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Vitra
Tiles
5.2 The eBusiness Solution – technical details
ERP systems
The ERP systems that are currently being integrated as a part of the eBusiness
project were Prism in the case of Turkey and Protean in the case of Ireland.
The Prism system was installed by the Turkish business (Eczacibasi Ceramic
Tiles) in the early 1990s. It comprises a number of modules including:
- Production
planning
- Purchasing
- Customer
order management
- Inventory
- Financial
support
The
Irish system, Protean, as used by Vitra in Ireland is
a windows-based system, object-oriented and much more
user friendly.
Capital investment – hardware & software
The following table contains the detail and cost of
the technology used to implement the projects.
| DESCRIPTION |
MODEL
NUMBER
(IF APPROPRIATE) |
UNIT
COST
(£000) |
TOTAL
COST
(£000) |
| MS
Windows Terminal Server Software |
Version
4.0 |
£1.7 |
1.7 |
| Firewall
Licence |
Checkpoint
/ NT |
2.341 |
2.341 |
| Citrix
|
MetaFrame
|
6.0
|
6.0 |
| Applications
server / file server |
Compaq
Proliant ML
370 Raid 5 |
8.644
|
8.644 |
| Terminal
Server H/W |
Compaq
Proliant ML
370 Raid 1
|
7.075
|
7.075 |
| 20/40
DAT External Tape Drive |
Compaq
|
1.551 |
1.551 |
| Cisco
Router 1601 |
Cisco |
1.089 |
1.089 |
| Rental
of circuit |
ESAT
|
2.54
|
2.54 |
| Installation
of circuit |
ESAT |
1.86 |
1.86 |
| Internet
Access |
ESAT |
3.6
|
3.6 |
| Firewall
support |
ESAT |
0.5
|
0.5 |
| Installation
of firewall & router |
|
1.150 |
1.150 |
| Toshiba
Notebooks (for training of customers) |
Tecra |
2.5 |
10.0 |
| Web
Dev. Software (Front-end) |
|
6.0 |
6.0 |
| TOTAL
CAPITAL INVESTMENT |
|
|
54.05 |
5.3 Training
Vitra also invested in a substantial training programme
in order to ensure that all stakeholders were able to
use the new systems and thus achieve the business benefits
planned for. Training was provided by Protean consultants
Wonderware, supported by local consultants Datapac.
- Field
sales staff were given training in the use of Protean modules such
as Order Entry, Stock Query, Production Status Report, and Account
Query screens. They were also given training to allow them to become
trainers in turn so as to enable them to provide the local support
to customers having connection difficulties.
- Customers
were also given training in the use of the Protean modules
- Internal
sales staff required training in customer management skills to enable
them to optimise their customer service. This was critical because
one of the main value drivers of the project was the additional time
that sales staff would had to focus on delivering superior levels
of customer service.
- Showroom
sales staff were also given training on Protean.
Another
key concern in the development of staff has been a focus
on improving the ability of staff to work with other
staff across the group. There is substantial interchange
of staff between Turkey and Ireland. This has resulted
in substantial knowledge being transferred from country
to country and plant to plant. The eBusiness implementation
team was largely Turkish and have been resident in Arklow,
Ireland for the duration of the project and beyond.
Much of the success in the project can be attributed
to this capability in capturing and disseminating learning
across the broader group.
5.4 Project Costs
The eBusiness project costs broke down as follows:
| Costs |
Total
(£000) |
Feasibility
Study (Initial study costs prior to
commencing the project) |
11,480 |
Process
Development (Developing the
eBusiness systems and processes) |
97,550 |
Recruitment
of Specialist Staff
(Up to 1 years salary costs of New
Specialist Staff only) |
0 |
| Marketing
Costs |
6,000 |
| Total
Current |
128,695 |
Capital
Investment (hardware and/or
purchased software |
54,050 |
| Total
Current & Capital |
182,745 |
5.5 eBusiness Project Benefits
At the start of the project Vitra identified a number of generic benefits
that flow from any eBusiness implementation:
- Lower
Costs
- Greater
Business Efficiency
- Gain
Competitive Advantage
- Broader
Market Coverage
- Improved
Customer Service
- Increased
Customer Satisfaction
- Greater
Customer Retention
- Better
Quality Products and Services
- Better
Business Intelligence
- Fewer
Administrative Errors
The specific
benefits from this project break down along functional lines:
Sales
Prior to the eBusiness project sales orders were faxed to the Arklow office
by sales representatives or by customers. The appropriate internal sales
agent then entered these orders onto the system. The eBusiness project
freed internal sales staff from these repetitive order entry tasks and
allowed them to concentrate on customer service. It also eliminated transcription
errors as the orders were entered directly by the customer. US customers
were particularly eager to commence on-line trading, due to the time differences
between Ireland and the USA.
Purchasing
The project enabled approved suppliers to connect to the system through
a standard Internet connection. They are now able to check raw materials
stock levels against minimum order quantities. This enabled improved planning
and service for their business. Whilst some monitoring of materials levels
was required the implementation team estimated that the project would
reduce the purchasing workload by 40%.
Internal
The ability to look at stocks in real-time in all locations, Ireland,
UK, and Turkey significantly reduces response times to customers. The
finished project linked the Protean databases in Ireland with the Prism-based
system in Turkey enabling transparency of records between all the divisions
of the company. The Arklow-based servers were designed to support the
system worldwide.
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