Tokyo, November 15, 2011
Fujitsu today announced that it has built a cloud-based system to perform visualization, carry out situational analysis, and propose solutions based on quality management data from JATCO Ltd. Full-scale operations for the new system were launched by JATCO in November 2011.
The new system employs Fujitsu's SaaS-based SAP® BusinessObjects™ BI OnDemand service.
By rebuilding its platform for seamlessly sharing quality management data with suppliers across regional and corporate boundaries, JATCO, which is expanding its manufacturing centers worldwide, has enabled the timely sharing of quality management data and an enhanced cycle of improvement implementation during times of abnormal operations. As a result, the company has been able to strengthen its quality assurance efforts which are a fundamental part of manufacturing. Moreover, by taking advantage of cloud services, JATCO was able to reduce its deployment costs for servers and infrastructure equipment by 80%.
After conducting a trial evaluation of the new initiative with one of its major suppliers, JATCO has begun full-scale operations of the system. Going forward, the company will strengthen its company-wide efforts to improve quality and enhance its cycle of quality improvement.
Background
JATCO maintains its own manufacturing centers both inside and outside Japan, while at the same time building a supply chain of components to suppliers. In recent years, the company has increased its expansion of production centers outside Japan which has led to a number of significant challenges, including ensuring the quality of supplied components and accelerating the speed at which it can implement improvements when problems occur. In response to these issues, JATCO has explored how it can quickly deploy flexible IT tools that will enable it, on a global scale, to share quality assurance data and perform quality control using control diagrams on a timely basis.
Overview of the Global Quality Management System
JATCO has employed BI OnDemand, which allows for quick system configuration and the ability to share information in real time across the cloud, regardless of the physical distance between global facilities. One of the major advantages of employing BI OnDemand is that, by leveraging its unique information sharing capabilities that are accessible by multiple tenants, the service provides global manufacturing centers access to a large-scale information system while also lowering the cost burden for individual suppliers.
In leveraging its abundant experience in data visualization, Fujitsu quickly built and began operations for the new system for JATCO and its suppliers. By employing the BI OnDemand cloud service to build a global dashboard that can display quality data and analysis results, JATCO and its suppliers will be able to upload and access quality management information in real-time over the Internet from any global location. In addition, the system displays alerts based on pre-defined rules in the case of variations in control values on the control diagram. As a result, the system can share comments and instantly visualize various information, such as what kind of abnormality occurred during what shift and in which lot. This, in turn, will enable JATCO to accelerate its cycle of quality improvement through quick abnormality detection and countermeasure implementation, post-implementation status monitoring, and continuous quality improvement initiatives. Going forward, JATCO plans to gradually roll out the new system to additional suppliers.
Moreover, as quality assurance data is stored and managed in the cloud, JATCO can get away from paper-based administration and reduce its environmental footprint by minimizing the use of resources.
In accordance with "THE JATCO WAY," which are the behavioral principles underlying JATCO's corporate philosophy, the company will promote the transformation of its manufacturing processes and leverage its new global quality assurance system in its continuing initiatives to deliver value to its customers and the community of automobile culture.
About SAP® BusinessObjects™ BI OnDemand
The Japanese version of SAP® BusinessObjects™ BI OnDemand, which was jointly developed by SAP and Fujitsu, is a SaaS-based business intelligence (BI) service delivered by Fujitsu. The service includes all of the BI solutions needed for business, such as dashboard views, data analysis, multidimensional free-form analysis, free-form analysis, reports, data coupling, and data sharing. As it uses Fujitsu's cloud environment, the BI solution can be deployed quickly and at low cost for use throughout the world. It is already used by customers in a wide variety of fields, including manufacturing, retailing, and services.
As a partner supporting the business of its customers, Fujitsu is committed to supporting JATCO Ltd. and leveraging ICT to provide an environment that is conducive to creating more added-value.
