Company D is an automotive manufacturer. In 2008, it had about 3,000 employees. It has
implemented an in-house developed best-of-breed system for PM (Table VII) of the
about 1,000 suppliers of material to five factories. The company focuses on on-time
delivery measurement from suppliers. The selection phase was very detailed.
The company spent lots of effort on identifying what functionality it needed and what
was required to achieve it. No lacking functionality was identified during the later
phases, but several programming errors led to continuous updating of the system and
there was a continuous need of education and training. They use an internally
standardized definition and have chosen not to differentiate the definition for different
suppliers. Suppliers have access to the system and all formal PM communication is
conducted through the system. All PM activities and demands outlined in the literature
review can be conducted in the system. Deviations are either due to individual material
planners’ not following the internal standards or not having appropriate education on
the system.