U.S. distribution division to replace legacy ERP with more modern solution tailored for the automotive industry
Stockholm, Sweden — June 29, 2005 — IDS has signed an agreement with Hino Motors Sales USA Inc. (Hino Trucks) for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution tailored for the automotive industry. The new solution is expected to give Hino greater control over truck sales and distribution, warranty claims, spare parts and accessory stock and supply. The order value amounts to US$1.3 million.
Hino Trucks is the U.S. distribution company for Hino Motors Limited of Tokyo, Japan. Based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Hino Trucks sells and services medium-sized commercial trucks. In order to facilitate the extremely high growth and expansion of the business in the important U.S. market, Hino Trucks said it wanted to replace its present legacy application with a modern ERP solution tailored for the automotive industry.
Hino is now in the process of building a nationwide sales and service network that will offer a new line of conventional medium-duty trucks, incorporating Hino Diesel engines and American produced driveline components. A new spare parts distribution centre in Memphis, Tenn., and a new management team are also part of the investment made in the United States, the largest automotive market in the world.
The agreement covers the migration of existing (legacy) applications for Hino Trucks to a system that will provide the basis for the company to grow its business and market share in America toward 30,000 units per annum and beyond.
The IDS solution is expected to provide greater control over truck sales and distribution, warranty claims, spare parts, and accessory stock and supply. With the new automated system, Hino also plans to enhance productivity of staff. Most of the transactions volumes will be done by the dealers themselves, such as placing orders and entering warranty claims. Hino Trucks will also be able to improve reporting, increase visibility and integrate with the head office in Japan. The new system (IDSe42), will include parts, warranty, vehicles, BI, WMS, dealer connect and account modules and is planned to go live on October 31, 2005.
"We started evaluating a number of vendors but quickly concluded that the IDS solution was ahead with advanced functionality for the automotive industry and a very good fit to our business requirements," commented Derek Kaufman, senior vice president of Hino Trucks. "The automotive industry is highly competitive, and we needed an efficient, scalable and flexible solution in order to be able to adapt to new business demands and fast growth."
Gordon Towell, CEO of IDS Enterprise Systems, commented on the importance of the agreement with Hino in the important U.S. market. "This new contract with Hino Trucks further strengthens the relationship between our two companies which began over 10 years ago with Hino in Australia. Since then, IDS has installed new ERP software systems in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia on behalf of the Hino Group globally."
