Industry overview
What is shaping wood & timber
Wood, plywood, laminates and furniture are sold through a chain of influencers: carpenters, contractors, architects and dealers often decide the brand before the homeowner does.
- Carpenters and contractors heavily influence brand choice
- Dealers balance margins, credit and brand pull
- Sustainability and certified timber matter more to buyers
Client background
A particleboard and MDF manufacturer, working in Gujarat. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A particleboard and MDF manufacturer
- Sector
- Wood & timber
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- ERP development, Data analytics & dashboards, Accounting & finance consulting
Client challenge
Production, stock and accounts were managed in separate systems and spreadsheets. Stock counts rarely matched records, and month-end closing took weeks.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: bringing production and stock data together for a wood panel plant.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
Scope: One plant, three warehouses.
Audiences we typically reach in wood & timber
Carpenters and contractorsArchitects and interior designersDealers and distributorsHomeownersFurniture buyers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Gujarat. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Process mapping
- 3Phased ERP implementation
- 4Insight
We mapped processes from raw material receipt to dispatch, implemented an ERP in phases starting with inventory and finance, and set up barcode scanning at warehouses.
ERP developmentData analytics & dashboardsAccounting & finance consulting
Sampling strategy
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Starting with inventory accuracy built confidence before extending the system to production planning.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: starting with inventory accuracy built confidence before extending the system to production planning.
- Track adoption and support tickets, and plan the next release from real usage.
Business impact
- Stock records became reliable, month-end closing was much faster, and management could see production costs by product line for the first time.
Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Interactive dashboard
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: who really chooses the plywood brand?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.