Brazilian conglomerate Tramontina selects Genero for in-house ERP development
Ignores industry trend towards packaged solutions.
Carlos Barbosa City, Brazil – 23rd November 2006 — Tramontina, a ninety-five year old worldwide manufacturer and distributor of household goods, electrical appliances and tools for the building trade has decided to develop all critical applications in-house with Genero – a development and deployment environment from Four Js Development Tools.
“We have learned over the years, that we are the best architects of our IT strategy,” said Marcos Antonio Sganderlla, CIO of Tramontina.
Where other similar sized companies are deploying ready-built packages that are shoehorned to fit their businesses – or in ceratin cases completely outsourced – Tramontina has made a conscious decision to keep development of these systems within its own walls, so that it directly controls its competitive edge. As a result, a whopping ninety percent of all information systems are now developed in-house including its ERP solution.
“By the time we have explained our business value and strategy to selected partners, the market has moved on,” explained Sganderlla. “The trend is to improve our market agility through the gradual implementation of a service oriented architecture, using the web browser as the predominant user interface,” he continued.
Tramontina owns 10 factories and 6 distribution centers in Brazil with 10 international business units and a very diversified production capacity covering over 17,000 items of silverware and furniture.
“Four hundred sales people from fifty thousand distinct customers submit ninety eight percent of all orders from around the world including regions such as the USA, South America, Germany and France.
“Ten thousand suppliers participate in auctions to provide goods via our e-procurement portal,” continued Sganderlla. “The latest feature implemented in our ERP prioritizes the production sequence as a function of the available production capacity without compromising delivery deadlines. I couldn’t imagine anything as complex as that coming from anybody other than ourselves.”
The option to keep development in-house has also economical benefits.
“We have an efficient team by any industry measurement. In all, there are 14 people: 1 manager, 9 developers, 2 data base administrators and 2 technicians dedicated to support. In anything other than Genero, I would need two or three times the team. I know, I tried it for a while.”
The team receives 650 requests per month to provide new features and new programs.
“My development team are professionals coming from within the lines of business, so they know the company’s needs and challenges extremely well,” said Sganderlla. “They know exactly what the user wants, what makes for an easier and faster development.”
Today, there are 45 home grown systems serving 1000 users throughout Brazil of which 90% use Four Js products.
