KSNM Drip keeps its extrusion line running smoothly with Zoho Creator

The company

KSNM Drip is a drip irrigation manufacturer that has been in the field for around 20 years. The company produces more than 1,000 products, of which at least 500 are drip irrigation hose pipes manufactured through continuous extrusion, running roughly 300 days a year, 24x7.

KSNM Drip works with hundreds of dealers across India and exports mainly to African markets like Zambia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, supplying affordable drip irrigation solutions to farmers.

The challenges

Extrusion at KSNM Drip is a continuous process. If the line stops even for a few seconds, the process has to be re-initiated, which makes uninterrupted, round-the-clock production both critical and stressful.

They manufacture hundreds of variants, and each variant has its own standard weight and tolerance. Earlier, operators had to remember specifications, weights, and limits and check everything manually. If there was a variation, they had to decide how to correct it on their own. Mistakes were easy to make, and the factory manager had to be alert all the time.

Before Zoho Creator, the company tried a custom platform built by an external software vendor using PHP. The result was a rigid system with very little flexibility. Any small change meant going back to the vendor and waiting. The team ended up doing work half manually and half in the system, which defeated the purpose of having the software in the first place.

On top of this, a lot of information was still on paper or in Excel, which made maintaining and searching for data that was one or two years old difficult and confusing. Inventory, raw material, production, and stock tracking were also handled manually, which made it hard to:

• Maintain accurate stock
• Trace quality issues
• Plan production and purchases

The solution

From a rigid system to a platform on Zoho Creator

In 2017-18, Madeswaran discovered Zoho Creator through a training program in Chennai. The two-day workshop was his first exposure to low-code. Over a week, he experimented with fields, calculations, and validations until he realized it was working exactly the way he wanted.

Instead of relying on external vendors, KSNM Drip decided to build its own app entirely on Zoho Creator. The system has been developed in-house by people who know the production process in and out.

They use multiple Creator applications and dozens of different forms across areas like:

• Production
• Stores and inventory
• HR
• EB and expenses
• Other internal operations

There are computer systems placed near every machine on the shop floor so operators can enter data directly, rather than relying on phones or paper.

Creator-powered production control

The heart of the setup is their production app built on Zoho Creator. It handles the complexity of hundreds of variants and the 24x7 extrusion process.

Variant-driven production

Each product is given a specific code. For example, for a customized export order, the product might be coded "1500". All the operator has to do is enter this code in Creator. The system then shows:

• Coil length
• Target weight
• Accepted variation range
• And other specifications for that product

If the coil weight is more than permitted, Creator raises an alert. The operator then reduces the thickness slightly so the weight comes back to the standard. If the weight falls below the range, the operator increases thickness and tunes the machine accordingly. Once the code is set up, the system keeps the process on track without constant supervision.

Capturing real-world production details

As production runs, Creator captures detailed information for:

• Product and variant code
• Machine used
• Operator
• Shift and production manager
• Recipe used
• Weight
• Number of breaks in the coil, if any

If a coil breaks during production, the operator simply enters the number of breaks in a dedicated field. Over time, KSNM Drip has added new fields and rules whenever the business needed them, without waiting on a vendor.

From shop floor to stores and sales

Zoho Creator is used across departments as a single source of truth.

• Production to stores: Once production data is submitted, Creator automatically inserts the relevant entries into a separate stores inward form. Stock increases as items are produced and decreases when they're dispatched.
• Stores to sales: Sales executives no longer have to call the factory to check stock. They can see live stock numbers in Creator and decide whether to accept orders.
• Customer-facing visibility: For large orders, KSNM Drip filters the relevant production data in Creator and shares a published view. The dealer can see, in real time, what has been produced, roll numbers, weights, and how many days of production remain.

Reporting and analytics

For KSNM Drip, the reporting and analytics features inside Creator are a major advantage.

From a single production form, they generate:

• Per-machine reports
• Per-operator and per-shift output
• Product-wise production
• Wastage by machine, product, shift, and operator
• Monthly and weekly summaries
• Dashboards showing total production and wastage across all machines

Benefits and ROI

After implementing Zoho Creator and building a solution in-house, KSNM Drip saw clear improvements across quality, efficiency, and control.

Better product quality and accountability

Every roll produced has a unique number mapped to its full history: machine, operator, raw material batch, recipe, quality checks, and dispatch details. If a farmer reports a problem even after years, the team can trace exactly:

• When it was produced
• Who produced it
• Which machine and batch were involved
• Which dealer and salesperson handled it

Lower wastage and higher production efficiency

With Creator enforcing weight ranges and capturing process data continuously, wastage has reduced considerably and production efficiency has increased. Management intervention on the shop floor has dropped sharply, as operators now have clear guidance and immediate feedback.

End-to-end visibility for purchase, production, stores, and sales

• Purchase teams plan based on actual production schedules and stock levels.
• Automatic reorder levels trigger emails when raw materials or packing materials fall below a threshold.
• Stores staff know exact stock without physically counting.
• Sales executives can see live stock and plan orders accordingly.

Real-time management and remote control

With Creator on web and mobile, managers can monitor production, wastage, and stock even when they're away from the factory, including during night shifts.

Flexible, ongoing improvements without external vendors

New forms, temporary tracking tools, and process tweaks are created directly in Creator by the internal team. They regularly add or adjust fields, validations, and reports as the business evolves, instead of waiting for software releases.

Future plans

KSNM Drip already considers Zoho Creator an inseparable part of its business and uses it every day across the year. Looking ahead, the team plans to:

• Link their Creator-based stores application with Zoho Inventory
• Connect Zoho Inventory with their ecommerce website so online orders reflect live stock

As Madeswaran puts it, the software now obeys their business, instead of forcing them to adjust to rigid systems.