Chennai, INDIA: From computerising its payroll, finance, inventory, and invoicing systems in 1985 to latest IT deployments for efficient capacity planning, utilization, wastage reduction to a special E-suite of web enabled products tailored to the cement vertical, Madras Cements is whipping up the click-and-mortar strategy in full form.

Madras Cements Ltd., the flagship Company of the Ramco Group with diversified business interests in cement, fibre products, textiles, surgical dressings, wind energy, light engineering goods and software solutions has been using a concrete IT mix for a robust business foundation over the past few years.  Pratima Harigunani of CyberMedia News talks to G Muthukrishnan, chief manager IT and finds out how is IT binding together with business so far.

CyberMedia News: What have been the main upshots of the web-enabled E-suite roll out?
G. Muthukrishnan: Previously, the systems were not fully connected to book orders but now we are able to seamlessly connect to customers. There have been improvements in business productivity and changes in business processes. In another green initiative, we are also moving to blade servers.

CMN: Apparently, Madras Cements have witnessed substantial improvements in capacity utilisation like spotting the under-utilisation of some costly mining equipment and a major portion of heavy equipment besides synchronizing production and processes and consequently reducing the number of production shifts as well. How much of these advancements came from IT's contribution?
G.M: The ERP model was put in place for real time integration and plant maintenance. With this it became easier to analyse usage and correspondingly support management decision-making. We could check and compare ideal hours with actual man-hours for all equipment. IT has played a key role.

CMN: What was the rationale of going in for a phased implementation?
G.M: The testing and integration part was important and thus it was necessary to move in a phased manner. We were moving from a previous version to the next one of an existing solution. We completed the web-enabled deployment in six months.

CMN: How do you propose to leverage your existing IT infrastructure ahead?
G.M: Right now, we are consolidating all locations and undergoing the shift to blade servers. There is also a DR (Disaster Recovery) site in the works that will come up in three months. It could be in Bangalore or Hyderabad but we are still at the evaluation stage.
 
CMN: So what are your main worries as a CIO today?
G.M: Storage and security