BANGALORE, INDIA: Axcend Automation and Software Solutions, specialized in providing end-to-end manufacturing IT solutions, is a pioneer with expertise in the convergence space of industrial automation and IT technologies.
Axcend's portfolio of services includes plant automation, product lifecycle management (PLM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and manufacturing execution systems for industries and outsourced product development for OEMs who serve these industries.
Headquartered in Bangalore, its unique hybrid convergence development processes has been accredited with the global first recognition on the CMMI framework.
Axcend's main focus is on the manufacturing vertical. "When we say manufacturing, we work with both large enterprises, and small and medium businesses (SMBs). The offerings are slightly different for both segments, but the solutions are acquired from the same partner and we work on multiple technologies. How you architect a solution and look at it would be slightly different," says Satish Kumar, director, Axcend Automation and Software Solutions.
Axcend, which started operations in 2001, was a typical IT start-up organization.
"We are solutions-oriented and have to work closely with the customers. In the manufacturing segment itself, we are more focused on discrete. Our concentration is also on auto machine tools, industrial machinery and FMCG companies," he adds.
"When I say end-to-end solutions," he adds, "we initially focused on enterprise, later we partnered with a company called QAD, whose focus predominantly is on ERP called MFG/Pro, business intelligence (BI) and CRM. "QAD has a particular framework of ERP for SMBs which is very intuitive and user-friendly for the SMB manufacturing sector."
With MFG/Pro, SMBs can afford to maintain and retain the ERP resources as they cannot handle big maintenance costs. "We have set up a help desk where two to three persons can manage seven to eight customers, and we take remote control of their applications. We can solve 90 per cent of their problems from the help desk," he explains.
Secondly, Axcend has also partnered with Siemens PLM where it sells and implements Siemens' digital solutions - CAD, CAM and CAE range.
Kumar says, "Siemens' digital manufacturing solution is not much a commodity stuff in India. It is well known in Germany and Italy. Use of this solution is slowly picking up in India. If you can visualize a manufacturing scenario in your system before taking a decision, it can avoid the hurdles you face once you set up a plant."
According to him these solutions offer the clients a design which enables them to visualize how their plant would look once ready and any changes required could be done at this level itself so that there would be no need to change anything later.
"This solution mostly helps those in discrete manufacturing. It also helps those industries which are into machine tools, industrial machinery, food and beverage, and obviously auto. The off-setting business is one industry which will be hugely benefited from this," he adds.
