Mercedes Benz’s E-Biz Solution

Free Case Study Mercedes Benzs E-Biz Solution The pulverisation pitch shot Reservation System Free Case Studies Case Study in Business, Management Case Details Themes e-Supply Chain Management Case aloofness 06 Pages Period 1990-2001 Organization SciQuest. com Pub Date 2002 T to each integritying Note bondable Countries USA Industry Information Technology (Electronic Commerce) Mercedes Benzs E-Biz Solution The Factory voice communication Reservation System wizard of our close to fundamental goals in growing the brass was to strengthen and market the Mercedes-Benz brand in the United States.The detail that we would be one of the first car manufacturers in the United States to watch a grind spoken communication program would be seen as a very positive thing in this regard. William Engelke, Assistant Manager, IT Systems, Mercedes Benz US International, commenting on the FDRS. Linking customers By 2000, Mercedes Benz United States International (MBUSI), builder of the high-quality MClass sports utility vehicle (SUV), accomplished itself as a company that as well as delivered superior customer services. One such service was the delivery option where by the customer could get word delivery of the vehicle at the pulverization in Alabama, US.The program c whollyight-emitting diode the Factory auction pitch Reservation System (FDRS), enabled MBUSI to create and validate 1800 orders per hour. FDRS too mechanically generated material requirements and Bills of Material1 for 35,000 vehicles per hour. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that made FDRS mathematical was based on Lotus eye mask2 and IBM Netfinity3 horde4. Analysts felt that with its innovative use of the sassy program, MBUSI not only managed to improve its customer relations by providing the beat out service, but also demonstrated its commitment to customers by making them an full part of the process.Customers were, in a way linked directly to the factory floor which was a powerful sales tool. Background Mbusi and its Business Challenges MBUSI was a wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser AG. 5 In 1993, Daimler Benz trueized that the Benz brand could be largen to wider market segments. Traditionally, Mercedes Benz6 appealed to older and sophisticated customers only. Daimler Benz valued to attract customers below 40 years of age, who wanted a rugged vehicle with all the arctic and sumptuosity features of a Mercedes. Daimler Benz decided to develop a SUV known as the M-Class.It expected strong demand for the new vehicle and therefore plotted to build its first car-manufacturing facility MBUSI in the (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) US. The MBUSI facility had many advantages. First, compass costs in the US were almost half that of in Germany. Second, the US was the leading geographic market for SUVs. Third, as the vehicles were assembled in the US, they could be distributed to Canada and Mexico more efficiently. In January 1997, the factory started ware at partial capacity and by the end of the year, it was producing at full capacity.By 2000, the factory was rolling out some 380 vehicles per day. The new M-Class allactivityvehicle represented a new concept for the company. Also, mass customization required that each vehicle be treated as a dissipate project, with its own Bill of Material. To deal with these challenges, Daimler Benz decided to implement an enterprise wide Information Technology (IT) carcass, with the help of IBM worldwide Services7. To further strengthen the type of Mercedes Benz in the US, MBUSI plotted to deliver vehicles at the factory, becoming the first world-wide automobile manufacturer in the US to do so.MBUSI also wanted to enrich the customers feel. Commented William Engelke, The factory delivery option gives Mercedes-Benz customers something that they do not get from other automobile manufacturers which is why we think the program will encounter with our customers. We think th at having the factory delivery program available to Mercedes customers adds to the overall experience of the customer. The Design of FDRS The FDRS program was proposed in the first quarter of 1998. In the deuce-ace quarter of 1998, MBUSI entered into a contract with IBM.A increment team up was constituted with IBM Global Solutions specialists and IBM e-commerce developers, who worked closely with MBUSI. The program became operational by the first quarter of 1999. The IT team at MBUSI had a clear set of formal specifications for FDRS. However, they relied on IBM to veer the concept into an e-business solution. The FDRS was knowing in such a way that customers purchase the M-Class SUV could specify that will take delivery of their new vehicle at the factory. They could place the order at any of the 355 Mercedes Benz dealers in the US.An authorized employee at the dealership entered the factory delivery order the web interface. Timing was the most important aspect of the FDRSfu nctionality, as it was closely linked with MBUSIs vehicle production schedule. Mercedes Benz United States of America (MBUSA)8, based in Montvale, NJ, was the first link in the FDRS program. It was the point where the dealer actually placed the order. MBUSAs role was to coordinate the distribution of vehicles to dealers across the country. Later, it had to add the order to the companys Baan attempt Resource Planning (ERP)9system, which schedule the order for production.About terzetto months before the production date, the dealer could schedule in a window, the date and time of arrival of the customer at the factory for delivery. The window was then automatically computed by the FDRS to give the dealer, the possible delivery dates. Apart from the delivery date, the customer could also specify the accessories for the car and also request a factory tour. FDRS was based on Lotus domino (Refer Exhibit I), Lotus Enterprise Integrator10 and IBM Netfinity emcees. It also interfaced with IBM S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, Model 9672-R45 located in Montvale, NJ (Refer Figure I).There were two eye mask waiters an IBM Netfinity 5500 and an IBM Netfinity 3000. FIGURE I SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF FDRS Source MBUSI The former that acted as the intimate eye mask master of ceremonieswas placed behind a firewall 11. It replicated entropybases through the firewall to the international server. The replication, which was encrypted, represented the primary means by which the FDRS system achieved security. Netfinity 3000 acted as an extraneous Domino server. It had public information and was also the primary communication gene linkage for dealers. The ack-end of the FDRS was equipped with an Oracle selective informationbase that updated the internal Domino server database with order information. The updation was do using Lotus Enterprise Integrator. The data which was replicated to the internal Domino server included lists of valid dealers and lists of order numbers. Wh en an order was placed by the dealer on the FDRS system, the data was first stored on the external Domino server, after(prenominal) which it was replicated to the internal Domino server. Then it was replicated to the rear end-end database via the Lotus Enterprise Integrator. entropy replication amid the Lotus Notes servers happened every 15 minutes and data exchange with the back-end database three times per day. There was also a link among the back end database and an IBM S/39012 mainframe based system located at MBUSA via a T113 line. MBUSA managed the flow of vehicles to Mercedes dealers across the United States. This mainframe based system, veri sidestep new vehicle orders (as opposed to factory delivery reservation requests) from individual(a) dealers. The orders were then sent to MBUSIs Baan system and also to the back-end database.The vehicle society and factory reservation data were coordinated with each other when the back-end database uploaded the data to the interna l Domino server. This coordinated the production and delivery information. FDRS Implementation One of the most challenging aspects of the implementation seemed to be the complexity of the Lotus and Domino scripts. The development team had to group all the information from diverse systems. Commented William Engelke, There was a substantial amount of very complex coding involved in the FDRS solution. This application involves a lot more than having our dealers fill out a form and submitting it.There are many things the servers have to do for the system to function properly, such as looking at calendars and production schedules. We built a solution with some very advanced communication linkages. IBM faced many technical challenges during the implementation of the program. One of them was the different timing schemes of the Lotus Notes databases and backend databases (ERP). This led to discrepancies in the data. Domino server was a Near Real condemnation (NRT) Server14, and MBUSIs bac kend activities were both real time15and muss processing16. Also, to get the best results, the Domino server was an optimised subset of the ERP table set17.However, the development team achieved a balance between the two sidesof the solution by focusing on issues of timing, error detection schemes, and alerts. Customer Satisfaction FDRS Primary Benefit MBUSI seemed to measure FDRSsuccess in terms of change magnitude satisfaction of its customers. The company also believed that the marketing and customer satisfaction aspects outweighed the consequence of more traditional cost-based benefits. Apart from the factory delivery experience, the program also fractureed the customer a factory tour and ride on the off-road melody at a low cost.The company also seemed to gain strategical marketing benefits from the FDRS program, as it was able to establish Mercedes-Benz as a indemnity brand. (Refer Table I for advantages of FDRS in different areas). Customers could also visit the mingl ed tourist spots in Alabama after picking up their M-class vehicles. TABLE I ADVANTAGES OF THE FDRS PROGRAM AREA Strategic Marketing Benefits terms Savings ADVANTAGES FDRS was expected to improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, as it enriched Mercedes customers experience. The program also strengthened the brand motion-picture show of Mercedes in the US.Development of a web-based solution enabled MBUSI to offer the factory delivery program at substantially lower costs, due to less reliance on administrative personnel. encase Marketing the FDRS program with a ride to tourist sites, enhanced the image of Alabama as a tourist destination. The creation of a kindred albeit smaller factory delivery system to the European Customer Delivery Center in Sindelfingen, Germany, reflected favorably on the MBUSI business unit. Source MBUSI regional Economic Development DaimlerChrysler AG Future of FDRS In 2000, MBUSI planned to leverage FDRS plan by adding a range of other services .MBUSI built an advanced platform to create communication links to its suppliers. Through the link, MBUSI provided them feedback on the quality of supplies it received. The dealers and suppliers had a drug user-ID and password, which the system recognized. It then routed them into the appropriate stage of the FDRS. The company also planned to extend the innovative system to include transactional applications such as ordering materials and checking order status on the Web. The company expected that the new system based on FDRS, would be more cost-effective than the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)18 system. Bill of Material keeps track of all raw materials, parts, and subassemblies utilize to create a finished product. 2 A product of IBM Corp. , Lotus Notes and Domino R5 are the industrys leading client/server combination for collaborative pass and e-business solutions. 3 The IBM Netfinity server offers solutions for file-and-print and application computing needs. 4 A computer o r wrench on a web that manages network resources. For example, a file server is a computer and storage twisting dedicated to storing files. Any user on the network underside store files on the server.A print server is a computer that manages one or more printers, and a network server is a computer that manages network traffic. A database server is a computer system that processes database queries. 5 DaimlerChrysler AG was the result of a merger between two leading car manufacturers Daimler Benz of Germany and Chrysler Corp. of the US in 1998. 6 A luxury brand of passenger cars, Sports Utility Vehicles from DaimlerChrysler. 7 IBM Global Services is the services and consultancy parting of IBM Corp. that offers extensive ebusiness solutions. 8 MBUSA is the wholly owned US subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser. ERP attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those different departments particular needs. 10 A server -based data distribution product that enables data exchange between Lotus Domino and a number of host and relational applications. 11 A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software. Firewalls are often use to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, in particular intranets.All cores entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria. 12 The IBM S/390 servers offer direct high speed access to the e-business application and are used for Enterprise Computing. 13 A dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1. 544 Mbits per second. A T1 Line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbits per second. Each 64 Kbit per second channel can be configured to voice or data traffic. 14 The NRT Server System sup ports real time distribution of near-real time data. 5 Real time refers to events simulated by a computer at the same speed that they would occur in real life. 16 Executing a series of noninteractive jobs all at one time. The term dates back to the days when users entered programs on punch cards. They gave a batch of these programmed cards to the system operator, who fed them into the computer. Usually, batch jobs are stored up during operative hours and then executed whenever the computer is idle. Batch processing is particularly effectual for operations that require the computer or a peripheral device for an extended period of time.Once a batch job begins, it continues until it is done or until an error occurs. Note that batch processing implies that there is no interaction with the user while the program is being executed. 17 The ERP tables are the database tables, (thousands of them), on which the share is built. The programmers and end users must set these tables to match t heir business processes. Each table has a decision switchthat leads the software down one decision style or another. 18 EDI connects all the suppliers in and out of the US. www. icmrindia. org/free resources/casestudies/Mercedes Benz-IT&Systems-Case Studies. htm