Hikal Ltd, the manufacturers of pharmaceutical and agrochemical ingredients and intermediates, has implemented Oracle applications to increase production efficiencies, control costs and improve customer services. The company is engaged in custom synthesis and manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and crop protection chemicals. It is a supplier of these products to multinational companies worldwide.

Custom pharmaceutical solution providers like Hikal need to maintain extensive and close control over their production processes, store functions, quality checks and also keep track of vast amounts of data. Hikal has opted for the Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications in order to manage data effectively and ensure minimal defects by ensuring strict compliance with the guidelines and regulations.

Oracle Consulting Service implemented Oracle Financials, Oracle Process Management, Oracle Distribution, Oracle Enterprise Asset Management and Oracle Portal modules from Oracle's Applications suite of products - Oracle E-Business Suite - at Hikal's five facilities located across different parts of the country.

"The implementation of the Oracle applications is a strategic initiative on our part to integrate key business processes across diverse business lines and create an infrastructure for effective planning across geographies thereby ensuring a decrease in production costs," said Sameer Hiremath, executive director, Hikal Ltd. "This Oracle applications implementation will not only result in better operational controls which will improve our bottom line but also help in improving customer delivery and services.''

Hikal Ltd, which has five manufacturing facilities and two research and development units spread across the country, has already taken a quantum leap by implementing Oracle's ERP applications for integration of key business processes across its facilities. The company has recently inaugurated its new small volume cGMP API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients plant) at Bangalore.

With the implementation of Oracle applications, Hikal expects the business benefits like reduced inventory, improved customer delivery performance, reduced process cycle, reduced manufacturing costs, better cost of compliance and resource utilization through standardized processes, and improved customer service with better controls.