Automotive, Industrial Equipment & Aerospace: Customer Stories

Accuride had an IBM iSeries–based Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solution that required frequent attention from IT personnel and was expensive to operate. The company used the Microsoft® application platform to build a new solution that not only improves integration, but also streamlines production planning and provides customers visibility into certain manufacturing processes. Developed in four months with assistance from MPS Partners, the solution has improved factory operations and delivers new customer value. Accuride is realizing technical benefits as well, including high developer productivity, minimal deployment costs, reduced ongoing costs, and a decreased IT workload. Furthermore, the solution’s scalability, reliability, flexibility, and ease of management will help Accuride take advantage of the solution in the future.

Aviation Technology Group (ATG) leads the way in the production of aircraft that provides the power and in-flight functionality of a military fighter jet. ATG focuses on developing high-performance executive jets and derivatives for government markets. ATG expects first deliveries of the latest Javelin aircraft for commercial use in 2010. To pave the way and to plan for future successes, ATG sought to enhance its collaborative process with global partners and suppliers, and improve internal operations. ATG selected the UGS Teamcenter suite, supported by Microsoft® SQL Server™ and the Windows® platform and applications, which delivers integrated, cost-effective solutions from design, to development, to product release. The UGS PLM Software-Microsoft partnership has shortened ATG development time and reduced its total cost of ownership by minimizing IT support training and staff expenses.

BMW AG employs over 100,000 people worldwide and maintains 24 production sites in 13 countries. Global project teams depend on communication and collaboration to design new products and bring them into production. Quickly bringing new models into production is critical to maintaining the company’s edge against competitors. BMW has 11,000 employees taking advantage of the instant messaging and presence capabilities of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007. To expand on these capabilities, the company deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. BMW expects employees to take advantage of improved desktop sharing, plus audio and video conferencing capabilities, to collaborate with coworkers and business partners. The company also hopes to reduce audio and Web conferencing significantly by replacing services from the leading online meeting vendor.

Egypt’s Bavarian Auto Group, which is sole distributor of BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce, and other top automotive lines in Egypt, had a problem many companies would love to have: how to cope with 400 percent growth over the last five years. The company, which also operates an assembly line for BMWs in Egypt, chose SAP as its enterprise resource planning solution, and after considering several options decided to deploy SAP on the Microsoft® Application Platform, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) database software. Bavarian Auto Group chose the solution over an existing IBM AS400 system with an IBM DB2 database, and over an Oracle-based solution, because it wanted the ease of integration it enjoys with the Microsoft Application Platform, and determined that it would gain enterprise-grade performance while enjoying a lower total cost of ownership.

BorgWarner, a leading supplier of automotive power-train technology sought to support global collaboration across its business in a fierce market of global competition. With a desire to transform its intranet from a static repository for policy documents into a dynamic collaboration platform, BorgWarner—with aid from consultant CDW—deployed a solution based on Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Now users across product development, supply chain, manufacturing, and finance groups can better manage workflow processes, foster global team collaboration, locate documents for greater reuse of knowledge assets, and provide training resources—all of which helps bring products to market more quickly. In just one year, BorgWarner achieved its return on investment (ROI) by increasing overall office administrative productivity and reducing its intranet costs by 64 percent annually.

Citroën UK Ltd wanted to enhance the visual appeal and shrink the administrative burden of its Web site. It wanted to reduce manual processes when updating site content and reach out to more prospective customers. Working with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Dot Net Solutions, it built a new Web site based on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 that went live in just three months. As a result, the appeal and the usability of the Web site have dramatically improved, and content updates take half the time they took before. With a rich user interface, improved site performance, and automated content management, Citroën increased site visits by 27 per cent, reduced costs, enhanced the user experience for site visitors, and made site administration simpler and more productive.

To feed assembly lines that supply components such as powertrain controllers, infotainment systems, and body controllers to major automakers, Continental Automotive receives eight truckloads of parts from its 160 suppliers every day. A manually intensive process received those parts, logged into Continental’s SAP system, and found storage for them. But it lengthened cycle times and increased costs. To support the company’s lean-manufacturing initiative, Continental adopted a custom receiving solution from Xterprise, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner. The solution is based on Microsoft RFID technology and its extended application platform, along with Xterprise application software and Motorola hardware. The solution has cut the receiving-cycle time by 50 percent and the associated costs by 30 percent. The solution was half as expensive as the most competitive proprietary UNIX solutions.

Emotive provides specialized development tools for building automotive diagnostic applications. The company was started in 2008, when its founders realized there was strong demand for a tool that would enable automobile manufacturers and parts suppliers to build such applications in-house. “Outsourcing development can be costly and time-intensive, and makes it hard to maintain the application,” says Tobias Widmer, Founder and Managing Director at Emotive. “Our idea was to combine a graphical designer for building the application’s GUI with another designer for the diagnostic sequences and workflows behind that GUI.”

Ferrari wanted to make its Web site as state-of-the-art and captivating as the cars it manufactures. The company migrated from a Java-based infrastructure to Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 to streamline development, simplify content management, and improve the user experience. With the new site, Ferrari has created a stronger audience connection. Site traffic has increased by 237 percent, with a 150 percent increase in unique visitors.

Gates Corporation is a global manufacturer of industrial and automotive belts and hoses. Globalization has scattered Gates teams across several continents and pitted the company against regional players whose smaller size favors faster responses. To maintain its customer service lead, Gates equipped employees with new software that helps them communicate more effectively. As a result, employees are more effective in working together to serve customers, and the company is better able to take advantage of the latest innovations, while saving U.S.$1 million in IT costs.

General Auto, a leading car dealership in Serbia, has grown rapidly over the past 12 years. Its business information system couldn’t support such rapid change, so the company worked with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Ipsylon to build a flexible and scalable solution based on Microsoft technologies.

Grupo Antolin produces interior components for car manufacturers worldwide. When the company expands, it integrates new customers, logistics operators, and suppliers with its central business system. But a single integration took two weeks and only the IT department could manage information. With a system based on Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 R2, interchanges are integrated in just two days, and managers can access reliable information in real time.

Infosys Technologies Ltd. is an IT transformation leader for its clients around the world. With over 95,000 employees in more than 64 offices around the world, the company constantly searches for the best technology to help its customers meet their business goals. As Infosys began designing a solution to let automobile dealers share information on inventories and other resources, it wanted to offer a cloud-based solution that would be simple to deploy, easy to scale, and require zero maintenance from the customer. To create its hub-in-the-cloud solution it needed a cloud-based database, which it found with Microsoft® SQL Data Services, part of the Microsoft Services Platform. Infosys is using SQL Data Services to create a solution for auto dealers, which it can easily replicate to meet similar integration needs for healthcare, hospitality, insurance, and other industry verticals.

Ingersoll Rand is a global manufacturing company with diverse product lines. Recent growth by acquisition contributed to an already decentralized, heterogeneous IT infrastructure. To simplify management of its global IT environment, Ingersoll Rand standardized on Microsoft® technologies and deployed a virtualization solution using Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ that spans servers and desktops across the enterprise. Ingersoll Rand has already avoided approximately U.S.$570,000 through server consolidation and virtualization software savings. In 2009, it expects its desktop virtualization solution to simplify the deployment of Windows Vista®. By administering its virtualized environment and physical network resources with Microsoft System Center integrated management tools, Ingersoll Rand can further support its infrastructure optimization goals, driving IT efficiency and business agility.

Kelley Blue Book has been part of the automotive industry since Ford Model T’s shared the roads with horse-drawn buggies. Today, as a leading online supplier of information on new and used cars, Kelley Blue Book continually looks for ways to deliver rich, dynamic content to the consumers, dealers, car manufacturers, and others who use its services. Working with Neudesic, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Kelley Blue Book is using Microsoft products to develop powerful, digital marketing solutions. Recent innovations include the visually rich Perfect Car Finder tool and a mobile version of its interactive Web content. Kelley Blue Book is now able to respond to evolving consumer and market demands with innovative products that help support its role as an industry leader.

Kelley Blue Book is a leading provider for new and used automobile values. The company’s Web site, kbb.com, averages 12 million visits per month. To succeed on the Web, the company needs to provide consumers with reliable, immediate access to car values in new and innovative ways, whether users are sitting in front of their PCs or want information via their mobile phones. The company’s use of Microsoft® software gives Kelley Blue Book a Web presence with which it can easily deliver the innovative experiences that customers demand—in turn, helping Kelley Blue Book differentiate itself from its competition and drive new revenues. Just as important, Kelley Blue Book can maintain a reliable Web presence with minimal costs, making it possible for the company to spend more on new product development.

Kelley Blue Book is a premier provider of vehicle pricing information to consumers, automotive dealers, governments, and the finance and insurance industries. The company developed its information-rich, high-traffic Web site using the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 and supports it with two hosted data centers. In an effort to reduce hosting costs and ease management of its infrastructure, Kelley Blue Book decided to host and manage its Web site using a software-plus-services model. After evaluating software-plus-services solutions, the company implemented the Windows Azure™ platform —which proved to be a straightforward process. As a result, Kelley Blue Book is able to reduce capital expenditures for new hardware, increase its competitive advantage by focusing on delivering new features, save U.S.$100,000 annually in hosting costs, and use IT resources more strategically.

Borusan Manheim Turkey, which specializes in second-hand motor vehicle auctions and classified advertisement sales via the Web, wanted a business management system to monitor its sales representatives’ performance and track customer behaviour. The company implemented Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0 customer relationship management (CRM) software. As a result, customer performance data that previously took hours to research is available in seconds. The company expects a return on investment in just 18 months.

Mantrac Group, a multinational dealer that represents many leading companies including Caterpillar, deployed Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 data management software to enhance its business intelligence (BI). With this solution, Mantrac has accelerated data extraction, the building of multidimensional online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes, and reporting.

McLaren Electronic Systems, part of a family of companies that includes the McLaren Racing organization, is a leader in developing specialized motor racing products including the engine control unit (ECU) that manages the complex engine, transmission, and other key elements of Formula One race cars. After the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motor sport’s world governing body, awarded McLaren Electronics and Microsoft the contract to provide the ECU solution that will be used in all Formula One race cars, McLaren Electronics sought a more efficient way to manage the terabytes of ECU data that a team generates in a year. After performing a proof of concept study, McLaren Electronics found that Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 provided the solution it needed for storing data while providing Formula One type retrieval speeds.

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe (MCFE) is a joint venture between forklift manufacturers Mitsubishi and Caterpillar. The company manufactures, sells, and distributes 18,000 forklifts and related spare parts each year. MCFE relied on manual or sometimes paper-based processes to support dealer inquiries and orders, resulting in missed orders or unanswered dealer requests. To improve the forklift configuration and ordering process, the company deployed Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0. Because of the flexible xRM development platform that underpins Microsoft Dynamics CRM, MCFE created several customized applications. By using xRM to rapidly develop relational business applications, MCFE has increased employee productivity, improved its ability to respond to business needs, reduced development costs by 60 percent, and improved order processing times.

Polaris Industries Inc. is the number one off-road vehicle manufacturer in the world and a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry. The company relied on a group of unconnected systems to provide support to customers and a network of 1,500 dealers. Because these systems did not share information, Polaris support teams could not effectively track individual dealer issues, and it was difficult to assess the performance of the teams holistically. Polaris evaluated several solutions, but chose Microsoft Dynamics® CRM as an application platform layer because of its superior technical flexibility and cost effectiveness. After deploying several applications to its various support operations, Polaris continues to extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a platform for other projects, including a dealer extranet and e-commerce Web site.

Polaris Industries is one of the largest off-road vehicle manufacturers in the world and a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry. To provide support to customers and a network of 1,500 dealers, the company relied on a group of disconnected applications. Because these systems did not share information, Polaris could not effectively track individual dealer issues. Polaris evaluated several solutions and chose Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, which is built on the xRM application platform layer, because of its superior technical flexibility and cost effectiveness. After deploying the solution to its various support operations, Polaris continues to make use of the xRM platform to accelerate development and deployment of line-of-business applications unique to the company, including a dealer extranet and e-commerce Web site.

Polaris Industries is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of all-terrain vehicles and the recognized leader in the snowmobile industry. Various organizations within Polaris used disparate systems, so when customers and dealers called for support, they frequently experienced a bumpy ride. A series of nonintegrated customer relationship management solutions built on legacy technologies made it difficult for the sales and support staff to provide adequate customer service. Management also lacked the reporting capabilities needed to assess the effectiveness of customer service operations. Polaris Industries, in cooperation with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Inetium, implemented Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server. This combination offers employees an easy-to-use system, customers better support, and managers a 360-degree view of operations.

PPG is the world’s leading supplier of automotive, industrial and architectural finishes, with over 40,000 employees, manufacturing facilities and equity affiliates in more than 20 countries around the globe. PPG services small bodyshops, large collision centers, industrial parts and product manufacturers, fleet owners and specialty finishers.

When car maker SEAT launched the Exeo—a sub-premium saloon defined by elegant design and a sporty ride—the company wanted to deploy an advertising strategy to match the sophistication of the car. SEAT worked with expert Microsoft® Silverlight™ developer Metia, using its PageLife platform to create a glossy online magazine that made a real impact on customers. More than 19 per cent of users clicked through from the application to order a brochure or book a test drive.

Sollers, one of the largest automotive manufacturers in Russia, relies extensively on e-mail to communicate internally and externally. Because it continually seeks to improve efficiency, the company sought to upgrade its e-mail system. In September 2009, Sollers deployed a prerelease version of Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 to 150 users to evaluate that software, and a prerelease version of the Microsoft Outlook® 2010 messaging and collaboration client. Sollers especially liked the Outlook Anywhere feature in Exchange Server 2010—which gives Outlook users the ability to connect to Exchange Server 2010 without using a virtual private network. Sollers also embraced the easy Web-based access and administration. With full deployment, Sollers expects Exchange Server 2010 will help it make faster decisions, increase IT productivity by up to 15 percent, and help it remain highly competitive.

Subaru Canada, which distributes vehicles to dealerships nationwide, wanted to improve its employees’ communications productivity—especially for its mobile sales staff, who frequently had to check in for voice-mail messages. With the help of Navantis, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, Subaru Canada implemented Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise as part of a unified communications strategy. Subaru Canada will use Exchange Server 2010 to save mobile employees more than 15 minutes a day, while also saving money on phone charges, because the employees no longer have to dial in to check voice-mail messages. The company will also take advantage of Exchange Server 2010 to provide users with larger mailboxes at a lower cost, deliver a highly available solution while improving IT efficiency, and more easily comply with regulations.

ToyotaFishing.com is a microsite targeting fishing enthusiasts that helps Toyota promote the Toyota Tundra pickup brand. Originally developed in Flash, ToyotaFishing.com performed poorly in search engines, making it difficult for customers to find the site. Furthermore, updating content on the site was difficult and time-consuming for Toyota under the original architecture. To improve search engine optimization (SEO), iCrossing re-architected the site using Microsoft Silverlight, which significantly enhanced the discoverability of the Web site by search engines, and dramatically streamlined overall site update operations.

Tyco Flow Control is an industrial manufacturer with a global presence. As the company grew through acquisitions, it also acquired a wide variety of e-mail systems across all its offices. To simplify IT management and increase communication reliability, the company investigated hosted e-mail solutions. After evaluating other vendors, Tyco Flow Control chose Microsoft Exchange Online for its features and reliability.