Sap and Ford

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 Ford wanted to establish common global processes, replace solutions that are outdated, and provide better integration and visibility within a global supply chain (Damerow 1).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...