Enterprise Resource Planning at Ford Motor Company

Enterprise Resource Planning at Ford Motor Company

Modern organizations are increasingly becoming aware of the positive impacts and processes have on their business performance. Consequently, there is a significant rush for implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP). Essentially, ERP is a software that allows organizations to integrate their different functions efficiently. Also, the software helps the organizations plan, manage, budget, and predict their financial results (Kaplan & Malvankar 40). However, implementing an ES system is a hugely complex task that requires intelligent planning (Govindaraju 474). Despite a significant outlay by modern organizations on ERP implementation, evidence suggests that the success rate is minimal. This paper will draw from various scholarly articles to analyze the implementation of ERP by the Ford Motor Company. While the ERP systems have already gained prominence in the current manufacturing environment, they lack a prognostic capability of dealing with uncertainty.

The Ford Motor Company has used an integrated simulation model for over three decades. The current implementation process regarding the ERP system relied on a partnership with Oracle. Principally, Ford sought to abort the fragmentation of the various manufacturing processes. Instead, the American firm introduced a comprehensive model designed to foster the integration of company procedures (Chiroma et al. 59). The simulation technology was also critical for predicting possible shortfalls in the manufacturing process. A robust partnership with Oracle as the service providers allowed Ford to derive benefits of the business accelerator plans developed by the organization. Also, Oracle was keen to lend its knowledge and experience toward safeguarding the data collection and linking processes at the organization. For example, the technology solutions provider offered Ford the opportunity to significantly reduce the time the automobile manufacturers required to scope, plan, and estimate projects (Kaplan, & Malvankar 40). As such, Ford overcame the foresight limitations of the ERP by using a simulation package developed by Oracle.

The IT department at the Ford Motor Company also moved to link the manufacturing system to symbiotic processes. The ERP system already controlled the manufacturing process at the auto-manufacturer. However, introducing a symbiotic relationship proved a novel experience even for an experienced organization such as Ford. Also, previous integration efforts only focused on establishing a data exchange. Therefore, the designers of the proposed implementation symbiotic simulation system adopted a three-pronged subsystem comprising forecasting, anomaly detection, and a decision support system (Chiroma et al. 60). Given that the ERP system was previously used in the manufacturing process adopted by Ford, there was minimal ‘lack of fit’ problems encountered. Therefore, one of the main reasons which lead to the failure of the ERP systems was tactfully overcome (Govindaraju 476). Overall, implementing the ERP process at the Ford Motor Company focused on facilitating a comprehensive manufacturing and simulation program.

The comprehensive symbiotic implementation system employed by Ford sought to address its one-dimensional shortcomings fundamentally. Oracle, the primary service providers, assured Ford of minimal user-related issues in the new order (Kaplan & Malvankar 40-41). Consequently, the designers made triggers and objects the main objects of the technology systems. As such, they simulated them to work collectively to create a series of what-if scenarios, evaluate trigger conditions, and optimize and analyze simulated solutions (Chiroma et al. 60). Additionally, visualizing the real-time states, forecasting future problems, and proposing answers were also possible additions (Chiroma et al. 60). Enlisting the expertise and knowledge of Oracle was critical for the successful implementation of the project. The implementer needs to possess a detailed understanding of the business processes, the competitive situation, and the organizational context (Lech 37). Overall, the ERP process was carefully implemented to safeguard the privileged position of Ford in the market while elevating its manufacturing process.

Integrating the ERP system with the manufacturing process also investment in data collection and transmission. Consequently, the IT department at Ford created data fusion objects within its simulation package. Primarily, they were designed to extract data from the company’s factory information system while passing it to the simulation model in an accessible format (Chiroma et al. 60). The automobile manufacturer built a collection of functions designed to perform data loading and manipulations. Also, the software developers enlisted the support of Oracle to represent attributes of the modeled objects, such as machine cycle times. The systems sought to collect aggregate data such as queues and sequences, aiming to store, retrieve, and manipulate the information. Additionally, the objects sought to provide a platform for storing the data simulation results (Chiroma et al. 60). The ERP system was also keen to provide a storage platform for recording object characteristics with a potential to change over time (Chiroma et al. 60) Therefore; the system was eager to optimize the manufacturing process while recording critical data collected from a group of objects and triggers incorporated into the system.

The project encountered a host of challenges that threatened to hamper its implementation. First, the organizational culture at Ford was non-receptive to the ‘disruptive’ impact of the innovations. Fundamentally, integrating ERP into the simulation procedures, which were a mainstay for the organization, received a potential backlash from employees (Lech 40). While opposition to the new technology was hardly experienced, implementing the data collection, forecasting, and optimization demands of the ERP technology proved strenuous. For a large organization such as Ford with a track record of success, such unwillingness to accept change was expected. Nonetheless, infusing the changes took over nine months of continuous implementation, which was considerably long (Lech 40). Additionally, despite conceiving the project at the appropriate management level, the sheer length of finding and approvals made short and medium-term planning difficult for the project. For a company endowed with a multi-billion dollar research and development division, integrating the technology ideas involved multidisciplinary levels. Therefore, the weight of the project was always going to be an uphill task.

In conclusion, current ERP systems lack a prognostic capability required to combat uncertainty, although they have already gained prominence in the current manufacturing environment. The partnered with Oracle to merge its existing integrated simulation model with the ERP system. Ideally, the firm sought to abandon its fragmented manufacturing processes in favour of a comprehensive model designed to foster the integration of company procedures. Also, the IT department at the automobile manufacturer moved to link the manufacturing system to symbiotic processes. The designers of the proposed implementation symbiotic simulation system adopted a three-pronged subsystem comprising forecasting, anomaly detection, and a decision support system. That way, Ford hoped that the comprehensive symbiotic implementation system would address its one-dimensional shortcomings. The newly conceived manufacturing process was keen to optimize the manufacturing process while recording critical data collected from a group of objects and triggers incorporated into the system. However, a myriad of challenges, such as organizational culture and bureaucratic issues, blighted its implementation. Nonetheless, the ERP model has enhanced manufacturing at Ford and improved data collection and optimization.