Komatsu Employs iBaan To Streamline Supply Chain

Compiled ByDoug Bartholomew In one of the biggest ERP rollouts in Japan, heavy equipment manufacturer Komatsu is now up and running with iBaan from Invensys PLC, using the system to knit together much of its supply chain. Managers at the heavy equipment manufacturer are able to access key operations data from each location in real time, enabling the company to achieve dramatic reductions in inventory and lead time. The iBaan implementation links 5,000 users at nine sites in eight countries. The centralization of various systems allows the company to operate more flexibly and accelerate responses to changes in the business. With 28 construction and mining equipment plants worldwide, Komatsu sought to exploit IT via the formation in 2000 of its e-Komatsu division. "With the intensifying global competition, Komatsu has actively constructed a global supply chain based on the iBaan enterprise system that addresses the challenges of cross-sourcing -- where products are efficiently exchanged among the various production bases -- and enables more timely and accurate adjustments to drastic changes in the business environment," says Kiyoto Abe, general manager of IT at the e-Komatsu division of Komatsu.