Learn how L&T–CASE engineers faster production with SAP and IBM, improving both business efficiency and the availability of its business-critical IT platform and offering better than 99.9 percent uptime. For more information on System x, visit http://ibm.co/Q7m3iQ. Visit http://bit.ly/KWh5Dx to 'Follow' the official Twitter handle of IBM India Smarter Computing.

1. Case Study
IBM Systems and Technology Group Industrial Products
A joint venture of Larsen & Toubro Ltd and CNH Global NV,
L&T–CASE manufactures and sells construction and road-building
equipment. Based in Pithampur, India, the company operates multiple
production sites as well as working with subcontractor locations across
the country.
L&T-CASE is expanding fast as the Indian economy continues to grow,
resulting in positive national investment in transport infrastructure.
The company used separate software systems to manage its production,
inventory and financial solutions, resulting in a complex web of
interlinked systems and a large measure of manual, paper-based
record-keeping.
Mr S K Sethia, DGM-IT, explains the difficulties caused: “In many
cases we send materials to specialist subcontractors. The vendors
pay 50 percent of the materials value to L&T-CASE, to ensure that
we are protected against loss, and to avoid the potential drain on
cash flow. When the finished goods are received at L&T-CASE, the
subcontractor charges the full amount for their service.
“The materials and finished goods are in constant flow between the
subcontractors and L&T-CASE. Production planning and materials
management processes were controlled by specialist software solutions.
At any moment we have approximately 50 projects in progress each
worth some INR8 million (about $150,000), totaling INR400 million
($7.5 million). The financial solution, though, was separate, and all the
goods movement data had to be checked and agreed manually using
complex, linked spreadsheets, and it was very difficult to reconcile
figures.”
L&T–CASE engineers
faster production
With SAP and IBM
Overview
The need
Indian engineering giant L&T–CASE
operated separate production
planning, materials management and
financial solutions to run its large and
geographically diverse operations
Monitoring and reconciling finances
against work was a constant challenge.
The solution
L&T-CASE chose to implement integrated
SAPERP software to manage the
complete production and financial
administration process, based on
IBM System x®
3650 class servers.
The benefit
By implementing the new SAP ERP
production planning and materials
management software on the IBM System
x3650 class servers, L&T-CASE has
improved both business efficiency and
the availability of its business-critical IT
platform, offering better than 99.9 percent
uptime.

2. Case Study
IBM Systems and Technology Group Industrial Products
Lack of integration hinders growth
As the company grew, the manual reconciliation procedure was a
barrier to progress. Figures were slow to arrive, were a source of
dispute and revision, and were perceived as unreliable. It was important
to accelerate the information flow and provide validated data, so that
subcontractors and L&T-CASE understood the true financial position.
With timely, accurate data, L&T-CASE would be able to identify and
eliminate costs, and ensure work was placed with the most cost-efficient
subcontractors. Additionally, by integrating production planning
with the core business applications, L&T-CASE would be able to use
the subcontractors’ materials requests and delivery data to drive its
manufacturing operations to ensure that the company – even with an
extensive network of external vendors – would respond as a single unit
to customer demand.
Building a business case
L&T-CASE was running SAP financial, controlling, quality
management, and SAP Extended Warehouse Management
(SAP EWM) applications, and the executive team understood the
benefits of integrated software. Working with IBM, the L&T-CASE
team considered integrating its existing solutions or implementing SAP
applications and tailoring them to its specific needs.
“The IBM team was very capable,” says Mr Sethia. “IBM completed
a study that clearly identified the gaps between the operational and
financial processes, and how these could be bridged. The result was a
full business case, describing the possible software options, the impact
on L&T-CASE, and the potential solutions.”
At the time, L&T-CASE supported some 200 users of its SAP
applications, with an Oracle production database of around 300 GB.
The company provided a portal for its subcontractors and other
partners, and both the portal and occasionally the core SAP instances
suffered from poor response times. It was clear that the existing IT
HP server infrastructure would not be capable of supporting the
additional workload reliably or with acceptable performance. The IBM
team recommended that L&T-CASE review its IT infrastructure,
with business growth in mind and the potential for adding business
warehousing and analytics features in future.
“The capacity and
scalability of the x3650
enable L&T-CASE
to plan for additional
throughput and, if
necessary, further
extension of its SAP
applications. L&T-CASE
is very satisfied with the
SAP applications and
IBM System x3650
infrastructure powered
by Intel Xeon processors,
and we are well placed to
handle the workload.”
— Mr S K Sethia, DGM-IT, L&T-Case

3. Case Study
IBM Systems and Technology Group Industrial Products
Supporting SAP applications with IBM System x
L&T-CASE chose to implement new SAP production, test and portal
servers on three IBM System x®
3650 M3 servers, duplicated to a
further three identical x3650 servers at a second data center for failover
and disaster recovery purposes.
IBM System x3650 M3 servers are designed to deliver higher
performance per watt, offer simplified management and serviceability,
and provide reduced business risk. The energy-efficient design supports
multiple processor cores and up to 288 GB of memory in a scalable 2U
package, with a simple upgrade path to 16 hard disk drives or solid state
drives. The x3650 M3 is powered by up to two 3.46 GHz six-core or
3.60 GHz four-core Intel Xeon 5600 series processors with QuickPath
Interconnect technology.
The Intel Xeon processor 5600 series automatically regulates power
consumption and intelligently adjusts server performance according to
application needs. The 5600 series processors deliver up to 15 times the
performance per server when compared with typical two-socket single-
core servers, enabling significant server consolidation, up to 95 percent
lower energy costs, and an estimated return on investment in as little as
five months.
L&T-CASE is able to rely on these enormously powerful and reliable
servers to provide the capacity to run the expanded SAP application
landscape, including production planning and materials management,
with sufficient performance headroom to provide fast portal response,
too.
Better business efficiency
By implementing the new SAP ERP production planning and materials
management on the IBM System x3650 M3 servers, L&T-CASE has
improved both business efficiency and the availability of its business-
critical IT platform, offering better than 99.9 percent uptime. The
company has eliminated manual, spreadsheet-based reconciliations of
its work-in-progress with its finances, and now uses the integrated SAP
applications. The x3650 is able to complete the process within a matter
of hours, and L&T-CASE can provide data to dealers, subcontractors
and the management team, always certain that the figures are correct.
Mr Sethia concludes, “The capacity and scalability of the x3650 enable
L&T-CASE to plan for additional throughput and, if necessary, further
extension of its SAP applications. L&T-CASE is very satisfied with the
SAP applications and IBM System x3650 infrastructure powered by
Intel Xeon processors, and we are well placed to handle the workload.”
Solution Components
Software
• SAP ERP software including financials,
controlling, quality management,
materials management and SAP
Extended Warehouse Management
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003,
Oracle
Hardware
• IBM System x®
3650 class servers, Intel
Xeon 5600 processor

4. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2012
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Produced in Germany
April 2012
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