Case Studies > Gabriel India Ltd builds a single platform for group-wide ERP with IBM and SAP

Gabriel India Ltd builds a single platform for group-wide ERP with IBM and SAP

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Procurement

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation
Inventory Management

Services

System Integration
Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

The Challenge

Gabriel India Ltd operates six main manufacturing sites across the country, and plans to open additional plants in northern India. To streamline operations and support growth, the company wanted to move to a single central enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that would support manufacturing processes as well as finance and distribution. Its existing architecture – Intel processor-based HP Proliant machines running Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 databases – was struggling to deliver adequate performance even for SAP Business One, and the predicted resource requirements for SAP ERP were far higher.

About The Customer

Gabriel India Ltd is the flagship company of the Anand Group, which is among India’s leading automotive component companies. The group consists of 19 companies that manufacture original equipment and components for the automotive industry both within India and internationally. Gabriel India specializes in ride control products (shock-absorbers, front forks and struts), which it supplies directly to major car, motorcycle and heavy goods vehicle manufacturers, and also sells through agents and distributors as aftermarket products. Founded in 1961, the company has its headquarters and main plant in Pune and operates at five other manufacturing sites in Nashik, Dewas, Hosur, Khandsa and Parwanoo. It employs around 2,900 people, produces 20 million units per year, and generates annual revenues of approximately 7 billion Indian Rupees.

The Solution

The company upgraded from its existing SAP Business One solution to SAP ERP 6.0, and migrated from HP hardware and Microsoft SQL Server to a fully IBM solution: an IBM DB2 database running on two IBM Power 520 servers and supported by an IBM System Storage DS5020 disk system. The company also upgraded its network infrastructure, providing faster access to SAP applications for users across the country. Running IBM DB2 on IBM AIX enables features such as Deep Compression, which allows companies to reduce data storage requirements by up to 70 percent while also boosting database performance. This is particularly valuable in database-intensive environments such as SAP ERP, where improved database throughput can have a significant effect on overall response times.

Operational Impact

Created a common platform for managing all major corporate processes from procurement through to distribution.
For the first time, production processes at all six manufacturing sites will be controlled by a single central system, boosting efficiencies and making better use of resources.
The new architecture delivers response times of less than 400 ms for session opening, which is an improvement on the 1,000 ms response times in the existing HP and Microsoft SQL Server environment.

Quantitative Benefit

Near 100 percent uptime for core business applications on the IBM Power 750 server
Reduced administration workload that saves one full-time employee equivalent
Saved around 50 percent of predicted capital expenditure thanks to virtualized servers for key SAP production and other applications