Project EVEREST : Background

To address the existing challenges Ford started a project called EVEREST . To respond to the needs of commercial, manufacturing, and technical data exchange, Ford has implemented a third party solution to manage secured information sharing with its suppliers. Covisint is globally used to provide the company a collaborative tool to fulfill supply chain planning. Covisint provides     multi-tier supply chain integration in real-time model to anticipate build to- order production models and Optimize inventory management. Its web-based interface allows suppliers across the globe to manage transactions in ordering, requisitioning, bidding, and reporting.

Covisint role focuses in transforming external business process in assisting OEMs and suppliers to be more efficient in decision making process. The company has to improve its efficiency in many segments of individual supply chain activities. Covisint needs to seamlessly integrate Ford and its global community of suppliers in through the entire purchasing process. A standardization process needs to be implemented across systems to enable information sharing and decision support tools. Thus, to fulfill such demand, Ford places an internal solution to overcome the needs of securely and accurately sharing information data with the global suppliers.

Application infrastructure at Ford Motor Company

Features of ERP needed in automobile manufacturing company

 Secured information sharing  Integrate Ford and its global community of suppliers.  Tracking of Purchase orders, shipment notice, payment status, and quotation requests.  Respond to supply chain interruptions with exception management alerts.  It should be Cost effective and centralized.

Scope Of The Project

 Procurement automation: Everest is a web-based supplier portal that enables a single sign-on to access Ford Motor Company information sources, bulletins, and existing legacy systems. Together with Covisint, Everest integrates the collection of products and services to provide an end-to-end solution and maximize the supply chain management process. A few features include purchase orders, shipment notice, payment status, and quotation requests. Traditional transactions were based on EDI ANSI x12 or communicated via mail and fax. The Everest project addresses the solution by using a standardized format UN/EDIFACT and XML based documents.  Replace the existing infrastructure of various nonintegrated legacy systems: The intention of the introduction of Everest was to replace the existing infrastructure of various non-integrated legacy systems. Before the introduction of Everest as many as 26 different systems used to provide the functionality that was to be integrated into the one new system. The Everest project was kicked off in 1999 with an estimated budget of $200 million. Using a rolling launch , the aim was to roll out Everest gradually both per site and by functionality with a global plan that existing IT systems should be replaced in North America and Europe during 2002 and 2003 and systems in the rest of the world during 2003 and 2004.  Centralized IT system: Ford needed one Web-based system that would serve multiple tiers of suppliers. There are many reasons for maintaining a centralized IT organization. The main reasons typically are: o Delivery of global IT solutions, o IT cost containment, and operational synergies and o Innovation through collaboration and knowledge sharing.

 Holistic approach: Ford Motor Company took a very holistic approach to the
redesign of its business processes, rather than just optimizing single tasks while keeping overall processes unchanged. This approach promised large gains in productivity if finished successfully. There was however also a large risk attached to completely replacing an existing procurement system infrastructure of a company as big as the Ford Motor Company.

How Ford Everest changed the way suppliers do business with Ford
 The acquisition of brands and other financial services has demanded Ford to review the traditional purchasing and accounting systems to better facilitate the global community of suppliers and internal processes.  The traditional transactions were based on EDIANSI x12 or communicated via mail and fax.  The Everest project addresses the solution by using a standardized format UN/EDIFACT and XML based documents that can be transmitted over the Internet for all documents, such as, purchase orders, blanket orders, tool orders, amendments, shipping remittance, and invoices.  This enablement answers the technology complexity problem associated with the organization s ERP implementation.  With the better process flow and accuracy in accounting report, the top management is better and faster managing the organization in many levels.

Objectives of the project:

 Increase Operational efficiency  Gain Business Visibility  Improve Customer Relationship

    

Streamline Production Monitor & Control Expenses Reduce errors Get accurate, timely information Global reach, better inventory visibility, reduced distribution costs

Project implementation
 TEAM: The Everest procurement system reengineered many ways that Ford used to do business. Because of the large extend of business reengineering involved; employees from different aspects of the company were recruited as team members. The project team consisted of employees from the business departments concerned with the procurement processes, as well as IT experts, and specialists from Oracle.  ROLLING LAUNCH APPROACH: Ford approached the project with a combination of a clean sheet and technology enabled. They took their current business processes and altered them to be more streamlined and more beneficial to the business. They then designed Everest to play into this strategy. Using a rolling launch, the aim was to move out Everest gradually both per site and by functionality. There would be three main phases. o The first phase would encompass North America, the second Europe, and the last phase would focus on the rest of the world. o Each phase would be set up by production and non-production supplier categories. o In North America, the Facilities, Materials & Services Purchasing (FM&SP) Supplier (non-production) Launch Plan implementation began in April 2002 with Central Staff organizations. Manufacturing organizations began with the launch of Essex Engine Plant in May 2002 and all organizations would have been fully launched by 2004. o In Europe the FM&SP launch was similar to North America s. Central Staff organizations began launching in June 2002. o Manufacturing organizations began in 1st Quarter 2003. All organization would have been fully launched by 2004 The North American production supplier execution was parallel. Limited launch began in November 2002. o The remaining organizations in North America and Europe would haven began launching on Everest in April 2003 and all brands should have been fully launched by 2004. o Ford of Europe launch was to start in April 2003. Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover launch commenced in December 2003. All brands were be fully launched by 2004.