Multi-OEM consignment dispatch errors and untracked die maintenance stalled production.
Solution
Zoho Inventory and Books unified job costing, barcode dispatch, and tool PM scheduling.
Tools
Zoho InventoryZoho BooksZoho ProjectsZoho Creator
Auto Ancillary · Sheet Metal Stamping
How a Sheet Metal Stamping Unit Achieved 97% Dispatch Accuracy with Zoho
Revenue Band
₹18–24 Cr / yr
OEM Customers
6 OEMs
Press Lines
14 Stampings
Go-Live
11 Weeks
The Problem
Consignment Mix-ups
Six OEM consignments tracked in separate Excel sheets caused part-number confusion at dispatch. Wrong grades and quantities shipped 2–3 times per week, triggering debit notes and OEM line stoppages.
Die Maintenance Blind Spot
Die service intervals were tracked on paper job cards. Unscheduled breakdowns halted press lines for 4–8 hours at a stretch. There was no visibility into which die was approaching its stroke limit.
No Job-wise Costing
Material, tooling amortisation, and press-time costs were never rolled up per job order. Month-end costing consumed two days of the accounts team’s time and still produced estimates that varied ±18% from actuals.
The Solution Stack
Zoho InventoryDispatch & Stock Control
Barcode-gated OEM Consignment Dispatch
Each finished part scanned against OEM-specific packing lists; Zoho Inventory blocks mismatched part numbers at the gate.
Lot-wise coil grade and thickness attributes recorded at goods receipt, carried forward through every operation.
Daily consignment delivery challans auto-generated per OEM; e-way bill data pre-filled from Inventory to Books.
Safety-stock alerts configured per OEM blanket order, preventing last-minute short shipments.
Zoho BooksJob Costing & GST
Real-time Job Order Cost Sheets
Material consumption posted directly from Inventory pick transactions; no double entry.
Tooling amortisation rules configured per die life (stroke count basis) and auto-charged to the job via Zoho Books.
Labour and press-time overhead applied via configurable allocation rate per press line per shift.
GST reconciliation for consignment returns and debit notes handled natively; monthly GSTR-1 generated in minutes.
Zoho CreatorDie PM Tracker
Stroke-based Preventive Maintenance App
Custom app built with Zoho Creator captures current stroke count per die after each press run; remaining life displayed on shop-floor kiosk.
Automated PM work orders raised in Zoho Projects when a die crosses 85% of rated stroke life.
Die repair history, spare consumption, and downtime logged; data feeds into Books cost allocation.
Zoho ProjectsMaintenance Scheduling
Planned vs Unplanned Maintenance Visibility
PM tasks assigned to maintenance technicians with due-date enforcement; overdue tasks escalate to plant head via automated mail.
Planned downtime windows coordinated with production planning so press schedule absorbs maintenance slots.
Monthly maintenance score card (planned vs breakdown ratio) shared with management via Projects dashboard.
Before vs After
Area
Before Zoho
After Zoho
Dispatch accuracy
~79% — wrong part or qty 2–3×/week
97% — barcode gate blocks errors at source
Die PM compliance
Ad-hoc; breakdown-driven repairs only
Stroke-triggered PM; 5× fewer unplanned stoppages
Job costing cycle
2 days/month; ±18% variance from actual
Live cost sheet per job; <3% variance
OEM debit notes
8–12 per quarter from dispatch errors
1–2 per quarter; mainly transit damage
Coil lot traceability
Paper bin cards; recall took half a day
Lot traced to OEM shipment in under 2 minutes
GST reconciliation
Manual matching of challans vs invoices
Auto-matched; GSTR-1 filed day after month close
Maintenance visibility
No dashboard; plant head learned of breakdowns post-facto
Live die health kiosk + escalation alerts
Implementation Phases
1
Data Foundation & Item Master Weeks 1–2
Audited and cleaned 6 OEM part masters; standardised part codes and drawing revision suffixes.
Configured coil grade, thickness, and supplier attributes in Zoho Inventory item master.
Mapped 14 press lines as locations; defined routing-based cost centres in Books. This implementation approach is common across our manufacturing engagements.
2
Inventory, Dispatch & Books Go-live Weeks 3–6
Barcode labels introduced at coil receipt; scan-based pick and pack flows configured per OEM.
Job order templates built in Books with material, tooling amortisation, and overhead cost lines.
E-way bill integration tested against live GST sandbox; debit note workflow configured.
Parallel-run period: team operated old Excel and Zoho simultaneously to validate accuracy.
3
Creator Die Tracker & Projects PM Weeks 7–9
Zoho Creator app built with die register, stroke counter, and repair log forms; kiosk view deployed on shop-floor tablet.
PM task templates created in Zoho Projects; stroke threshold triggers automated task creation via Creator workflow.
Maintenance technicians trained on task acceptance, spare logging, and closure sign-off.
4
Cutover, Reporting & Stabilisation Weeks 10–11
Excel parallel run discontinued; all dispatch and costing moved exclusively to Zoho.
Hypercare support for two weeks post go-live; remaining punch-list items closed within stabilisation window.
Results
97%
Dispatch Accuracy Achieved
5×
Fewer Unplanned Tool-Die Stoppages
₹9.6L
Annual Job-Costing Effort Saved
Key Metrics — Before vs After
The Core Insight
Dispatch errors and tooling breakdowns in sheet metal stamping share the same root cause: no system of record at the shop floor. Once every die stroke, every coil lot, and every OEM consignment had a digital identity in Zoho, the errors stopped because the system simply would not allow them to pass through. Accuracy became the default, not a target. Explore more outcomes like this in our case studies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Zoho Inventory handle multiple OEM consignment packing standards?
Each OEM is set up as a separate customer with its own packing list template, part-number format, and label layout in Zoho Inventory. When a dispatch is initiated, the system validates the scanned part against the specific OEM’s approved part list and raises a hard block if there is a mismatch. OEM-specific e-way bill and challan formats are configured once and applied automatically to every subsequent shipment.
Can Zoho Creator track die life on a stroke count basis without custom hardware?
Yes. The Creator app records the stroke count logged by the press operator at the end of each run — no sensor integration is required to start. As the operation matures, the stroke counter can be pulled automatically from press PLCs via the Creator API, but the manual entry model alone is sufficient to drive the PM trigger logic and has worked well for stamping units with 10–20 press lines.
How is tooling amortisation handled in Zoho Books for job costing?
A die asset record is created in Books with its total rated life in strokes and acquisition cost. A per-stroke amortisation rate is derived automatically. When a job order is completed, the stroke count consumed is entered and Books applies the proportionate tooling cost to the job cost sheet alongside material and labour. This gives an accurate per-part cost without any end-of-month manual allocation.
What does the GST workflow look like for consignment returns and OEM debit notes?
When an OEM raises a debit note for a short or wrong shipment, a credit note is created in Zoho Books against the original invoice. The credit note reverses the GST liability and feeds into the GSTR-1 amendment workings. Consignment returns are handled as return receipts in Inventory, which automatically creates the corresponding reversal entry in Books and updates stock levels — the accounts team does not need to make any manual journal entries.
