Heavily reliant on the Petrochemical industry, the Commodity (Specialty) Chemicals industry has always been characterized by frequent "Boom & Bust" cycles. Across a wide range of sub-industry sectors including Resins, Industrial Gases, Alloys, Plastics, Rubber, Adhesives & Sealants, Lubricating Oils & Greases, Detergents, Agrochemicals, Biochemicals and Consumer Packaged Goods, the challenges in this diverse industry are largely the same:

- Maintaining growth & profitability while faced with the double-edged sword of volatile Feed-stock prices and burgeoning energy costs.

- Industry consolidation as cheap labor and raw materials of globalization conflict with over - capacity and ageing assets in the traditionally industrialized nations.

- The impact of new regulatory legislation such as REACH.

- Rapidly changing technology such as nanotechnology.

Success, even survival, in the specialty chemicals business is about having your quality product on the shelf, at the right time, at the right price. As a chemical manufacturer to meet this challenge you should be able to

- to manage all the steps along the way to make that happen, from procurement through production to dispatch.

- to manage all the different disciplines that make up the modern coatings industry, from chemists to quality control to plant management to technical sales.

And you ask yourself: "Isn't there some way I can look after everything, including my regulatory compliance, in one system that will give me the confidence in my decision - making and the sure knowledge that nothing is left to chance?"

An ERP solution ideally designed for the chemical industry can give you complete control over the processes of manufacturing, distribution, operations and finance combined with everything a modern chemical manufacturer needs to meet the regulatory compliance needs of this complex industry while focusing on what's really important: delivering quality products at the right price to their customers right when they need them

Some of the salient features you should look at while evaluating an ERP suited for chemical industry

• Full regulatory support including EC Numbers (EINECS / ELINCS), MSDS printing,
• Certificates of Analysis, SARA, Bioterroism Act and other regulatory reporting, as well as support for in-house EHS programs.

· cGMP support with SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) screen-embedded access to written and audio instructions, graphic process flows, even video!

o The original and most proven formula management system with comprehensive Bill of Materials functionality that provides flexible packaging alternatives, with support for Private Label Manufacturing.

o Extensive Vendor Contract pricing and tracking.

o Advanced Costing decision support: 'What - if' costing, 5 simultaneous costing methods supported, plus productivity, utilization and yield analysis.

o Comprehensive and effective Inventory management.

o Consistent and coherent Lot Tracking System with product recall and explosion capabilities.

o Lot Attributes.

o Availability of numerous analytical reports to cater to different needs.

o Pre- process, In process and Post-process Quality Control testing.

o Proper Co-products and By-products Management

o Numerous Lot Picking Strategies.

o Advanced Forecasting, with transfer of forecasts to Sales Orders.

o Sales Templates for rapid Customer Service response.

Apart from the industry specific features one should also make sure that the solution has robust accounting modules which can offer the following:

· Tight Control on all accounting modules and Information

· True integration across the application

· Full multilingual and multi currency capabilities

· Efficiently tackles demanding budgets

· Easily handles processing needs

· Maximized Accuracy of financial data

· Up-to-date sales information along with outstanding balances

· Full-Integration with banking services, for complete bank reconciliation

· Streamlined cash flow system

· Varied accounting and reporting features resulting in fast invoice entry, flexible cash disbursement and full-cheque reconciliation

· TDS and fixed assets accounting

When we talk about ERP Solutions for chemical industry there are only few of the companies who are specializing in ERP for chemical industry. Sage India has specialized ERP solutions for chemical industry. To know more about their solution, information can be seen at http://www.sagesoftware.co.in/ERP-CRM-Solutions-Software-Company-India-Process-Manufacturing.aspx

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