Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
On the back end, Requests staff uses an executive dash-
board application to keep track of their work. The system
tracks all jobs in the queue and produces useful reports,
which provide graphical information to the dashboard that
indicates how smoothly operations are running. Using these
visual cues, employees can tell if they are keeping up with the
work, and managers can decide how many workers are
required to meet the load. Using other reports, managers can
determine which months of the year are busiest and which
weeks, days, and hours require the most or least amount of
staffing.
The new system is expected to save Enterprise between
15 and 20 percent in costs and time in administrative and data
entry activities. Already the savings are being felt. Enterprise
has redeployed its staff from maintaining the old legacy sys-
tem to jobs that are more “strategically valuable.”
short, the system made it seem as though the 11 production
facilities were actually one big manufacturing plant.
More recently, Keiper upgraded the system to allow it to
react to emergencies more quickly. One of the biggest prob-
lems in manufacturing occurs when flaws are introduced into
the process. Flaws might be the result of a defective part
received from a supplier and used on the assembly line.
Sometimes these defects are not noticed until many products
have been manufactured and shipped. Keiper wanted a trace-
ability system so it could track the car seat components and
assembled car seats through the production line to their
destinations.
Keiper partnered with an information system company
that specialized in traceability systems for the automotive
industry. The company designed a system that collected and
connected information from production facilities around the
world. The information included specific information about
the parts used in the manufacturing process. The system
tracked each step in the production process at all 11 manu-
facturing plants in real time. If an employee on the line notices
that a certain type of screw is defective, an alarm is sounded
and an investigation immediately launched. The defective
screw is traced back to the batch from which it came. Each
screw used from that batch is traced to a specific seat in the
production line, shipment center, or automotive plant where
the cars are assembled. Recalls of seats containing the bad
screw can occur within hours of the discovery.
Using MISs to control production lines around the world
provides Keiper management with more control over its
business. The ability to quickly catch defects in its products
minimizes the extent of the damage they cause. Keiper
customers appreciate the corporation's ability to minimize
problems before they grow to an unmanageable scope.
Discussion Questions
1.
What is the purpose of business process management
systems? What benefits do they provide?
2.
What problems did the original Enterprise Requests
Online system have?
Critical Thinking Questions
1.
What attributes do you think make up a system that is
optimized for the greatest convenience to users?
2.
What factors would lead a business to decide that it is time
to improve its business processes with a new MIS?
SOURCES:
Ruffolo, Rafael, “Enterprise Rent-A-Car drives service request
app,” ITWorldCanada.com, March 27, 2008,
www.itworldcanada.com//
a83dbfcb0f37;
Appian Corporate Web site,
www.appian.com, a
ccessed
May 20, 2008; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Web site,
www.enterprise.com,
accessed
May 20, 2008.
Discussion Questions
1.
What is one of the biggest production challenges facing
global manufacturing corporations?
2.
How did Keiper management gain more control over its
11 manufacturing facilities?
Keiper GmbH & Co. KG is a leading manufacturer of the metal
components of car seats. The company runs 11 production
sites scattered around the world and employs 6,000 workers.
Keiper struggles with the common challenges facing all
international manufacturing businesses. One of its largest
problems is synchronizing production across manufacturing
plants separated by many miles and time zones.
A few years ago, Keiper made the wise move to connect
its production sites over the Internet using production
management software. The software allowed system
specialists and production managers at Keiper headquarters
in Kaiserslautern, Germany, to monitor production systems
at all 11 sites. This ability made all the difference in the world
to Keiper's production quality. Managers can troubleshoot
problems as they arise, upgrade system software, and make
database entries at the same time across all locations. In
Critical Thinking Questions
1.
What type of management information system does
Keiper use, and what functional unit of the company is it
designed for?
2.
What information components do you think were used in
Keiper's new traceability system?
SOURCES:
Staff SAP, “Keiper GmbH & Co. KG,” SAP Customer Success Story,
May 20, 2008.
