ERP Goes Live in 6 Weeks at Swedish Industrial Park in Sri Lanka, Implemented by IFS

15th September 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Firms in an industrial park in Sri Lanka are getting enterprise resource planning software (EFP) from Swedish based IFS, in as little as six weeks, making it a record for implementing such software, officials said.

The Flinth Industrial Park, a unit of Swedcord Development AB of Sweden provides not only factory infrastructure but also operational support such as finance, legal, services, quality control, human resources and information technology for firm in their park.

"The actual companies in the park are built to produce and market, nothing else," says Flinth group chairman Rune Flinth.

Flinth has been operating its own factories in Sri Lanka for twenty years.

The firm has signed up IFS to support manufactures in the park which has eight firms.

Jayantha de Silva, head of IFS for Asia Pacific said the software had gone live in six weeks at two firms, which was a record for ERP implementation.

IFS is firm with 2.6 billion Swedish Krona with 2,000 customers and 2,700 employees. It also has 40 customers in Sri Lanka.

The Flinth park has firms making sensors for aircraft, cables and cable harnesses. Aerosense, a firm making sensors for aircraft was the firm with the most complex manufacturing processes, officials said.

IFS software comes in modules which can be implemented at each firm connected to the common services provided by the industrial park.

IFS has now started providing its services outside its own park starting with an industry that supplies components to one of the firms in the park.

Flinth says he has had discussions with Sri Lanka Board of Investments, which approves foreign investments and runs industrial parks about extending the concept.