Ecosoft/Bicycle Manufacturer Case Study
Contents
Title
Case Study for a complete business cycle that most small and medium size manufacturers should have. ADempiere is being used to improve business process of one the top 3 Bicycle Manufacturer in Thailand.
The project is now under implementation by Ecosoft and due to complete end of 2010 --Kittiu 08:25, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
Remarks: Implemented on version 360LTS, Postgresql 8.4, Fedora OS
Industry
Bicycle Manufacturer
Geography
The HQ and Factory of the client is located at outer skirt of Bangkok, Thailand.
Company Profile
The company is founded in 1988 by a group of engineers and bicycle experts. At the beginning, it was a small manufacturer with capacity less than 1,000 sets a month. From there, the company kept on evolving in terms of manufacturing technology and design.
With the support from customers and suppliers, it is set to become the leading bicycle-parts manufacturer in Thailand reaching a capacity of 30,000 bicycles a month with more than 1,000 items of products to choose from.
Its product-line covers almost the entire bicycle, ranging from hubs and chain wheels with cranks to bicycle frames, forks, and handle bars.
Opportunities
We see abundance of similar opportunities in Thailand. A lot of small and medium size (SME) companies' requirements are too complicated for standard accounting software. SAP or Oracle's Financials are more suitable but falls beyond most of the SMEs' Developing World budget. Many share similar pains in the management of their inventory and production processes and integration to the back-office and day-to-day business administration.
Risks
Implementation Modules
The project is divided into 3 parts, each will be dealing with corresponding set of users. After finish each phase, training will be conducted to ensure that user gets familiar with the software. At the end of the last phase, the practicing data will be cleaned, stock item will be counted, unpaid invoice will be uploaded. The system will go live on the 1st day of 2011.
Phase I: Sales Cycle
Sales Cycle is the process of selling goods to customer that starts from receiving order from customer, shipping, invoicing, and money collecting as well as making a deposit into the company’s bank account. Existing sales cycle is described as per below which consists of:
- Order and Delivery
- Billing and Collection
- Finance
Order and Delivery
Billing and Collection
Finance
Phase II: Purchase Cycle
Phase III: Manufacturing
Special Highlights
During implementation, we have the principle to use the standard ADempiere as much as possible. Anything configurable, will be configured using ADempiere's powerful Application Dictionary. Any necessary customization will be done without touching the core, ensuring future ease of maintenance and compatibility with future release.
Many technique without touching core ADempiere will be applied, i.e.,
- ModelValidator
- Script_ModelValidator
- Script Callout
- Create your ADempiere customization environment
- etc.
Enhancement and by product that are useful are documented here.
Special Functionality
- Chart of Account (may be useful for Thai's SME - Manufacturing Industry) File:CoA Thai SME manufacturing.xls
- Features in customization.jar Customization for Bicycle Manufacturer Case Study
Lessons
Functional Aspects
Thai Withholding Tax
From the study, we have found that Withholding Tax functionality of Colombia Localization can be applied.
Withholding Tax lines (a new Tab on Invoice / Payment window) will be generated by clicking on "Generate Withholding" Button on Invoice Tab. We also have flexibility to set posting account entry either on Invoice or Payment.
ADempiere use Withholding Type window, as the main window to setup Rules for which to apply on each invoice/payment transaction.
- Withholding will apply only for DocType with Generate Withholding = Yes or Auto (setup in Document Type window), CONTINUE else END
- Delete the existing invoice withholding lines.
- Get information that will be used to determine which rule to apply, i.e., BP Info and Organization Info (ISIC, Tax Payer Type), Product or Charge 's Withholding Category, etc.
- Seek the matching Withholding Rules from "Withholding Type" window to find the right Withholding Tax Rate to apply.
- Identify eligible Withholding Types based on "Sales Transaction" checkbox.
- Withholding Rule Configuration Tab is telling the logic of Withholding Rule selection criteria.
- From the list of all possible rules ADemepiere will select only 1 Withholding Rule that match with the selection criteria above.
- And from the selected Withholding Rule, ADempeire will us Withholding Rule Calc for detail on how the withholding tax will be calculated. I.e., calculate on invoice / payment, calculation base line (line, invoice, tax) Tax Rate, Threshold min/max and Refund.
Note: Clicking on "Generate Withholding" button will trigger process org.globalqss.model.LCO_MInvoice.recalcWithholdings() and generate Withholding Lines.
Technical Aspects
- Super detail Installation Guide for AD360, Postgres and Fedora
- Workshop for new developer on AD's Basic Technical stuffs, in easy reading format, i.e., How to Install, Reporting (include Jasper), Setup Debugging Environment, How workflow works. File:AD Basic Tech Workshop.pdf
- Using Jasper Report Form in place of Standard Forms, i.e., Sales Order, Delivery Note, Receipt, Invoices and etc.
- How ADempiere locate Forms for each document type
- Creating new Jasper Report Form and passing the right parameter
- Number to Text in Jasper Form (Thai Language)
- Registering Jasper Form
- A Step by Step Guide to Libero Manufacturing
- Creating New Data Import Window