DATAForge Customer Case Study

The Planning Module

In 2003 DATAForge analysts were working on a product launch for General Motors. While working with the plant maintenance department and material purchasing group, they discovered that the methods used were very inefficient, specifically:

• A manual, paper driven process was used to communicate requests for purchase by maintenance.
• A manual process, if any, to keep track of which parts have been reviewed.
• There was no universal, site wide view of material being requested which caused many duplicate requests for the same parts and excessive purchases.
• No tracking or reporting.

In response to this need, we developed the Spare Designation utility, which is now known as the Planning Module in DATAForge.  This provided:

• A website based, paperless communication method.
• Comprehensive part tracking which made it easy for users to tell which parts have been planned and which haven’t.
• A site wide view for users to see the plans made by other users in different departments of the same site, eliminating duplicate requests for material and eliminating excess.
• Provided tracking so that users and managers could easily see which users had designated which parts and clear status.

The cost avoidance in one product launch in one facility from the use of the Planning Module:

Manhours: $109,523
Material Purchase: $1,098,703

This module was such a success that it has been adopted as the Global Standard by General Motors and is used on every product launch.