Ford Motor Company has always been an innovator.

Being an innovator dose not mean that that Ford has all the answers. The time came for Ford Motor Company to replace its aging and fragmented service parts management systems. They sought out to use SAP Consulting as well as Deloitte Consulting LLP. Ford wanted to combine three functions within the entire global supply chain; they include warehouse management, service parts planning and supporting commercial operations to help realign the sales and service area of there company in order to make them more efficient and to increase dealer and customer service satisfaction. Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford Sr. The Company started in Dearborn, Michigan with Henry Ford and other investors. Ford Motor Company became one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one of the few to survive the Great Depression. Ford Motor Company has been and is one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world; there company has been in continuous family control for more that 100 years. Issues are common with in any company but for Ford Motor Company the solution had to be sought out. Ford wanted to establish common global processes, replace solutions that are outdated, and provide better integration and visibility within a global supply chain (Damerow 1). They also wanted to improve there forecasting as well as planning activities. When Ford Motor Company evaluated different avenues for a software package they chose SAP because of Global capability and how it focused on customer needs, as well as, the state-of-the-art technology. Ford Motor Company posed some challenges as well as some opportunities with SAP Enterprise System. SAP had the ability to improve control over parts supply and logistics, link suppliers, dealers, customers and Ford in a single solution, and help reduce fragmented

systems. This helped product real time parts planning and warehouse management for Ford Motor Company. The Services and solutions that Ford uses are SAP Service Parts Planning for Automotive package, SAP Supply Network Collaboration application, SAP Extended Warehouse Management application, and two future planned components SAP Customer Relationship Management application and SAP Business Objects business intelligence solutions (Damerow 1). These components are used to make Ford more efficient. SAP enterprise software use key applications in finance, logistics and procurement and human resources administrations to create an EPR component (Laudon 293). SAP enterprise application has given Ford Motor Company more flexible web-enabling as well as being able to integrate well with other systems in this case Deloitte. (Laudon 293) Ford Motor Company chose Sap because they offered a broad portfolio with the best fit for Fords process requirements. In addition to having a great portfolio, SAP was also selected because of the application lifecycle management strategy and there understanding of the auto industry. The benefits of SAP include increased visibility into global service parts inventory and customer orders and improved collaboration with part suppliers (Damerow 1). This helps Ford maintain control over every aspect of the business process. When implementing SAP Ford wanted support early in the project lifecycle to manage change, and set up a multitier governance structure. Ford wanted to test concepts to verify proper tools, accurate data, supplier communication and inventory network management (Damerow 1). SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software. They were founded in 1972, and there headquarters is in Walldorf Germany (SAP 1). There mission is to help companies of

all sizes and industries to run better; and give business more insight on how to effectively stay ahead of the competition (SAP 1). SAP enterprise Systems feature a set of integrated software modules and central database that enable data to be shared by different business processes (Laudon 274) As competition grow in our global market; global strategies are even more important. Ford is a step ahead with its co-development with SAP with a reliable Enterprise System. As with any company increased customer service satisfaction and improved business process help enhance the company that much more; which is what SAP dose for Ford. Work Cited Ford Motor Company. (2010). Achieving Total Supply Chain Visibility in Real Time with SAP software. [Brochure]. Damerow, Raymond: Author Ford Motor Company. (2010). Driving innovations in Service Parts Planning. [Brochure]. Damerow, Raymond: Author Laudon, K.C. (2011). Essentials of Management Information System (Ninth Edition). Boston: Prentice Hall SAP. Helping companies Run Better. (n.d) retrieved December 02, 2011 from SAP: The Best Run Business Run SAP web Site: http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/ourcompany/index.epx