| Powerway
deploy IAS to automate Fortune 10 Global Automobile Manufacturer’s
APQP data accessibility |
 Automotive
APQP Connectivity with IAS
Powerway’s hosted application allows automated
collaboration of production parts quality data resulting
in significant efficiencies, errors reduction, cost
savings and acceleration in design and launch of new
vehicle models
|
The Client
Powerway, Inc., a privately-held technology
company founded in 1987, provides e-business solutions, leading
edge software, and professional services for enhanced collaboration
within and among organizations operating in industries characterized
by multi-tier supply chains, such as automotive, aerospace,
electronics and pharmaceutical / medical devices. Within the
automotive industry, Powerway offers Powerway.com as the leading
hosted application for Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
communication and collaboration.
Powerway.com allows OEMs and suppliers to collaborate as a
virtual extended enterprise. Leading automotive companies
such as Daimler-Chrysler and GM, among others, and hundreds
of suppliers have adopted Powerway.com as the standard APQP
solution.
Problem
To handle large volume of part quality data, Fortune
10 Manufacturer wanted automated integration to hosted
application to complement the webbased portal interface
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Fortune 10 automotive manufacturer deployed
Powerway.com as a tool for organizing and sharing the APQP
information with its supply chain. However, connectivity was
required between the client’s systems and back-end infrastructure
to Powerway.com for managing the sheer volume of APQP data
regarding all the parts that were involved in their different
new vehicle programs.
At automotive OEMs and suppliers the information (general
part quality and usage part data etc) on production parts
for new automobile programs was distributed among disparate
systems with many different departments and plants. Production parts information was stored in non-standard formats. Information was not easily accessible and could not be transported
to a single repository for AQPQ implementation. -
The internal systems did not have information
that was consistent with the online data repository at
Powerway.com. This resulted in lack of real-time visibility.
Two copies of information and documents were maintained – one
internally and one at Powerway.com. IT staff did not have subject matter expertise for the APQP process
and Powerway.com to build this automated integration interface.
Solution
Collaboration between Adeptia and Powerway resolved
this persistent
problem in just 4 months while previous efforts that
spanned over 18
months were not successful
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Adeptia and Powerway partnered to pre-build
APQP workflows, processes and connectivity to Powerway.com.
Adeptia provided the technology and core competence in supply
chain integration and B2Bi while Powerway provided the domain
expertise in the unique workflows and business rules associated
with APQP. The result of this association is a single, complete
product called Integration Acceleration Solution (IAS).
How does the solution work?
IAS provides a standardized way of interfacing
Powerway’s customer with Powerway.com. IAS incorporates
Powerway’s integration business rules to mask the complexity
and minimize the integration effort. Fortune 10 manufacturer
posts the data to IAS through HTTPS as ebXML messages. IAS
parses the messages, decodes and extracts the data from the
messages and processes in multiple steps sequentially and
simultaneously. IAS with its APQP business intelligence and
Powerway integration rules determines which actions need to
be performed at Powerway.com. Action instructions are sent
out to Powerway.com as XML messages over HTTPS. IAS keeps
track of all the messages sent out and processes them when
receipt XML messages are posted back to IAS from Powerway.com.
These actions include creating, updating and removing entities
like users, suppliers, parts, menu lists, projects and activating,
deactivating users, assigning users to projects, assigning
part to projects, assigning methodologies to projects, canceling
projects, reassigning projects, shuffling parts between projects
etc. IAS synchronizes processing of all the batches by determining
the priority of files grouped in the batches. It sends notification
to IAS administrators when something unexpected is received
in the data, and helps manage exceptions. With high volume
data handling capability, IAS processes as many as 60,000
part messages per day. Collaboration between Adeptia and Powerway
resolved this persistent problem in just 4 months while previous
efforts that spanned over 18 months were not successful.
Solution Highlights
Synergy of pre-built components and domain expertise
translate to the solution being 80% complete out-of-thebox.
The rest is that only 20% effort is unique to each
new customer deployment
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-
Dynamic business rules to automate
APQP: APQP data integration can be fully automated
irrespective of volume and complexity of information,
and incompatibility of existing technology infrastructure.
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Ready to use solution:
Powerway can address similar business needs of other manufacturing
companies. The solution in its existing form is 80% complete.
To meet requirements specific to each customer, a customized
layer (remaining 20%) is quickly added to IAS at time
of deployment.
Strategic Value for Powerway
Unique solution: Powerway.com with IAS Integration
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Rapid expansion of Powerway.com usage in major OEMs
Large OEMs can now extend usage of Powerway.com for APQP
management across multiple divisions, additional new vehicle programs
and more suppliers.
IAS included in the Powerway product portfolio
IAS, with Adeptia’s technology at its core, has been
productized and is a key element of Powerway’s product
portfolio. It is offered either as a discrete integration
solution for connecting to Powerway.com or as a component
element of a larger “end-to-end”
Powerway solution. IAS as an integral part of Powerway.com
IAS allows Powerway to meet scalability needs of its customers
and provides them a better experience leading to reduced costs
and higher operational efficiency.
Benefits to Fortune 10 Manufacturer
Rapid and easy implementation saves up to 60% in cost
and time to market
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Powerway’s Fortune 10 customer experiences the following benefits of
IAS today. Naturally, these would be extended to other customers that
would deploy this unique solution in future:
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Improve time to market:
Automation of APQP data management drastically reduces
the time required to complete the process cycle. So products
can be brought to the market quickly while ensuring effectiveness
of their launch.
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Visibility through suppliers:
Visibility to specifications and change requests leads
to improved quality of part supplies delivered by suppliers.
Moreover, it helps bring consistency in quality of supplied
parts.
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Ensure compliance of quality standards:
Intelligent business rules driven automation ensures that
recommended quality standards are implemented stringently
and only quality ‘passed’ parts are moved through the
assembly line.
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Lower production cost:
Improved direct materials and better productivity of workers
lead to lower production costs.
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Reduce the scope of warranty and
recall issues: Reduction in the number of quality
problems and full product and process traceability also
helps reduce scope of warranty and recall issues.
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Improve overall product quality
and reduce warranty exposure: Part, product and
process traceability helps the customer maintain profitability
by reducing warranty costs.
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