Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and 12.1

Oracle Customer:
AMCO Batteries
Chennai, India
www.amco.co.in
Industry:
Industrial Manufacturing
Annual Revenue:
Under US$100 Million
Employees:
300
Oracle Products & Services:
• Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1
• Oracle Financials
• Oracle Inventory Management
• Oracle Purchasing
• Oracle Order Management
• Oracle Discrete Manufacturing
AMCO Batteries Cuts Month-End Reporting by
13 Days, Reduces Inventory Costs, and Shortens
the Vendor Payment Cycle by 50%
Founded in 1955, AMCO Batteries Ltd manufactures a wide range of automotive batteries.
The company has 22 branch offices and a nationwide distribution network. It is a member of
the Amalgamations Group, one of India’s largest business groups in the light-engineering
industry.
In 2010, AMCO Batteries replaced disparate business systems with integrated enterprise
resource planning (ERP), based on Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1. By consolidating
data in a central repository, the company cut its month-end reporting time from 20 days to 7
days, reduced inventory costs, and shortened the vendor payment cycle by 50%.
Growing Business Demands Sophisticated System
AMCO BATTERIES
“We now know the previous month’s sales figures on the first working day of the
following month. This is something we have been trying to do for the past several
years, and Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 has helped us achieve it.”
–– Sridhar R.A, CEO, AMCO Batteries Ltd
AMCO Batteries supplies batteries to many of the world’s leading motorcycle manufacturers,
including Bajaj, Hero Moto Corporation India Ltd, Honda, Royal Enfield, TVS, and
Yamaha. The company also supplies batteries to makers of four-wheeled vehicles, such as
Eicher Tractors, Sonalika Tractors, TAFE Tractors, and VST Tiller Tractors Ltd. It was the
first manufacturer in the automotive battery industry to be awarded ISO-9001 certification
by the international quality assurance code compliance consultancy Bureau Veritas.
Prior to 2010, AMCO Batteries’ 22 branch offices and two factories used an in-house system
to manage financials, sales orders, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, and warranties.
The systems were not linked to a central server, making it difficult for the company’s
Chennai head office to have an integrated view of the business.
Managers were unable to complete real-time analysis. Instead, they had to wait days for
branches and factories to e-mail relevant data to the head office, so that it could be compiled
into consolidated reports. This affected AMCO Batteries’ ability to respond quickly to
emerging issues and opportunities.
“The system limited our ability to check whether billing was correct, revenues were coming
in properly, and inventories were in order, unless someone manually consolidated data from
our branches and factories,” said Sridhar R.A, chief executive officer, AMCO Batteries Ltd.
“We couldn’t count on data to be 100% accurate, so we were never sure what our
operational status was. It was not unusual to have to wait up to four months after the end of
the financial year to get consolidated yearly reports.”
The in-house system also lacked security codes, meaning anyone could use the system to
look at or potentially tamper with business data.
AMCO Batteries had grown 20% each year since 2005. As the company expanded, it
became clear that the in-house system had outlived its usefulness. AMCO Batteries decided
to implement a new ERP system based on Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.
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