Bombardier Preparation Case

      Bombardier, a large enterprise in the aerospace industry had been using the same ERP system for over the past two decades.  The past ERP had been sufficient, but as the world’s third largest designer and manufacturer of commercial aircrafts, Bombardier strived to become more efficient.  In order to keep up with the competition, with one of their bigger competitors’ a Brazilian-based companies, Embraer, it was necessary to come up with a wider focus ERP.  “One Company” was the name of special project that was envisioned by the Vice President of Operations and Project Sponsor.  As an outcome, a new integrated system would be implemented in which employees can interchange data from one plant to another by using a universal system with the same processes.  As a result, this was thought to become more a business transformation instead of technology implementation.  The company vision had also been outdated and the sponsorship model was weak.  The failed attempt was due to insufficient involvement of internal employees. 

       The first attempt to implement a new ERP was made in 2000.  After spending $130M, the project had been terminated because it had failed.  BMIS would be carrying out the second attempt at integrating and implementing a new ERP.  The system began with a vision, made by more internal team members as opposed to many third-party consultants to handle the project.  The ration of employees to consultants was now 10:1, the ratio was reversed on the first failed attempt when the employee to consultant ratio was 1:10.  Once the system had been designed by many experts in their field, the implementation phase would take over six years instead of a ‘big bang’ approach.  BMIS would be implemented at one branch at a time.  The first plant to have implemented the ERP was the Mirabel plant.  The first roll-out at the Mirabel plant was considered to be a controlled pilot.     

Once the implementing of the new ERP begun, the enterprise had determined that the individual businesses would be responsible to cleanse their data.  The BMIS team extracted, mapped, staged, and consolidated all data which was required before uploading and implementing to the target systems before Go Live.  BMIS managers also prepared many integration tests all which lead to the successful Go Live.   Less than one year after Go Live, the ERP helped save $1.2 billion in inventory expenses at the Mirabel Plant.  This was a big success after so many failures.  It did not take long before there was an increase in users and believers that were starting to see that the system made their lives easier.  Even with problems during the roll-out phase, it is evident that after the ERP had been implemented there have been many indicators that the ERP had increased the business’ performance. 

      The success of the system implemented at the Mirabel Plant encouraged many directors at the Saint-Laurent Plant that embraced the change.  There has to be a strong relationship between the business team and the project.  More hands were on deck for this project, as the employees were aware they would have more success if they took ownership in their vision for the BMIS project.  In the Go Live of the Saint-Laurent Plant a data accuracy of 97% was reached.  In the implement of the ERP in both the Mirabel and Saint-Laurent plant, it is evident that after dedication of their experienced employees and training the project was a big success.  
         The result of the project is highly important just as the process, dedication, and team training that went in to developing the process.  An integrated process developed by a successful team, does not only prove the company’s current success but it also forecasts a successful future for the company that always collaborates and takes ownership of their work.  I expect that the company will continue to grow and work better as a team as long as the business team has a strong relationship with their work.