USER STORY IN THE EDM/PDM WORLD : Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
USER STORIES
IN THE EDM/PDM WORLD :
LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES AND FIRE CONTROL
Introduction
Competition in today's fast-paced global marketplace is forcing many companies to adopt strategies to
improve a product's time-to-market and time-to-volume performance. One proven approach for improving both
the speed and the efficiency of the product development process is the use of, and reliance on, strategic
partners and resources outside the company. Outsourcing has become an increasingly important strategy, and
is now one of the fastest growing business sectors, with many companies outsourcing anywhere between 40%-80%
of their design and manufacturing processes.
Like any organizational strategy, outsourcing requires effective management control and insight. Therefore,
many companies seek a decision management system that offers a secure, collaborative environment from the
outset of the outsourcing evaluation through the life of the contractual relationship. Using the internet
as a bridge, an outsource management system provides a framework for creating and leveraging information as
well as defining and applying decision-making processes outside the framework of transactional systems such
as ERP, PDM and SCM. In fact, effective implementation of an outsource management system will enable business
partners to build a virtual bridge between processes and systems, without the cost and delay of integration
between transactional systems.
Designed from the bottom up as a secure, web-centric solution, ipTeam dramatically improves communication to
accelerate decision-making. Leveraging a company's existing Internet infrastructure, it enables product
development teams to access, distribute, and collaborate on ideas in a secure environment. These team members
span the various functional disciplines across company and suppliers, such as project management, marketing,
planning, concept and detail design, procurement, finance, subcontract management, manufacturing engineering,
contract manufacturing, logistics, quality and support.
An outsource management solution for manufacturing enterprises, ipTeam facilitates the communication of team
members while managing documents, messages, team administration, RFP negotiations, project event tracking,
and information on suppliers. NexPrise ipTeam has yielded documented cycle-time reductions of over 50%, and
is particularly applicable to industries such as high-tech manufacturing, where approximately 40-80% of the
ultimate value of a finished product is contributed by resources outside the company.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
Business Goals
- Rapid procurement of custom components for Affordable Multi-Missile Manufacturing (AM3) Program.
- Evaluate new technologies for electronic procurement.
The Product Team
- Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Dallas, TX
- Lucas Aerospace, Aurora, OH (1st tier Supplier)
- Rockwell Autonetics and Missile Systems, Duluth, GA, (2nd tier Supplier)
Strategy
- Apply ipTeam and extranet technologies to greatly increase the efficiency of communication with suppliers in the bid and procurement cycle. The initial pilot consisted of issuing an RFQ, responding to the RFQ, issuing a PO and acknowledging a PO through the multi-tier supplier chain listed above.
Results
Overall procurement cycle time cut by more than 70%.
Specific process time reductions:
- Receive and Process RFQ 90%
- Prepare Response to RFQ 75%
- Receive and Process PO 75%
- Prepare PO Acknowledgement 88%
Use of ipTeam projected to result in an $18 million dollar savings over the life of the AM3 program.
For more information, contact Reginald G. Bronner, Jr., Director of Business Development at Nexprise, Inc. -
rbronner@nexprise.com or +1 408/327-0330 x2248.
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Copyright 2000 by John Stark