CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
14 March 2006
Implementation Investments
Oracle® PLM Helps GDM Electronics Expand Into Eastern Europe
Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider GDM Electronics has gone live on the Oracle® E-Business Suite to help support the continued growth of its business into Eastern Europe and beyond. Oracle Product Lifecycle Management was the first application to go live, and the Oracle implementation will be extended this year with additional supply chain, procurement and financial applications.
Since its foundation in 1997, GDM Electronics, a small- to medium-sized business specializing in the supply of printed circuit boards and the production of electronic goods on behalf of third parties, has experienced spectacular growth year on year. Headquartered in Belgium with production facilities in Romania and Slovakia, GDM Electronics realized it needed to automate its internal processes in order to continue and further extend its growth.
"By implementing Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, we aim to organize, integrate and streamline our activities, leading to a more efficient and productive business," said GDM Electronics Chief Executive Officer Kris Laermans.
Oracle Product Lifecycle Management was selected by GDM against strong competition from other PLM vendors, including SAP and Agile. The company wanted a solution that could provide automation of the entire product lifecycle, from product development to accounting, order intake and manufacturing.
"Oracle Product Lifecycle Management met our requirements exactly," said Laermans. "Oracle's ability to integrate all business processes in a single solution and the option to outsource services during implementation or at a later stage were crucial factors that influenced our decision. We also liked the flexible architecture, product functionality and the significantly lower overall cost."
The majority of GDM's customers are based in Western Europe. With the implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite, the company will be able to focus increasingly on the expanding Eastern European market. "Our long-term strategy is to service our customers worldwide, including those in Asia and the United States," said Laermans. "We believe the Oracle ERP and PLM implementation will help support this future expansion and our aggressive growth strategy."
Laermans also said that GDM had high expectations for the business benefits of the Oracle implementation. These included the integration of all GDM sites on a single system, accelerated new product development, a major reduction in time to market for new product introductions, a reduction in consolidated fixed costs by up to 40 percent, increased inventory visibility and reduced inventory levels. "Based on our experience since we went live, I am pleased to say that we appear to be on target to realize our ambitions for this project," he said. "I firmly believe we are now poised for exponential growth."
"Oracle Product Lifecycle Management will help GDM Electronics manage all product-related activities collaboratively, from concept to retirement, as well as centralize product and component information into a single catalogue," said Oracle Vice President, Manufacturing and PLM Development Manish Modi.
"These capabilities will be particularly important to the company as it looks to expand in 2006 and beyond."
Oracle Consulting successfully implemented the Oracle applications, with help from Oracle Solution Services India (SSI).
About Oracle
Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit http://www.oracle.com .
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