A CASE STUDY

Samsonite Aims for Market Leadership
With The Help of Baan ERP
 

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Company: Samsonite India Limited
Line of business: General Services
Product Range: Luggages and a variety of travel goods
Type of Manufacturing: Repetitive and Make-To-Stock
Number of users: 16 Users
Number of Sites: Single Site – Nashik (Maharashtra)


Samsonite’s Benefits Using Baan ERP Software
  • Better Ordering Ability
  • Production planning will become flexible and agile
  • Tight integration of production planning and marketing-demand forecasts
  • Significant reduction in manufacturing cost and achieve cost competitiveness
  • End to End cycle time for total processes should reduce considerably
  • Very good visibility of data for analysis
  • Should be able to handle growth challenges easily


Project Highlights
  • Greenfield Site and referencible
  • Site is live with localised version in place
  • Multi-component product with very complex production techniques
  • ERP implementation spearheaded by the CEO
  • Excellent cooperation from end-users – zero resistance


How many ERP vendors did Samsonite evaluate?
Worldwide all Samsonite subsidiaries are on some ERP or the other and in India the company evaluated SAP, JD Edwards, Mastek apart from Baan.


Why did Samsonite choose Baan Software?

Samsonite wanted a world class ERP software and Baan was their first choice.

They preferred Baan because of its excellent fitment with their line of business. Besides, localisation version was also available only with Baan, which was crucial for Samsonite’s operations and no other vendor was providing this. Moreover, the luggage giant was also looking for a financially stable company and Baan scored on this front too. The company was also impressed by the excellent project management support and consulting services offered by Baan.


What are the key factors that helped Samsonite decide on Baan?
  • BaanIV package was a stable package with rich functionalities
  • Another factor was the Dynamic Enterprise Modeller (DEM) – which reduced implementation time considerably saving otherwise ballooning costs
  • Baan’s India Localisation handled all the tax based procedural aspects effectively
  • The solution offered by Baan comprehensively met our requirements with better service

What operational improvements and benefits did Samsonite expects the Baan ERP system to provide?

Samsonite manufactures multi-component products with complicated production techniques. Just imagine the complexity involved when there are almost 350 models of products with 2000 components each and market trends changes quite fast in the travel goods business. Baan ERP will help Samsonite to be agile and flexible in production planning and integrate quickly to the ever-changing market demands. Besides, Baan should help in better ordering and help the company’s objective of rolling out a product a week in the market.


Can you briefly describe the implementation process?

Samsonite’s implementation schedule was very hectic and quick because it was a Greenfield site. The top management including the CEO took a strategic decision not to customise the Baan product. Infact, says Dr.Tainwala,"My recommendation is never try to customise an ERP product to your functional needs. It is a fruitless exercise and a waste of time". At Samsonite, the consultants did a bare minimum optimisation and a little bit of customisation.


COMPANY PROFILE

Samsonite India Limited is a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Belgium Headquartered luggage giant Samsonite. The Samsonite brand enjoys worldwide recognition and is synonymous with quality and variety in luggage and travel accessories for all types of travel.

Marketed primarily under three main brands: Samsonite, American Tourister and Lark among others. Each of these brands appeals to a different group of consumers having unique luggage needs. Travellers everywhere recognise the Samsonite brand for its style, dependability and reliable quality.

Samsonite luggages are sold through 23,000 outlets found in more than 100 countries throughout the world. Joint ventures have been formed to produce and distribute Samsonite products locally in Singapore, India and China.

In India, the company’s manufacturing hub is located in Nashik, one of the three in the world. The other two hubs are located in Italy and China. Within a year of setting up operations in Nashik in 1997, the company has already notched an approximate turnover of Rs 50 Crores and has achieved the market leadership position – almost 60 per cent share- in the premium luggage segment. Samsonite India has also achieved a 15 per cent share of overall Indian travels goods market.