ACG Worldwide: Connecting shop floor to top floor

ACG Worldwide has carved a niche for itself in the global packaging market and is expanding its presence. The deployment of IT and other related technologies in general has helped the company to accelerate its operations and become much more efficient. With the help of IT it has significantly improved productivity and aided to increase accuracy, improve quality, and eliminate the challenges that were earlier involved in the process.

There are many new IT initiatives that the company has initiated across ACG. Sharing some details, Vilas Pujari, VP – Corporate IT, ACG Worldwide says, “At present, we are implementing CRM, SRM, and bar code for the automation of processes, of which, CRM is on the cloud. These projects have been initiated in Q4 FY 13-14. The primary objective of these projects was to bridge the gap between the enterprise and partners, and enable seamless business transactions.”

In today’s environment, IT is used in each and every department – be it R&D, sales and marketing, supply chain or manufacturing. Throughout ACG’s offices across the world, the company has deployed IT extensively in the area of manufacturing and R&D, and is continuously working to increase usage of IT in sales and marketing, and supply chain as well.

The company’s geographical presence reflects its wide network and to maintain constant growth, it has invested considerable amounts regularly. Informing about the company’s investment on building a strong IT network Pujari says, “We’ve increased the allocation of capex and opex for IT. Typically, the allocation is higher for new applications and hardware consolidation/upgrades. It will continue to increase as adoption improves and the fruits of IT are realised by users.”

Increasing the connect

With the help of IT, manufacturing companies have an opportunity to get connected real-time both within the company and with their networks. “Speaking as an inherent manufacturing company, I believe technology should be taken closer to the shop floor. The connect between shop floor and top floor needs to be established and utilised for achieving greater results. IT can also be used to connect people using video conferencing, web conferencing, webcasting, webinars, etc., to achieve better collaboration and learning,” mentions Pujari.

Pharma companies have always been at the forefront of deploying technologies and are early adopters of new technologies as well. This helps them in complying with regulatory requirements, improving process control and traceability. This, in turn, enables pharma companies to be transparent and open to audits. In addition, as pharma companies adopt technologies such as track and trace, the role of IT would widen to support end-to-end traceability and ensure consumer welfare, feels Pujari.

– Vilas Pujari, VP – Corporate IT, ACG Worldwide