Manufacturing at Speed: How Three Years of Partnership Enabled HellermannTyton’s Digital-First Chennai Launch

The Challenge: New 100,000 sq ft injection molding facility needed full production automation with stringent quality controls, multiple BOM configurations, and inventory restrictions.

Scope: Manufacturing Process Enablement and Automation | 40-60 BOMs, 605 suppliers | Built on three years of proven partnership and discrete manufacturing expertise.

The Impact:

• Chennai operational with 100+ workforce from day one
• Zero custom code, on schedule go live
• 95-100% training completion for a first-time-right transactions at go live
• Semi-finished stock restriction solution deployed from day 1
• Micron-level quality precision achieved within streamlined system constraints

Client Context & Strategic Partnership

HellermannTyton is a global leader in cable management and connectivity solutions, serving automotive and industrial sectors across 40+ countries. The Chennai facility required a digital operating model capable of high-volume injection molding with stringent quality expectations.

This project builds on a three-year partnership. In 2021, HellermannTyton nearly abandoned SAP Public Cloud after a misconfigured deployment by another partner forced teams back into legacy systems. Percipere was brought in to rescue the implementation— stabilising the environment, restoring trust, and operationalising five plants: Pune, and Kanchipuram (manufacturing) Delhi, Noida, Mumbai (Back office Operations). Because the team understood both the platform and the client’s manufacturing realities, HellermannTyton chose Percipere again for its newest and most complex facility.

The Discrete Manufacturing Challenge

The Chennai plant represented a complex discrete manufacturing operation requiring integration into HellermannTyton’s existing multi-plant ecosystem that could handle the specific realities of injection molding at automotive quality standards.

1. Micron-Tolerance Quality Control – Automotive components require 0.1-micron precision—with quality variation influenced by raw material batches, colour consistency, and mold tolerances. Users accustomed to highly customised quality systems initially doubted SAP Public Cloud could support these demands. Percipere mapped inspection points to available characteristics fields, designed defect-tracking workflows using standard screens, and demonstrated compliance without customisation
2. Multi-level BOM Variance Management – HellermannTyton manufactures several product variations, each requiring unique BOMs across multiple levels. Fractional misthreading prevents final assembly, making planning accuracy essential. The system needed L1/L2/L3 vendor backup strategies and component substitution rules when primary suppliers were unavailable. Percipere configured variance management without custom development.
3. Semi-Finished Inventory Restriction – Semi-finished components serve both customer orders and internal consumption. Standard Inventory management treats this stock as universally available, creating fulfilment failures when production consumed inventory committed to customers. Percipere used standard reservation logic to lock semi-finished stock automatically the moment a sales order is created. This solution proved so effective that it was retrofitted across all existing plants.

The Approach: Seven Months to Operational Excellence

Phase 1: Confidence Before Configuration

Rather than rushing into build mode, Percipere invested in 7-10 structured demo sessions with stakeholders across Chennai and the global team. These sessions addressed specific anxieties using HellermannTyton’s actual production scenarios.

• “Here’s exactly how we will handle your quality checks with the fields that exist.”
• “Here’s how many clicks it takes to create X bulk orders.”
• “ Here’s how we’ll block semi-finished sales.”

Each demo tackled concerns that would have become scope creep or customization requests later. By the time configuration began, the client had seen exactly what they would get By the time configuration began, the client had seen exactly what they would get.

Phase 2: Zero-Code Configuration

With confidence established, configuration proceeded with strict discipline: maximize standard functionality, avoid customization entirely.

• Production configuration  – managed a highly complex system covering 40-60 BOMs, and variance configurations for product families, onboarding upto 605 suppliers.
• Quality module configuration were handled with creative problem-solving. The team mapped critical inspection points to available characteristics fields, designed defect tracking workflows using standard screens- subverting system restrictions.
• The semi-finished-stock restriction became a breakthrough innovation—a standard function re-engineered for a non-standard business need.

Phase 3: On-Site Partnership Through Go-Live

To de-risk go-live at a brand-new facility, Percipere maintained on-site presence during cutover and early operations. This enabled real-time issue resolution, immediate adjustment of work instructions and training, and direct observation of how digital process models performed on the shop floor.

The Results

Chennai launched on schedule in November 2024 with digital-first operations:

• Supporting 100+ employees from day one.
• Training completion reached 95-100% for a First time right transaction go live on day 1
• System uptime: 100% in Week 1

Business Value

• Zero custom code lowered technical debt and enables effortless future scaling avoiding development costs and weeks of build time
• Semi-finished stock restriction now deployed across all six plants