Bedtime Tech

The growing demand for modern mattresses in India and changing business
modalities has forced the mattress manufacturers to revamp their processes and
realign businesses. It is therefore technology that came to their rescue and
helped to cater to the growing needs. By embracing and implementing new age
technology, the Indian mattress manufacturing industry not only got a new look
and feel, but it all offered its buyers a completely different experience of
purchasing the product.

Having said so, it is not about any rocket science engineering that has done
some magic or brought some miraculous changes in mattresses or their purchase.
The driver has been automation of business processes by the manufacturers that
has created few visible and few not so visible yet impact-ful changes in the
whole process.

A Tender Touch

Creating an IT architecture supporting business needs is no easy task. And
when it comes to taking on the responsibility of providing happiness and comfort
to people, one has to be doubly assured. Kurlon has pioneered rubberized coir
mattress manufacturing in India, and it is with this penchant to maintain the
lead that the company went ahead with several technology initiatives to bring in
transparency and an integrated approach to business functionalities. "We are
trying to innovate and implement modern technology within our organization to
offer the users state-of-the-art computing capabilities as well as leverage on
the benefits to improve our business," says Harish Pai, AGM, information &
systems, Kurlon.

With new technologies, we have been able to cover the gaps between procurement, production, and sales and distribution	Harish Pai, AGM, information & systems, Kurlon

Being into the business of pure comfort, Kurlon has remained focused towards
developing fresh products and designs. Embracing modern technology has been a
business need. The company has of late deployed enterprise ERP system from SAP
replacing all its legacy software. The data center architecture has been
structured on HP server platform. "This new implementation has brought in great
benefits to our organization including transparency, efficiency, process
optimization, cost benefits. And above all, it has given us a uniform platform
and single window access to all the core functionalities," says Pai.

Kurlon has revamped its website as well as using web technologies to create
an interactive web environment. To enable online transactions, it has integrated
the web interface with the ERP system. Online orders are thus automatically
processed by the warehouses or production units right from the procurement stage
till despatch of finished products. This has speeded up production process, and
market demands are catered to faster.

"With these new technologies we have been able to cover the gaps between
procurement, production and sales and distribution by streamlining all these and
more," explains Pai. "Since we can now measure our inventory and purchase orders
and synchronize the production processes along with the core functional areas,
new business avenues have opened up for us," he adds.

Kurlon has also created a call center with a toll-free number that handles
all customer support, complaints and enquiries; and is next planning to
implement mobile technology to support marketing and sales level transactions.
"We are very bullish on these new-found benefits, and are planning to further
refine our process by more tech deployments in the near future," says Pie.

Piyali Guha

piyalig@cybermedia.co.in