The Customer Magazine 1|2010
Need to Get Users Excited About Software
Following its new mantra of solutions with instant value, SAP is transforming itself to be faster and more customer-oriented. SAP Spectrum talks with Jim Hagemann Snabe to find out how the company aims to achieve this.
Touching Lives With Technology
Some of the people who work the phones for Deutsche Post DHL’s human resources hotline are blind. Along with special resources for the visually impaired, they use the SAP ERP Human Capital Management solution to carry out their daily tasks.
Grabbing the Tiger by the Tail
The financial crisis, the drive toward internationalization, and SAP Enterprise Support services were three topics weighing heavily on the minds of SAP user companies in Japan last year.
13.08.2008
Turning Up the Heat
By: Christoph Zeidler
Sri Lanka has traditionally been a paradise for tourists, yet other industries are blossoming there, too. SAP.info visits one of the island’s largest exporters, which alone contributes two percent of the country’s gross domestic product – with help from SAP.
Things steam, hiss, and blare around me; high-pressure machines mold rubber compounds into shape; there’s a smell of tires and oil; the workers are running through the aisles, operating the production units and sizing me up – the pale, sweating stranger staring around him, touching the rubber and rolling the tires, while trying to keep his suit pristine.
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This forcefully reminds me that tire manufacturing is hard work. Loadstar’s chairperson, Nihal Jinasena, confirms this later as I sit in his office, gratefully knocking back a glass of water. “Competition in the tire market is fierce and is becoming much fiercer due to new competitors from China,” says the economist. “As the market leader, we must remain a step ahead of the others – with new ideas, top-quality products, and a high level of efficiency and flexibility.”
Best practices are the best option
Loadstar
Located in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, Loadstar was incorporated in 1984 as a joint venture between the Jinasena Group and Solideal of Belgium. Today it is the world’s largest manufacturer of solid tires. The company specializes in producing high-quality pneumatic and solid tires as well as rubber-covered tracks for industrial and heavy-duty applications. Catering to buyers around the globe, Loadstar turns out 6,500 tires daily for equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, and Fiat.
Loadstar has managed that so far. With 7,000 employees, four production sites in Sri Lanka, a research and development center in Belgium, and sales offices in more than 60 countries, the company enjoys 25 percent annual growth and recently posted annual revenues of U.S.$300 million. Loadstar boasts a 26 percent share of the world market for solid tires.
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