San Jose, CA October 24, 2002 Saturn Electronics & Engineering has tapped Agile Software to provide a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution in a bid to improve its supply chain processes and improve customer responsiveness.
Saturn is a supplier of components and sub-systems to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers within the automotive industry. The company will deploy the Agile 8 PLM solution globally to manage its products throughout all phases of the product lifecycle, including development, sourcing and manufacturing processes.
The company's objectives in deploying the solution are ambitious, including improving customer responsiveness; automating business acquisition, quoting and request for quote processes; compressing supply chain cycle time; and optimizing the use of preferred suppliers.
"Saturn operates globally in an industry that moves with great speed," said Bill Deighton, vice president of information technology and services at Saturn, in discussing his company's move to adopt PLM. "The ability to bring innovative, high quality, cost-competitive products to market quickly is key to Saturn and its customers."
Deighton said the PLM solution should provide a collaborative environment, allowing Saturn to move more rapidly than its competition.
Agile said the PLM solutions will enable all product-related data to be directly leveraged by Saturn, its customers and supply chain partners throughout the design, sourcing and manufacturing processes, with potential for driving increased control and visibility of these key operational levers.
In addition, Agile asserted that its solutions will enable further utilization of program resources at Saturn, as well as reduced product cycle times and costs, leveraged direct materials spend across products and enhanced performance across Saturn's supply chain.
"In an industry where speed is critical, Saturn is on the leading edge of outsourcing, for both automotive and OEMs," said Bryan Stolle, CEO of Agile. "The speed and accuracy needed for suppliers and customers to make better business decisions and sustain the leading edge mandates a collaborative PLM environment like the Agile 8 platform."
For more information on the PLM market, see the latest article in iSource Business' Global Enabled Supply Chain Series, in the October/November issue of iSource Business.
