AEROSPACE PRODUCTS MANUFACTURER

The Challenge:

STANDARDIZING, OPTIMIZING AND UPGRADING OPERATIONS GLOBALLY

The challenge for this Aerospace Product Manufacturer was to standardize operations throughout the company and minimize customizations, making upgrades seamless. 

“Company-wide standardization and ERP upgrades are huge undertakings. We know careful planning is crucial in making it a success. QAD was invaluable in helping us construct a comprehensive plan and then successfully execute the plan,” states the company’s vice president.

The Solution:

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS WITH QAD BY THEIR SIDE

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

QAD experts in manufacturing, supply chain, finance, and technology and project management conducted an extensive advisory services upgrade assessment resulting in the delivery of a detailed executive report. The business solution design defined current business processes along with recommended business process solutions.

In addition, QAD experts made recommendations regarding data conversion and replication as well as proposed system architecture necessary for meeting this aerospace product manufacturer’s goals of standardizing operations throughout the company and upgrading their ERP system.

A steering committee, including QAD experts and leaders within the customer’s organization, carefully considered each area of potential 

change and improvement. The business solution design presented as part of the upgrade assessment along with the rollout strategy provided by QAD were key deliverables for successful execution of the ERP systems upgrade. One of the customer’s manufacturing and sales sites was selected as the first plant for upgrade and operations standardization throughout the company. 

As each aspect of the manufacturing and sales process (plan to perform, quote to cash, procure to pay, finance, EDI and BI) was considered and incorporated into the Rollout Strategy,  existing customizations were compared to the new functionality and the aerospace product manufacturer was able to immediately eliminate 20% of their customizations. Many of the remaining customizations were reports which will later be migrated to QAD Browses. QAD tools were used to rewrite the remaining customizations to streamline future upgrades.

“The actual data migration and all related upgrade activities at the pilot plant only took a weekend of work and was minimally disruptive,” states the vice president. “The extensive prep work our team and QAD did together was key to a smooth implementation.” 

The rollout strategy and core model defined during this pilot plant upgrade was utilized to standardize and upgrade the remaining global locations.

The Benefits:

A SCALABLE SOLUTION THAT CAN BE USED GLOBALLY

Key benefits of the upgrade included:

• One global database

• Harmonization of common data

• Master data management strategy

• Improved system response times

• Standardized data, processes and documentation

• Improved data-mining and reporting

• Enhanced user interfaces

• Optimization of supply and demand processes

• Improved intercompany purchasing & planning

• Standardized global chart of accounts

• Conformance to database best practices

The upgrade assessment together with the delivery of a comprehensive business solution design and rollout strategy proved to be the foundation for success at this aerospace product manufacturer — demonstrating the power of effective planning.