Today at SAP Insider in Prague, I sat in a great presentation from Stuart Howard from Goodyear Dunlop Tires SA. In the session, Stuart explained how Goodyear, one of the world’s leading tire companies with over 50 plants worldwide, achieved one integrated manufacturing solution with the use of SAP Manufacturing Execution. He covered how, in Europe, Goodyear leverage SAP Manufacturing Execution to optimize work in progress (WIP) in response to reduced lead time, and as a result improved Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) to critical bottlenecks for increased customer service levels, and integrated critical master data, systems, and processes using SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII).
Business Challenges
Stuart started by explaining the business challenges faced in Europe which triggered the project. The company went through a series of mergers and acquisitions of companies such as Fula, Debica, Sava and Dunlop which resulted in 14 plants in Europe working independently with local systems, networks and processes, meaning that IT costs were not being optimized.
At the start of the project Goodyear had 600 plant applications (and 100's of servers) across the 14 plants. As of today, through the implementation of ME and MII, they are currently at 167 applications, with a goal of getting to 19.
Selection Process
Initially, Goodyear developed one single vision for a new solution that :
As Stuart pointed out, “If our legacy system were used to sell tires on line, nobody would buy tires”. With this in mind, Goodyear identified the business drivers of a new solution to be:
Next, the company had to agree on standard terminology, and leveraged the industry standard CIM model
They then agreed on a standard organization, process and technology that would be rolled out across all manufacturing plants. Stuart explained that “Goodyear first agreed on what MES meant across the company”, and defined 10 Core MES functions:
The Business Requirements were sent to 20 MES providers, and after several rounds of elimination the choice was SAP Manufacturing Execution and SAP MII
The Implementation
Stuart explained that "Installing MES is like open heart surgery for the manufacturing plant", and that the scope includes both vertical and horizontal integration. In Goodyear’s case, it spanned an integrated solution from APO and ERP, to shop floor (Levels 2, 1 and 0). Systems processes and organizations needed to be established to sustain the good preparation work already done. Business ownership was critical with the project being “driven from the top, and owned by the bottom”. This required sponsorship from the Manufacturing VP level and a team of dedicated regional team members.
Business Benefits
The Goodyear manufacturing business in Europe has seen numerous benefits.
Thanks to Stuart for a great overview of the Goodyear manufacturing project in Europe.
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.
User | Count |
---|---|
12 | |
7 | |
5 | |
4 | |
4 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
2 | |
2 |