Case Studies > Glovia Wins the Ball Race

Glovia Wins the Ball Race

Company Size

1,000+

Region

Asia
Europe

Country

Germany
Japan
Poland
Switzerland
United Kingdom

Product

Glovia ERP

Tech Stack

Oracle/UNIX
IBM Mainframe
PROIV shop-floor data collection system

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Procurement

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation
Supply Chain Visibility

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

NSK is a Japanese industrial giant and the world’s second largest supplier of bearings. Established in 1916, NSK has grown into a massive international business selling a diverse range of bearings and assemblies. It has offices in 25 countries and a global chain of 30 manufacturing plants. The company has expanded beyond traditional bearing manufacture into automotive and mechatronic products, serving major Japanese car makers such as Nissan and Toyota. NSK's growth and diversification have put it into direct competition with a different type of supplier and demanded tighter overall control of business performance.

The Challenge

NSK, the world’s second largest supplier of bearings, faced a significant challenge following a merger with another major bearing manufacturer, RHP. The newly formed organization, known throughout Europe as NSK, needed an integrated ERP system to provide a common system across its many plants in Europe. The company was looking for a solution that would not impose constraints on or demand changes to its existing efficient manufacturing operations. The system also needed to handle NSK's 27-character part referencing system without modification. The challenge was to implement the new system across five UK sites within an eighteen-month period.

The Solution

NSK selected Glovia's ERP product, glovia, as the solution to their challenge. The decision was based on the fact that glovia was the best fit for NSK's business, would be the easiest to implement, and was the only package that could handle NSK's 27-character part referencing system without modification. The implementation of glovia presented a tough systems challenge, as NSK needed to replace the manufacturing systems in five UK sites within an eighteen-month period. The system links with the IBM mainframe bespoke order processing system and PROIV shop-floor data collection system. Glovia provides all the necessary real-time production information, as well as the management reports and statistics needed for delivery, cost, and quality control.

Operational Impact

Glovia merges seamlessly with the IBM mainframe and Oracle/ UNIX-based system, providing the system support to make NSK a leader in their field.
Glovia provides all the necessary real-time production information, as well as the management reports and statistics needed for delivery, cost, and quality control.
NSK now has 500 users across Europe connected to glovia, including a plant in Poland, which was implemented in just six months.
Elsewhere in the group, NSK uses glovia to control the production of aerospace components.

Quantitative Benefit