Infor Japan K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Infor, the industry cloud company, announced that Ushio Reinetsu Co. Ltd., a provider of air-conditioning and refrigeration systems for ships, has rolled out Infor CloudSuite Industrial (CSI) to further enhance its competitiveness in Japan and in the overseas market. Infor channel partner Realsoft Inc. assisted with the implementation, taking three months to deploy the solution, which is anticipated to dramatically grow the company’s after-sales services revenue pie in ship-repair handling. The solution will unify customer data and afford better business insights to ensure proactive support and increased customer satisfaction, attributes that are key to Ushio Reinetsu’s data-driven management and decision-making strategy.
Established in 1977, Ushio Reinetsu operates a global business focusing on the manufacture and sale of air conditioning, refrigeration systems and elevators for ships, holding the top market share in Japan. It continues to grow its business by leveraging technologies and knowledge acquired through the marine business and following the principle to “keep tackling techniques others cannot copy.”
The company has adopted a digital transformation (DX) strategy so it can move away from business processes that rely on people, and achieve data-driven management instead. To this end, it has built a platform that integrates information from the more than 500 Excel data files and individual software programs managed by its various departments.
Ushio Reinetsu chose Infor CSI, which is used extensively in the discrete manufacturing industry, as its platform for driving DX. The solution helps to centralize information, streamlines the company’s manufacturing operations, and provides detailed customer support through easy and flexible configurations and connectivity with other systems.
Since go-live in June, the system is being used in ship-repair, customer management, and sales management — the three processes underpinning the after-sales service business — with almost 100 repair jobs being digitized each day. Reducing the number of human-dependent processes and improving efficiency helped the company respond to inquiries faster. It was also able to actively make proposals based on customer information, which led to a dramatic increase in sales of its after-sales service business.
By 2023, Ushio Reinetsu plans to expand the use of Infor CSI to include production, purchasing and inventory management, financial accounting, and human resources, and to globally streamline business based on centralized information across all departments.
“After-sales services is one of the pillars of our business that underpins our ability to respond to the needs of our customers to the maximum extent possible, so being agile and responsive to change is particularly important,” commented Masahiko Iizumi, Ushio Reinetsu director in charge of quality, manufacturing and business reform. “Using Infor’s CSI solution, we want to drive digital transformation, starting from the after-sales services business, and enhance the value of our company so we can contribute even more to the Imabari region, Japan and the world.”
