Bridgestone Corporation Had Been Running Its and Marketing Distribu Tion System DOT Since 1979

- - - - - Using add-ons to raise user user raise to add-ons Using operability and statistical speed processing The project started in July 2000.The main purposes of the new sys tem were: (1) to improve the cost structure by shifting to PC-based system; (2) to deal with expanding ing its establishments overseas. In order to integrate its infrastructure globally, it decided to employ R/3 for its distribution system, as well. ABeam Consulting had proven it self as a partner when it adopted their financial accounting system, and ABeam was also given charge of the project. Information the Murata, Kiyoshi Mr. Bridgestone’s in Leader Unit Systems Tire Sales Business Office had this to say: Even if we asked a number of firmsto take part in competitive bidding, we could hardly expect to find a firm with deep understand ing of our business structure. We went straight to ABeam and asked them to handle it. To start, we had them carry out a study with about 20 people to determine whether we really could build the systemR/3. using wanted we ------Manufacturing Solutions Integrated from the ground up.had a financialIt accountingalready system based on SAP by region, includ incorporate the IBM eServer zSeries 900, which has powerfulprocessing capabilities, as database data- servers in the new system connect ing 1,700 client PCs inoffice, its itshead 50 distribution outlets, and its 500 sales officesthroughout located Japan. Various possi bilities were considered regarding software, ranging from introduc tion of a ready-made package toputting together a new system The volumes of data have For soared. however, example, processed, the number of orders that they re ceive ex for nationwide processing at per hour peak items 30,000 ceeds bul sales monthly their while times, letin requires statistical processing of as many as 100 million transac tions. The host machines they had of limits the reached had using been capability. processing their Bridgestone therefore decided to upgraded their system in 1994, they they in 1994, system their upgraded also implemented business process reengineering (BPR). Since then, it has continued to incorporate feed up building while on back problems system. own their - - Principal Consumer & Manufacturing Division Business Consulting ABeam Mr. Hirotoshi Matsuo Matsuo Hirotoshi Mr.

System employs SAP R/3 with aim of global integration infra structure

Mr. Kiyoshi Murata Kiyoshi Mr. Information Systems Unit Leader Sales Business Office Tire Corporation Bridgestone and related functions. When they Bridgestone Corporation had been running its and marketing distribu tion system DOT since 1979. The company used it to manage order receipt, order placement, shipment, pany decided to rebuild the marketing and distribution system DOT (Dealer & Branch Online for Terminal) its com mercial tire business in Japan. The resulting physical distribution system, built on one of the largest SAP R/3 bases in the links country, together 1,700 client PCs in the Bridgestone head office, its 50 distribution outlets, and its 500 sales offices located throughout Japan. This involved customization geared to Bridgestone business processes as well as additional development work to avoid problems during transition to the new system. The result was a unique both in its scale and in the system design methods employed. project, unlike any other firm’s by 50 distribution outlets and 500 sales offices offices sales 500 and outlets distribution 50 by largest-scale the of one this makes nationwide Japan in systems R/3 SAP When Bridgestone faced the obsolescence of the its com old systems and saw the limits to its processing capability, Bridgestone Corporation Bridgestone system distribution and marketing of Adoption

Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions Case Study Case

Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions www.abeam.com PR Group, Marketing Tel : +81-3-3501-8355 Tel 2005 Case Study Manufacturing Integrated Solutions Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions � - - - - � �� ▲▲ �� ▲ �� ▲▲ � ▲ ▲ �� ▲ �� ▲ ▲ �� ▲▲▲ � � ▲ ▲ �� ▲▲▲ � � �� ▲▲ �� sign that users were already familiar familiar already were users that sign with. As Mr. Murata commented: accus users making that say People tom themselves to the standard R/3 reduce to way best the is operations development costs. Sales, however, is an activity where every moment is critical. Not only that, but intro ducing a system that required more minals were minals set up to automatically R/3 invoke and the for program the operation at hand, so that opera tors no would have to longer log in user the For on. powered they when interface, we also followed the de �� 下 �� - - - - - �� 年 �� procedures. func different procedures. Various tions ended up requiring additional development. For example, the ter the the functionality of R/3 alone. The objective instead was to custom ize R/3 to match existing business processes. Those actual businessprocedures that were evaluated as good were kept. The reasoning was that Bridgestone’s businesstem had to sys make sense in the 21st century. Those items that needed there reform or further innovation, fore, were layered over the existing however, was not constrained by �� ） - - - - �� （ �� Overview �� ■ - - - �� ・ �� ・・・・・・）） ) ）） �� Schedule: July 2000-December 2003 (Including Post Go-live Support) � � � � � (5) � �� ( � � � ・ �� this promptly from their desks. their from promptly this The usual approachdardize isoperations to aroundstan R/3 as much as possible in order to take maximum advantage of the pack age’s strengths. The DOT project, stores by telephone, enter the orders orders the enter telephone, by stores onto sales slips, and then conduct from check of the series operations ing inventory to arranging ship to to had be do ment. able all They emphasis on oper ability for users. In other words, they were concerned in for members staff usability about be to had staffers These offices. sales tire local from orders receive to able ing capability; and (7) to unifycompany’s the global infrastructure. Bridgestone also placed particular to centralize and share data; (5) to shorten transaction upgrade to (6) time; the company’scomputer process business; (3) to shift shift to (3) business; to paperless forms and computeriza tion of records; (4) （（（（（4） ■

Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions ------) units) 3 256

× CPUs/unit CPUs/unit 13 GB 40 units units , BO , 3

1 CPU CPU × 8 × units (PC servers) (PC units GB, C unit unit C GB, host machine host 23

32 GHz 6 × 900 . 1 MIPS (scalable to maximum maximum to (scalable MIPS CPU/unit CPU/unit 2000 2000

old to the new system, then even if problems occurred in the new sys tem, the old system would be still there as a backup. This approach also made it easier to uncover in compatibilities in the new system, and it had further advantages thatin it could be usedverification instead tools. of After the new system was deployedBridgestone’s indistribution all outletsof and sales offices, the last step was to migrate its physical distribution system. This was accomplished,and the cutover took place without incident in June 2003. finished, the Stage 1 migration was begun at the two distribution out lets and 20 sales offices in Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures. There every effort was made to identify busi ness procedures and system prob lems for correction. After that, the number of operational locationswas expanded by 100-150 tions loca each month, until the system was gradually deployed to sales of country. fices throughout the Bridgestone’s DOT constitutes mis sion-critical infrastructure for the domestic replacement tire business, which is one of the company’s core businesses. It was therefore,conceivable, that problemsring during occurthe system migration could have drastic consequences. Therefore, they adopted the method known as concurrent to operationavoid such risk. When the data were gradually migrated from the Once testing of all the parts had 10 200 3 2 × (allows online database reorganization) database online (allows 2 TB 1 CPU CPU 1 . CPU: CPU: A and B units units B and A ACMS Windows Windows webMethods Z/OS USS (UNIX service) (UNIX USS Z/OS JP 30 SAP R/ SAP 5 Canon Report Viewer Report Canon (developed using ABAP, a programming language for R/ for language programming a ABAP, using (developed (integrated operation by means of SYSPLEX) of means by operation (integrated IBM zSeries zSeries IBM IBM xSeries xSeries IBM Xeon Intel DB HITACHI EUR and JP and EUR HITACHI HULFT 1 - - - Specifications & Description & Specifications

� �� Application management software management Application Application package Application O S O S O O S O CPU Category CPU protocol converter protocol Model Model capacity Memory Disk capacity Disk output Forms forms Electronic conversion File connection External transfer File Database �� ） Hardware & Tools �� ■ Hardware & Tools AP server AP Central servers Central Clients (Database servers) (Database Main software Main ) （ ■ Seven-month of old and new concurrentsys operation problems of risk averted tems �� Another distinctive feature of the DOT project was the method used for migration from the old system to the new. The fromseven November months 2002 to the lowingfol May were designated theconcurrent operation period. The new and old systems operatedwere bothconcurrently during the period while the changeover was implemented in stages. personnel, expanded at its peak to several hundred members in order to satisfy the client’s requirements at the level of fine-tunedThe detail.team completed the new sys tem in about 18 months. data. data. In this way, we succeeded in levels. target to performance raising The development team, which was composed primarily of ABeam �� ------・・・・ �� PC Based New Technology New PC Based ( ��

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Architecture Architecture �� ■

the integrity and stability of the the same time constantly assuring times times through the effect cumulative of improvements in detail while at We sought to reduce processing trial and error. This development work was in the area of add-ons. ing performance after a process of again, they again, were able to sig realize nificant improvements in process 100 million transactions. Here a major issue, which must handle enormous volumes of up to nearly statistical processing speed was also also was speed processing statistical actual realtime mode. realtime actual of The how question the to increase processing processing to it distinguish from an refers to this as pseudo-realtime system system is actually batch processing in one-minute cycles. Bridgestone the process is in realtime, but the the next foreground programmedtask. it toThey look as though while able to immediately take on foreground foreground and implement remain ing processes in the background tors tors very speedily in realtime in the key here, so they gave the system the capability to deal with opera cesses. cesses. The speed of the response is processing is directly linked to the productivity of order receipt pro demands on the capacity. On-line increase the statisticaling processspeed, given the enormous Another major issue was how to of of our employees could look at the do. to what know and screen for for a level of simplicity where any changed would actually push our costs higher. Therefore, we aimed training every time the operators

Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions Manufacturing Solutions Integrated

Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions Case Study Case

Manufacturing / Integrated Solutions ------

www.abeam.com Revised in November, 2005. Revised in November,

PR Group, Marketing Tel : +81-3-3501-8355 Tel spective of the actual users. Then, we were able to learn the answers to those questions as a matterwith experience The experience. of real Bridgestone will no doubt be nour ishing the younger members of our future. the into well firm The notion of building a system of the desired quality within the de ob too appear may timeframe sired greater The words. in state to vious the scale of the system involved, however, the more difficult this is to achieve. It is precisely because up they teamed for a focused single three some of period a over purpose and a half years, and so overcame thatunshak their difficulties, those formed. were trust of bonds able the DOT project, Mr. Murata took a thoroughly consistent stance and exercised strong leadership. Un der him, we thought very seriously about what kind of system should be created, and how, from the per 2005 (a (a record high in Japan).

- - - - - ABeam Consulting, HITACHI, Ltd., others Ltd., HITACHI, Consulting, ABeam Approximately 50 members (including Bridgestone July 2000 to December 2003 (including post go-live support) go-live post (including 2003 December to 2000 July June 2003 June Software personnel); development was fully outsourced fully was development personnel); Software DOT system DOT business tire replacement Domestic Bridgestone Corporation Bridgestone Japan Tokyo, 1-chome, Chuo-ku, 10-1 Kyobashi March 1, 1931 Tire Division:Tires and tubes for passenger vehicles,buses, construction vehicles, industrial vehicles, agricultural ma trucks, products, tire-related vehicles, two-wheeled and aircraft, chinery, motor vehicle maintenance and repair, raw materials for tires, and so on of December 31, 2003) 126,354 million yen (As 31, 2003) 12,480 (As of December staff

System designation Business category Cutover time In-house development Partners Period Company name Head Office Established of Description business Capital Number of employees Client Data Profile Profile Project Company Company able to satisfy their customers. With With customers. their to satisfy able together to carry out painstaking analysis and verification, testing, modifications to the specifications, things these did They checking. and repeatedly, improving the quality, and this was the result. ABeam the directed who Matsuo, Mr. effort, said: Consultants frequently “cus term fine-sounding the mouth tomer satisfaction”, but the ques tion is how much they are actually that all the project members joined - - - - - Solid relationships of mutual trust trust mutual of relationships Solid with customers built up over many years many over up built customers with

Integrated Solutions Case Study Manufacturing

without running into is running without problems, thanks in question without very large part to the abili Murata) Kiyoshi (Mr. Consulting. ABeam at everyone of ties practically anybody else, even in our own company. We received hardly any complaints complaints any hardly received We company. own our in even else, anybody practically from the users regarding DOT after project the had cutover and passed, we were able That team to is after project just our three disband months. ev in-house how smoothly The worked. fact erything that a system this could massive go as into operation it has, We cannot know whether we should team up with project a until firm we actually in try aworking with system them. As we development went through a continuing pro cess of trial and ABeam, we error with built up a that was relationship closer than with lenges leads eventually to trust of bonds unshakable Grappling with difficult chal difficult with Grappling “Project of the Year”: Bridgestone Sports (2001), TEAC (2002), Kao (2005) Kao (2002), TEAC (2001), Sports Bridgestone Year”: the of “Project (2004) West JR (2004), Pharmaceutical Otsuka (2003), Industries Chemical Nissan Award”: “Project “project category” rating the project size, difficulty and accomplishment; it has also been awarded the “Project award” and for an additional foranand additional award” “Project the it awarded has alsobeen and accomplishment; difficulty size, the project rating category” “project performance. outstanding of achievement successful for awarded projects, three The SAP Award of Excellence is awarded to companies with a high level of customer satisfaction, based on SAP’s customer satisfaction study. study. satisfaction customer SAP’s on based satisfaction, customer of level high a with companies to awarded is Excellence of Award SAP The ABeam consulting has eight been “Service years in awarded Partner the Award” a row since its founding in 1998 an ABeam of “project award award reflectingfor the has In three the highestprojects, been levelaward addition, inyear” the awarded the Record Awards of SAP Award of Excellence of Award SAP of Awards Record sive system involved. The reason is problems occurred at all after the cutover, even with such a mas Mr. Murata said: No particular Bridgestone and ABeam where the key to this project’s success lay. we asked leading figures at both For the conclusion of this report, thing thing from installation to introduc themselves. training tory PC suppliers to implement every IT infrastructure. The solution inthis case was to contract with the on on a nationwide scale revamped its user training made up a consider able problem when a corporation other in-house costs associated with with associated costs in-house other personnel expenses, travel costs, and and costs, travel expenses, personnel form caravans and go from location location from go and caravans form to location training the users. The would still not have the free time to to time free the have not still would at a time, but system managers who who managers system but time, a at had 500 sales offices to deal with system system might be a staggered month The timetable for introducing a new new a introducing for timetable The