Study of Information Systems at Ashok Leyland

Introduction
Ashok Leyland is Indian commercial vehicle manufacturing company headquartered in Chennai.
The company deals with various product range such as Buses, Trucks, Light Commercial
Vehicles, Generators, and Engines for agricultural, industrial and marine applications. Ashok
Leyland is mainly involved in manufacturing and production and has a lot of employees across
the globe. And so, the company uses many IT Systems such as SAP, eSSL, Microsoft, Catia,
PLM and other cloud based software for its various day to day needs.

1. SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning information system software developed by the
Germans. SAP is used by Ashok Leyland in almost all the departments such as finance, sales,
quality management, material management etc. SAP can be used in various modules for different
departments.
● SD Module (Sales & Distribution) : When an order has been placed by a customer
(online/offline), this order is created and is handled by the SAP SD Module. This module
stores information such as the customer data, pricing, quantity, shipping preferences etc
and maintains it as per the defined rules.
● APO Module (Advanced Planning and Optimization) : This integrates with the APO
Module to check if the vehicle is available in stock on the required date.
● PP Module (Production Planning) : If the vehicle has to be manufactured, then PP
module will handle the production (how much to produce, what raw materials and
quantities are required, when will production start, which production line will be used,
what steps have to be performed, capturing the labor time and costs etc.).
● QM Module (Quality Management) ​: This checks if the produced vehicle is inspected
and passed before delivering it to the customer.
● WM Module (Warehouse Management) : WM Module saves the vehicle information
in the warehouse and handles picking of the ordered vehicles.
● FI Module (Financial Accounting) : This module helps employees to manage data
involved in any financial and business transactions in a unified system. It helps one to get
real-time financial position of an enterprise in the market. It incorporates with other
modules such as SAP SD, SAP MM, SAP PP, Payroll and more for better work results.
● CO Module (Controlling) : ​This is used for planning, reporting and monitoring
operations of businesses. It involves methods to view and organize costs that are required
for financial reporting, enables one to plan, track, perform, report about costs, managing
and configuring master data that covers cost elements, cost centers, profit centers,
internal orders, and functional area.
● MM Module (Materials Management) : ​It manages materials required, processed and
produced in enterprises. Different types of procurement processes are managed with this
system. Some of the popular sub-components in SAP MM module are vendor master
data, consumption based planning, purchasing, inventory management, invoice
verification.
● HCM Module (Human Capital Management) : ​It enhances the work process and data
management within the HR department. Right from hiring a person to evaluating one’s
performance, managing promotions, compensations, handling payroll and other related
activities of an HR is processed using this module.
2. Microsoft Office Suite
● Microsoft Word is used for making documentation, files and daily reports.
● Microsoft PowerPoint is used for making presentations and in conferences and meetings
to present data.
● Microsoft Excel is used for calculations, graphic tools etc.
● Microsoft Outlook is the main emailing software used. Outlook is a web-based suite of
webmail, contacts, tasks, and calendaring services from Microsoft.
● Microsoft Skype for Business is used for video and audio conferences.

3. CATIA V5 PLM Express

CATIA is a multi-platform software suite for Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided
Manufacturing. This tool is used in the design of various objects such as vehicles, buildings,
components, etc. It performs different functions such as the basic volume/shape/mass. It is also
an excellent surfacing tool. Surfacing is the art of developing the shape of an object such as an
aircraft, car, motorcycle, etc using mathematically created objects on the screen.

3. eSSL Biometrics System

To track daily attendance of the employees, eSSL Biometrics system is installed in the factory
premises. These systems are also installed in every mess and canteens to keep a track of the
misused funds. These systems include different modes such as fingerprint sensors, face
detection, card chip detection etc. The models used for fingerprint sensors are E9C WiFi, MT100
and the models used for face detection are MB160 and MB20.

Strengths : ​SAP is one of the best software for businesses across the globe and provides great
results. It automates and accelerates the business operations. It is one of the significant factors of
success for Ashok Leyland.
Weakness : ​There are many new hiring software which helps recruit right candidates. Such
softwares are not being used by Ashok Leyland. The company still believes in traditional IT
systems for hiring and training purpose.