McDonnell Douglas IMACS

1. McDonnell Douglas IMACS Integrated Manufacturing Control System

2. McDonnell St. Louis • Early 1990s St. Louis factory one of world’s largest manufacturing plants • Subsidiary of Boeing • IS/IT system outdated • Antiquated material control system • Inadequate resource planning • No MRP; one of few aircraft plants without MRPII

3. IS/IT System • Had just attempted update of mainframe system • Pilot test successful • Not SCALABLE • Couldn’t cope with full plant volume of information • 1994 Task force formed to recommend methods to reduce costs • Driven in part by declining defense budgets • Need to refocus IS on return on net assets

4. Task Force Recommendations • Implement an ERP • From Western Data Systems • Named IMACS • 1st use of commercial, off-the-shelf client/server ERP in military aircraft industry • Hewlett Packard hardware • Oracle relational database • Rejected large, expensive vendor

5. IMACS Goals • Reduce inventory levels • By several hundreds of millions of dollars • Reduce support costs • By hundreds of people • Ease work transfer • Between Boeing & suppliers • Institutionalize improvements • Improve Return On Investment

6. IMACS Progress • 1st applied BPR • 1994 through 1996 • Customers involved • Started with business processes, not systems • Clean slate approach • Sought to modify selected software as little as possible

7. Training • Extensive training applied • Eight courses developed • Delivered on CD-ROM for 18 positions • Saved over $250,000 over alternatives

8. Integration • Integrated 38 systems • ERP Project Team: • 150 Boeing employees • Vendor team members • Western Data Systems • Hewlett Packard • Oracle • Pilot test 1995, modified 1997 • 1999 all products converted

9. IMACS Functionality • Measured • Inventory • Cycle time • Cost • Delivery performance • Product quality • Easier to identify work in process • Lead times reduced • Fewer materials shortages • Lower product costs