TENNECO

The Challenge:

ERP FRAGMENTATION AND LEGACY WORKFLOWS LIMITED EXECUTION

Automotive manufacturing operates at high speed, where margins and performance depend on the ability to act quickly and confidently.

Across Braking sites, core ERP capabilities such as MRP, advanced warehouse management and financial harmonization were either underutilized or executed outside the system. Pre-implementation analysis showed legacy environments were leveraging approximately 46 to 53 percent of available ERP functionality. Critical processes were frequently managed in spreadsheets or adjacent tools, limiting standardization and slowing decision-making.

“The problem wasn’t that we didn’t have data,” said Jonathon Brown, Divisional CIO, Performance Solutions at Tenneco. “It was that we couldn’t trust it quickly enough to act. People were extracting data into spreadsheets, manipulating it and pushing it back into systems. That slows execution.”

Similar parts could appear differently depending on the system. Sites operated with different charts of accounts. Reporting required manual reconciliation before leadership could confidently review performance. Technical debt accumulated through customizations and disconnected applications.

At the same time, SAP ECC support timelines were approaching. Waiting would require entering a multi-year S/4 migration cycle or continuing to invest in a legacy environment that was no longer advancing.

“If we were going to modernize, it had to become the source of truth for how we run the plant,” Brown said.

The objective was clear:

• Replace legacy SAP at scale

• Upgrade older QAD environments

• Consolidate fragmented ERP systems

• Standardize core processes across plants

• Reduce spreadsheet dependency

• Deliver change without disrupting live automotive production

The Solution:

MOVING FROM DISPARATE SYSTEMS OF RECORD TO A TRUE SYSTEM OF ACTION

After evaluating established enterprise platforms, including SAP, Tenneco selected QAD Adaptive to modernize its manufacturing ERP foundation and support execution at global scale.

Rather than replicating legacy environments in the cloud, Tenneco implemented a standardized QAD Adaptive core model across its Braking division. This included replacing legacy SAP at multiple sites and upgrading older QAD environments to QAD Adaptive.

Delivered on Amazon Web Services (AWS), QAD Adaptive provides a secure, scalable cloud ERP foundation built specifically for manufacturing execution. The platform unifies manufacturing, supply chain, financials and ERP inventory management within a single cloud architecture and embeds intelligence directly into operational workflows.

With the new core model in place, ERP process utilization expanded significantly. Legacy environments averaged roughly half of available ERP capability in active use. Under the QAD Adaptive model, process coverage increased to approximately 93 percent, consolidating planning, warehouse execution and financial controls within one unified system.

The rollout included implementation of MRP, advanced warehouse management and traceability, standardized chart of accounts across sites, refreshed master data, elimination of more than 500 customizations, and harmonized financial structures.

“QAD Adaptive gives us a platform our operations team can actually live in,” Brown said. “If people trust the system and it’s easy to use, they’ll stay in it. That’s how you get consistency, better data and better decisions.”

Despite the scale of the transformation, the division experienced zero missed production days and zero missed customer shipments. On day one, sites shipped, invoiced and produced at automotive scale.

“We originally had one timeline, and then we challenged ourselves to move faster,” Evans said. “Velocity and disciplined execution became non-negotiable.”

To support adoption across its global workforce, Tenneco deployed QAD Digital Learning, providing embedded, role-based guidance directly within the application. Supervisors gained visibility into workforce readiness, while operators learned within the workflow itself.

“QAD Digital Learning made adoption practical,” Brown said. “Our teams could learn inside the system, in their role, in their language. That shortened the time between go-live and confident execution.”

About the Partner:

ARISTA CONSULTING

To deliver the multi-site transformation of QAD Adaptive, Tenneco partnered with Arista Consulting, part of the QAD Partner Network, in close coordination with QAD | Redzone Professional Services.

This was not a technical migration. It was a full operating model transformation executed inside a live, high-volume automotive production environment.

Arista led a structured global program that aligned executive sponsorship, plant leadership and IT under a single governance framework. A disciplined steering committee enforced strict scope control and timeline accountability, ensuring the program stayed on track without compromising production continuity.

The initiative prioritized standardization over customization. More than 500 legacy customizations were eliminated, and sites were aligned to a unified Braking core model designed for scalability and repeatability. Rather than recreating legacy constructs in the cloud, Arista and QAD | Redzone re-engineered processes to drive adoption of standard QAD Adaptive capabilities.

The program impacted approximately 750 global users, with more than 600 trained on new standardized processes. Teams collaborated across continents to deliver a synchronized rollout that maintained uninterrupted production and customer delivery.

“This was a complex global manufacturing footprint,” said Ayodhya Chand, Managing Partner at Arista Consulting. “Success required alignment across business, IT and operations to execute at speed without disrupting production.”

The result is a production-validated, scalable ERP core model that now serves as the blueprint for future deployments within the enterprise.

The Benefits:

ADVANCING FROM LEGACY ERP TO MEASURABLE OPERATIONAL IMPACT

Going live on QAD Adaptive marked a decisive shift for Tenneco’s Braking division. The transition did not simply replace an ERP instance. It unified production, warehouse and financial execution within a standardized, cloud-native operating model.

Quantified Operational Impact

Within the first post-go-live measurement period, the Braking division is targeting to realize measurable performance gains, including:

• 9 percent reduction in scrap driven by improved materials traceability and synchronization

• 1.5 percent improvement in direct labor productivity through standardized planning and execution

• $3.36 million in inventory synchronization benefit

These results are expected to reflect recurring operational gains embedded in standardized processes and real-time execution within a unified ERP environment.

Embedded Warehouse and Inventory Execution

A major driver of these improvements was the modernization of warehouse and inventory operations.

Under the legacy environment, warehouse coordination and inventory synchronization often required manual intervention, reconciliation and offline manipulation. Materials visibility varied by site, and traceability was inconsistent across systems.

With QAD Adaptive, advanced warehouse management and traceability were embedded directly into the core model. Inventory transactions, materials movements and production execution now operate inside a single system of action rather than across disconnected tools.

MRP was implemented as a foundational supply chain capability. Materials planning, warehouse execution and production transactions are now synchronized in real time. This integration improved inventory accuracy, reduced excess movement and strengthened work-in-process visibility across plants.

The result was measurable synchronization benefit across inventory and a direct contribution to scrap reduction and labor productivity improvements.

Standardized Execution Designed to Scale

By advancing to QAD Adaptive, Tenneco established a consistent operating model across its Braking sites. Core processes are aligned within a single architecture. Data definitions are harmonized. Financial structures are standardized under a unified chart of accounts.

“QAD Adaptive gives us a single model for how we want to operate,” Evans said. “That consistency allows us to move faster as we expand, without recreating processes site by site.”

The core model now serves as the blueprint for additional deployments, enabling repeatability without reengineering at each location

Reduced Technical Debt and Future-Ready Foundation

By replacing legacy SAP ECC environments ahead of support deadlines, the Braking division avoided entering a prolonged, multi-year migration cycle. Instead of extending technical debt or committing to a complex brownfield rebuild, Tenneco adopted a cloud-native manufacturing platform with continuous improvements and enterprise-grade security on AWS.

The division now operates on a production-validated ERP foundation designed for execution today and scalability tomorrow.

For manufacturers facing similar SAP ECC timelines, Tenneco’s transformation demonstrates that modernization does not require years of disruption. With disciplined governance, a standardized core model and embedded warehouse execution, manufacturers can move from fragmented legacy ERP to measurable operational value within months.