Information Builders > Case Studies > Vermeer Extends Self-Service Analytics to Business Experts With WebFOCUS

Vermeer Extends Self-Service Analytics to Business Experts With WebFOCUS

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America
Europe
Asia

Country

United States
Worldwide

Product

WebFOCUS
App Studio

Tech Stack

Oracle database
SQL Server database

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Cost Savings
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance
Manufacturing System Automation

Services

Data Science Services
Software Design & Engineering Services

About The Customer

Vermeer Corporation is a family-owned company and a leading manufacturer of industrial and agricultural equipment. The company has a global presence with facilities in five countries and a worldwide dealership network. Vermeer leverages lean production principles and methods to remove waste from its supply chain and eliminate unnecessary effort from its business processes. The company is a longtime leader in technology and innovation and is applying lean manufacturing principles to its data assets across the organization. Vermeer's operation has continued to grow throughout the world, managing, monitoring, and exchanging an escalating volume of data.

The Challenge

Vermeer Corporation, a leading manufacturer of industrial and agricultural equipment, was facing challenges with its data management. The company was using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and standard reports from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to track business metrics. However, as Vermeer’s operation continued to grow globally, managing, monitoring, and exchanging an escalating volume of data became progressively more difficult. Critical information was stored in disconnected data silos or housed in “spreadmarts,” which led to conflicting totals in reports and IT management headaches. Company leaders sought a way to deliver useful business intelligence into the hands of people throughout the organization to support their culture of continuous improvement.

The Solution

Vermeer employed Information Builders’ WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics technology so its managers can effectively monitor critical business activity related to customer satisfaction, pricing, product penetration, warranty claims, and sales forecasting. The company launched a data warehouse project to combine fragmented data and create a solid reporting foundation. The warehouse now contains mastered data domains for Customer, Sales, Shipments, Warranty Claims, Inventory at Dealerships, and Retail Sales, all of which roll up to accurate revenue and manufacturing forecasts. Once the data warehouse was in place, Vermeer used WebFOCUS to create a series of dashboards, InfoApps, and reports. Vermeer uses App Studio to create self-service InfoApps™ that leverage the data in the data warehouse, providing a foundation for guided ad hoc reporting.

Operational Impact

Vermeer has seen obvious labor savings from not having to maintain so many spreadsheets, along with the incalculable value of greater organizational agility.
The company has more accurate data rather than somebody’s interpretation.
As Vermeer builds up more historical data, this same information should help managers understand trends and enforce continuous quality improvements.
Insights from the regional and executive dashboards will enable management to proactively identify and resolve issues as they improve the quality of Vermeer’s products.

Quantitative Benefit

Report requests that used to disappear into month-long “black holes” are now dealt with immediately – by the people who understand the data.
Members of the IT team had used Microsoft Excel to create essential reports, a time-consuming process that took two people an entire week each month to complete. Using App Studio, Vermeer eliminated those Excel reports and freed up those team members.