Increasing Complexity - Drives Need for Greater Visibility

13th March 2014

Increasing Complexity – Drives Need for Greater Visibility

The automotive industry is evolving faster than ever before. The news that UK car manufacturing could reach an all-time high by 2017 adds to the pressure. Combined with news of a new initiative, aimed at bringing more supply chain manufacturing back to the UK - launched by the government in January 2014 - means even more change is expected over the coming years.

How do you integrate a variety of systems to gain greater visibility?

One innovative approach to address the rising demands from the ever-changing automotive sector is the application of ERP systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) gives an integrated real-time view of the core business processes, no matter which department (manufacturing, purchasing, sales, accounting, etc). ERP enables constant and fast communication between all business functions. Information flow is both inside the organisation and managed to relevant outside stakeholders.

ERP functionality helps automotive manufacturers increase competitive advantage and remain lean. Plus keep on top of evolving industry standards and strict compliance requirements.

“It’s crucial for information to be accessible in “real time” to enable us to evaluate a particular activity at any stage of a process. It’s pointless measuring yesterday’s performance, leave that to trend analysis.

Our IT specialists have recently installed this system in our Oxford operation, amalgamating multiple data streams to talk with one voice which can be listened to on any device anywhere there is an Internet/data connection. KPI’s need to drive improvement real time, so logistics can be more responsive to manufacturing needs and dynamic changes within the supply chain.”

ERP helps us face the emerging challenges

ERP solutions can enable automotive manufacturers, logistics providers and their suppliers to reduce time to market, improve plant floor production, and link supply chains more effectively to production.

Improve operations and reduce costs

• Support a variety of release accounting methods, including cumulative order management, Kanban, and long-range forecasting 830 Production Release Transactions.
• Help lower system costs by supporting lean manufacturing capabilities.
Develop profitable customer relationships
• Provide a comprehensive view of customer information.
• Coordinate multi-channel communications with customers.
• Improve customer support by more effectively tracking and monitoring customer needs and requests.

Build connections to suppliers and vendors

• Utilise automotive production demands to enable operations and suppliers' operations to react quickly.
• Drive transparency down the supply chain to second- and third-tier suppliers directly from auto makers' forecasts.
• Shorten development cycles by integrating product development with manufacturing, accounting, purchasing, and suppliers.

Here’s how the 360 onsite logistics audit and assessment works!

Put us to the test, what have you got to lose?

Contact us for a FREE ‘on site' logistics audit – carried out under a non disclosure agreement - our findings will be reported in full confidence and will provide a detailed analysis of where savings and improvements can be made.

_{There’s only one condition - you must be UK based and be operating in the automotive sector, with a head count of around 25 - 30 or more operating in logistics roles.}