Taner Industrial streamlines manufacturing with a custom ERP built on Zoho Creator

The company

Taner Industrial Technology is in the business of palm oil processing, with a reach spanning across Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Costa Rica. They offer comprehensive engineering services, from designing and building new palm oil mills to upgrading existing facilities.

The challenge

Taner's business operations were filled with manual practices, and they relied on a patchwork of Microsoft Office and printed forms for core functions. Communication, while present via Microsoft Teams and Trello, also lacked cohesion. This disjointed approach made it nearly impossible to track the history and progress of their workflows, and their heavy reliance on manual processes led to increased human error.

As the company grew, these inefficiencies became unsustainable; the rising cost of human error necessitated a shift towards digitized processes. They evaluated industry giants like Microsoft 365, SAP, and Salesforce before ultimately settling on Zoho. The customizable nature of Zoho's solutions resonated with Taner and their unique requirements, providing the perfect fit for their elaborate business processes.

Introduction to Creator by The Techno Set Sdn. Bhd.

Taner was introduced to Zoho Creator by Omar Khamam, CEO of The Techno Set Sdn. Bhd., a Zoho Partner and Creator certified developer professional. Omar has a keen interest in the cloud, artificial intelligence, and IoT solutions, and his comprehensive approach revolves around integrated ecosystems, driving meaningful and lasting transformation across businesses. This gave Taner the confidence they needed to streamline their operations and propel themselves towards a future that was free of manual processes.

The solution

Taner initially implemented Zoho CRM to manage their sales pipeline, but as their business grew, they required a more comprehensive solution to connect all their departments and ensure a smooth information flow. That's when they leveraged Zoho Creator to build a custom ERP system tailored to their specific needs.

Taner implemented the ERP in phases, starting with the most crucial department—Sales.

Sales management

The ERP acts as a central hub for sales inquiries, quotations, and orders. This ensures data accuracy and facilitates easy retraceability. Taner can generate quotations, capture sales orders, and track the entire sales pipeline within their ERP. This centralized view ensures they never miss an opportunity.

Inventory management

The Items module allows Taner to create a comprehensive product catalog with technical specifications, descriptions, sub-components, costs, and validity periods. This structured approach simplifies generating production documents, like quotations and material requests. Taner can also update and regenerate item costs efficiently within the system.

Quotation generation

This module streamlines the quotation process by leveraging data from Zoho CRM. When a deal is chosen, customer details are automatically populated within the Creator app. Furthermore, adding the main product automatically generates a list of its sub-components, due to the hierarchical structure created in the Items module. It also seamlessly integrates with both the Material Requisition (MR) and Jobs modules, ensuring that all necessary materials are requisitioned in a timely manner.

Material requisition

The MR module analyzes sales forecasts, bills of materials, and current inventory levels to generate plans for purchasing raw materials and creating production schedules. This prevents stockouts and ensures on-time production.

Job management

Users can create job orders, estimate costs, and allocate resources within the Jobs module. A sub-module, the Job Progress Checklist, fosters communication between departments by providing real-time progress tracking of each order. Data entry is also automated, eliminating manual updates. This integrated manpower management feature enables them to assign tasks and track progress effectively, optimizing resource allocation and enhancing productivity.

Delivery tracking

The delivery module helps track all pending deliveries, whether bulk or batched.

Customer management

This module maintains a centralized customer database with complete order histories.

Spare-part sales

The system facilitates generating quotations for the spare parts and maintenance services required by customers after job completion.

Benefits

Effortless scalability

Unlike off-the-shelf software, this ERP built on Creator can be easily scaled to accommodate Taner's expanding business needs. As the company grows, the ERP can be easily modified to handle additional data, users, and functionalities, ensuring it remains a valuable tool for years to come.

Unified data platform

The ERP eliminates the issue of data silos, where information gets trapped in individual departments. With a central platform, all departments can access and update data in real time. This fosters improved collaboration, better decision-making, and a more holistic view of the company's operations.

Streamlined operations through automation

Repetitive tasks that consume valuable time and resources can be automated within the ERP, like generating reports and processing orders. Automation has minimized errors and helps employees focus on more strategic initiatives, boosting overall efficiency.

Looking forward

Taner anticipates future growth and plans to strategically scale their Zoho Creator solution alongside their company's expansion. This includes the development of a new product design module specifically tailored for their engineering departments. By integrating Zoho Creator more deeply into their operations, Taner aims to streamline workflows and improve overall efficiency.