iDempiere ERP for an international manufacturing group with foreign subsidiaries
A manufacturing group with over 500 employees moves its head office and foreign subsidiaries to iDempiere, a web ERP linking production, logistics and sales.
The client
An Italian manufacturing group with an international presence, specialising in the design and production of mechanical components and solutions for industrial applications. It has over 500 employees, a head office in Italy and five foreign subsidiaries across Europe, Asia and North America, some with their own production plants.
The information system must handle six separate organisations, with multiple languages, currencies and local requirements, while keeping shared master data alongside information specific to each company.
Key results
- One ERP shared by all group companies
- Web access for Italian and foreign sites
- More uniform processes across head office and subsidiaries
The starting point
The group’s growth had led to a complex information ecosystem. At head office, separate management and Finance systems coexisted with COMPIERE and with links to applications for production, CAD/PDM, MES, CRM and product configuration.
The subsidiaries used COMPIERE for quotations, sales, purchasing, warehouse, logistics, production and intercompany processes, accessed via Remote Desktop, with product and Business Partner master data periodically aligned with head office.
The goal was to move to a web ERP shared by all group companies, preserving established industrial processes and the necessary integrations on a more modern, open and scalable architecture.
Key challenges
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01
System spread across platforms
Management, Finance, production and specialist applications ran on separate systems. The migration had to rationalise the architecture without interrupting flows to CAD/PDM, MES and CRM.
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02
Technology to modernise
The subsidiaries used a legacy version of COMPIERE on Oracle with Remote Desktop access. A more accessible web ERP suited to an international structure was needed.
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03
Distributed master data
Some product data came from the central technical system, while certain subsidiary items were created manually, with potential coding and alignment issues.
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04
Complex production
Bills of materials, alternative routings, resources, lead times and component availability needed structured management. Some BOM functions were limited to the first level.
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05
Multiple companies and plants
Different organisations had to operate in the same environment, with shared master data but site-specific configurations, languages, currencies and processes.
The solution
Labinf Sistemi designed a migration path to iDempiere, an open source, web-based ERP platform configured around the group’s processes.
The project is being carried out in phases: first the foreign subsidiaries, then the extension to head office, with data migration and continued integration with existing industrial systems. The aim is integrated management of head office and subsidiary processes through a web ERP, with a high degree of integration with external applications.
The solution includes
- Multi-company and multi-currency
- Customer, supplier and product records
- Sales cycle
- Purchasing cycle
- Logistics, multi-warehouse and WMS
- Bills of materials and alternative routings
- MRP and requirements planning
- Production load calculation
- Work orders and progress tracking
- Lots and serial numbers
- Component traceability
- Accounting and management control
- Integration with CAD/PDM and MES
- Intercompany processes
- Reporting and KPIs
Bills of materials and planning
Particular attention was paid to production: iDempiere manages work centres, bills of materials, production routings, MRP, loads, work orders, progress, receipts of finished goods, lots and component traceability through to the finished product.
The new environment overcomes the previous system’s BOM limits: it supports alternative bills and routings, multi-level structures and alternative resources, and runs MRP and CRP taking production times into account.
The benefits
- One ERP shared by all group companies
- Web access for Italian and foreign sites
- More uniform processes across head office and subsidiaries
- Shared, structured master data
- Production, logistics, sales and purchasing in one environment
- MRP planning of materials and requirements
- Traceability of lots, components and serial numbers
- Closer integration with CAD/PDM and MES
- Less manual data transfer and realignment
- Architecture ready for new systems and processes
Not simply a replacement of the management system, but the progressive construction of a common information system for an internationally distributed group.
In short
With iDempiere the group is moving from a set of applications and integrations layered over time to a web ERP shared by all its companies. An open, scalable system that connects production, logistics and management while respecting the specific needs of each plant.
