Improving the supply chain management system for better business performance

Automaking innovation for more than a century.

Mitsubishi Motors is one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers that’s been on the market for more than a century. With a global presence and many stakeholders, Mitsubishi relies heavily on its supply chain, and naturally, timely improvements are paramount for the fluent functioning of a large corporation.

The challenge

Being a part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the Mitsubishi Operations team deals with many suppliers, contractors, and partners worldwide; this increases the need for a robust supply chain management system. The Mitsubishi team used numerous spreadsheets as their system, which multiple stakeholders managed; these had to be updated manually, resulting in synchronization issues, human errors, lack of coherent data representation, and general inefficiency of communication at multiple operative levels.

This legacy system used by Mitsubishi ran on an IBM AS400 server and was only partially automated, which did not suffice. The corporation needed a robust online supply chain solution encompassing the entire logistics process, starting with auto parts and steel suppliers management and ending with the deployment to subcontractors and distributors.

The solution

The Mitsubishi team did not want to change the system entirely but rather overhaul the platform that would deploy in a shorter time. We proposed to develop a web app integrated with a DB2 base already used in the IBM AS400 server.

The result was an all-encompassing supply chain management system for Mitsubishi Motors that incorporated the following characteristics:

• The build-out of a convenient data model that prevents human error by reducing redundant and repetitive data entry.
• The integration of Mitsubishi’s security system defines and differentiates the users by their access levels to the data reports, providing better control of who’s accessing the different information.
• A notifications system that informs users about important activities that are directly related to their area of responsibility.
• An appealing UI design using AJAX user interface for applications, to increase the efficiency of usage.
• Platform deployment in the IBM AS400 server with the integration of the DB2 databases.
• Integration of their RPG legacy software into the new solution.
• The migration of the data from the existing spreadsheets into the new system.

The impact

Being one of the leading automotive manufacturers, Mitsubishi relies on many stakeholders, and efficient cooperation between all the involved parties is crucial. 

The solution that Intersog provided allowed them to have a novel and efficient system that takes the best from the legacy system previously used by Mitsubishi, adds new features, and takes the whole supply chain management to a new level. Not having to duplicate the data, importing it from multiple spreadsheets, or maintain different databases for all the suppliers and stakeholders, the Mitsubishi team is more efficient at their work while saving a great deal of time and money.

The new system reduces the probability of human error, ensures the safety and security of data, fosters communication, and generally boosts the company’s efficiency.