Vendor trims costs, improves quality and productivity in accelerated deployment
Background: Inteva is a world-class supplier of Interiors and Closure Systems for leading OEMs around the globe. Its integration capabilities allow the company to provide everything from small component parts to full vehicle integration resources. Inteva was launched as an independent company in 2008 and included 17 locations that had formerly been part of Delphi Automotive. They needed one single integrated system as an alternative to the many systems it had been utilizing to run various functions within its business and operations. They chose Plex Online an innovative technology that enables manufacturers to become as strong productive and profitable as possible.
Challenges: Inteva Products wanted to provide its employees globally with strategic insight into day-to-day operations from the shop floor to the top floor and across all departments and facilities. The company wanted to make consistent and integrated business information accessible to all workers from all locations - regardless of how remote - and improve its systems' continuity agility and adaptability. And the company wanted to launch a quality management system that would help Inteva achieve continuous improvement emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste throughout the supply chain. Inteva Products was also concerned with maintaining the highest levels of security and disaster recovery. Inteva Products formerly a division of Delphi Automotive selected Plex Online in June of 2008 to replace the SAP software utilized by its former parent company. In January Inteva launched Plex Online in its European Headquarters and Technical Center in Wuppertal Germany and its Matamoras Operations Plant 2 in Matamoras Mexico. This was followed by launches at its two manufacturing facilities in Alabama in April. The remaining launches were completed in June at all of Inteva's other locations: two additional locations in Mexico two additional locations in Germany a site in Hungary three locations in Michigan one in Ohio and one in Missouri. So from start to finish the implementation took approximately 12 months and the phased launches all went smoothly. Inteva is now utilizing all core Plex Online modules including production financials purchasing and supply chain management. Inteva's new system provides 1200 individual users around the world with strategic insight into day-to-day operations from the shop floor to the top floor and across all of its departments divisions and facilities. And the system provides the highest security and disaster-recovery levels available in the industry today.
Solution provided by Plex Systems: Inteva now makes consistent and integrated business information accessible to all workers contributing to improved continuity agility and adaptability. In addition Plex Online's quality management system helps Inteva achieve continuous improvement emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste throughout the supply chain.The company's main goals with this large-scale change were increased flexibility more accurate and up-to-date information and improved information access. It has definitely achieved all of these things. Because of the size and global reach of Inteva's supply chain Plex Online's Supplier Quality function was critical in helping Inteva achieve success. For example today Plex Online notifies suppliers of Inteva plant-specific requirements and provides them with the latest versions of the company's standards policies and procedures. The system also enables Inteva to communicate the details behind any non-conformances and to document the associated sorting scrap freight and downtime costs. Finally the Plex Online Supplier Quality module includes a supplier scorecard feature that Inteva uses to grade suppliers based on the number of complaints they've received the quantities of products rejected major production disruptions repeat non-conformances and controlled shipping statuses.In tandem with improved supply-chain communications Plex Online has also brought Inteva extensive visibility into its suppliers' operations. This in turn allows the company to pinpoint and isolate problems and minimize their impact on overall product cost and quality. When a problem is identified anywhere within the Inteva supply chain the supplier and an Inteva representative receive an automatic notification that action is required. Inteva has predetermined who should be notified for different non-conformance issues. A “problem case†is identified and automatically created and supplier responses to problem cases and associated cos
Summary: Plex Online has brought the company a consolidated view of the world through which management can access the same information produce the same reports and make critical business and operational decisions more quickly. All data is integrated and the team can view critical information through a dashboard in real-time.The competitive pressures in the automotive industry have never been as intense as they are right now. All automotive manufacturers are working vigorously to meet customer needs squeeze out costs achieve the highest possible quality and do all of this with fewer and fewer resources. Inteva's launch of Plex Online enables the global organization to achieve these goals - starting with an almost immediate cost savings in internal IT expenses. This not only helps the company survive the current economic environment it helps Inteva establish improved internal processes that will help it take full advantage of opportunities when the economic climate changes for the better and over the longer term.
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