Brose Case Study Answer
Ex) production plants and Joint ventures in Song-Do, Korea Manages the procurement of raw materials, manufacturing, and distribution of finished goods on a global scale Manages a world- wide workforce of approximately 14,000 employees ) The critical success factors in a business like Broses?
Well-organized supply chain management for more than a thousand different business processes Data management Just-in-time process Long, stable relationships with Important customers Standardized business processes no matter where factories are located Ability to scrutinize and put current and historical sales and production data to work 2. What operational, management and control, and corporate learning/innovation challenges were faced by Brose during its rapid expansion over the last two decades? [table] Types of problems Challenges
Operational Time commitment to satisfy a customer’s order Capacity of Inventories In each facility Lack of links between many business processes Ductile to retrieve customer’s data or suppliers data Trot toner departments Complicated to analyze inventory status, thus it might lead to wrong prediction about the firm’s ability to store finished products Lack of collaboration between departments Management & Control Difficult in standardizing and monitoring each department and facilities around the world Hard to manage a lot of complicated data – led to lack of communication among suppliers, lands, and customers Difficult in transmitting a lot of data to many facilities in different countries Sales department might have made mistakes in receiving orders Accounting department might have made mistakes with checking various customers’ financial statuses or issuing invoices to the customers Corporate learning & innovation Upgrading or replacing outdated and less integrated information systems Costs of implementing better systems Employees resisting against learning new applications Introducing new information systems to suppliers, plants, and customers Implementing the new systems all over he company’s facilities around the world 3. What would be the benefits and the risks of retaining the functional application software found in each Brose location prior to the move to SAP? Table] Benefits Risks No training is required No extra costs to adopt SAP (In short-run) Existing suppliers, customers, and employees are familiar with these systems Company does not need to worry about adapting old data to work with new systems Storing and retrieving a lot of data but with the old systems it’s inefficient due to lack of standardization of the old information systems Disorganized departments and many Outdated supply chain management system Inefficient and would require more labor and time Lack of communication More costs to upgrade to new systems in the future Lose competitive advantages 4. What were the benefits and risks of the move to SAP ERP software? [table] Benefits Fewer mistakes in business processes Faster and more efficient businesses The ERP software supports more than a thousand different business processes. It aligned suitably with the company’s business processes.
Afforded better oversight and measure of the firm’s business processes wrought real-time report & process value chain integration Was able to accumulate comprehensive and accurate data about key processes & business performances Better enterprise business forecasting and long-term planning Lowered the total cost of information management and information technology investment the company had to reengineering and standardize established business processes for the software High implementation costs Training costs for the software users Takes time to adjust to the new system 5.
What steps did they take to minimize the risks associated with this kind of plowmen? [list] *The firm followed well established IT management best practices* 1) Hired SAP Consulting to lead the project 2) The SAP team provided process consulting and implementation support, and trained end users. 3) Worked openly, flexibly, and constructively together 4) Decided on a pilot approach 5) Conducted the first installation as a prototype in a new plant in Curtail, Brazil 6) After the first installation was operational, the firm conducted the second implementation in Pueblo, Mexico. 7) Finished next implementation in Manner, Germany
