Intelligent Manufacturing € November € 1996 € Vol. 2 € No. 11

Lincoln Automotive Invests in Technology

Lincoln Automotive (St. Louis, Mo.) had a problem. The company, which manufactures and distributes lubricating tools and equipment, battery charging and testing equipment, welding equipment and supplies for the automotive aftermarket, was running an IBM mainframe with in-house and purchased software that was becoming increasingly fragmented and expensive to maintain. The software was not user-oriented or integrated and had very slow response times and excessive batch processing times. In addition, the level of integrity of Lincoln Automotive's data was becoming increasingly suspect due to the patched and fragmented systems.

The company was planning several acquisitions and needed to invest in technology that would progress along with the company. The system decided upon had to support all aspects of Lincoln Automotive's manufacturing -- product scheduling, purchasing, reporting and distribution, as well as shipping, billing, collecting and financial reporting.

The objectives were to significantly reduce paperwork, eliminate duplication and redundancy and to develop a fully integrated information network to support customer service and help the company obtain its goal of turning around orders within three days. The overall goal was not to downsize but to increase and develop additional business without increasing staff.

Lincoln Automotive chose to use BPCS Client/Server software from System Software Associates (Chicago, Ill.), which provided the functionality, support and responsiveness needed, as well as interaction with departments such as marketing. BPCS Client/Server provides business process reengineering and integration of all operations, including manufacturing processes and configurable supply chain management. Lincoln Automotive purchased nearly the entire BPCS Client/Server product line, including accounting/financials, distribution/logistics, sales/marketing, integrated manufacturing and information retrieval, processing, service management and EDI. More than 150 employees currently run BPCS Client/Server from locations in Missouri, Arkansas, Mexico, and Canada. Lincoln Automotive will soon implement repetitive customer scheduling and warehouse management software to further enhance its information systems. The company reports that overall productivity has increased, while redundancy has been eliminated.

Lincoln Automotive has experienced the highest shipping month in the company's nearly 100-year history, and is especially proud of the increased efficiency in order entry. Its initial goal was to turn orders around in three days. As a result of implementing BPCS Client/Server, the new goal is 24 hours.

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