Bombardier: Successfully Navigating the Turbulent Skies of a Large-Scale ERP
What are the current challenges facing Bombardier?
Bombardier has grown substantially via acquisitions since 1989. These acquisitions allowed Bombardier to expand operations, however, in doing so they inherited multiple different information systems, processes and business practices. Bombardier, had become a textbook silo company.
Bombardier quickly realized that their aggressive acquisition strategy had become a much more expensive endeavor. By creating a silo environment, they created inefficiencies throughout the entire supply chain. Systems did not communicate, creating process delays, low inventory turnovers, price inconsistencies, and multiple bills of materials. They also had to hire personal to maintain multiple legacy systems.
To what extent is Bombardier an integrated company?
Until October 2001, Bombardier information systems where being maintained by the Bombardier Manufacturing System (BMS). The system had been put in place in early 1990 and had done a very good job of doing so. However, with the ever changing landscape of the aerospace industry and vision of Bombardier, it was widely agreed that the BMS was limited and was showing signs of aging.
One of the major problems Bombardier was facing were stand-alone, user-developed databases throughout the company which catered to specific operations and their functions. Employees were not aware that by fostering such an environment they were actually putting future initiatives at risk, and ultimately the company’s own future.
Management realized that in order to move forward and make their future visions a reality, they needed to act. For the past 12 years, they were trying to counter the inefficiencies by implementing common roles, responsibilities, values and by using six sigma tools to fine tune common processes. The Vice President of Operations had a vision of an integrated organization, where data would be shared across all sites with a single, unified information system. This vision
Bombardier has grown substantially via acquisitions since 1989. These acquisitions allowed Bombardier to expand operations, however, in doing so they inherited multiple different information systems, processes and business practices. Bombardier, had become a textbook silo company.
Bombardier quickly realized that their aggressive acquisition strategy had become a much more expensive endeavor. By creating a silo environment, they created inefficiencies throughout the entire supply chain. Systems did not communicate, creating process delays, low inventory turnovers, price inconsistencies, and multiple bills of materials. They also had to hire personal to maintain multiple legacy systems.
To what extent is Bombardier an integrated company?
Until October 2001, Bombardier information systems where being maintained by the Bombardier Manufacturing System (BMS). The system had been put in place in early 1990 and had done a very good job of doing so. However, with the ever changing landscape of the aerospace industry and vision of Bombardier, it was widely agreed that the BMS was limited and was showing signs of aging.
One of the major problems Bombardier was facing were stand-alone, user-developed databases throughout the company which catered to specific operations and their functions. Employees were not aware that by fostering such an environment they were actually putting future initiatives at risk, and ultimately the company’s own future.
Management realized that in order to move forward and make their future visions a reality, they needed to act. For the past 12 years, they were trying to counter the inefficiencies by implementing common roles, responsibilities, values and by using six sigma tools to fine tune common processes. The Vice President of Operations had a vision of an integrated organization, where data would be shared across all sites with a single, unified information system. This vision