Information Builders Case Studies L.B. Foster Enhances Operations With BI and Performance Management

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	L.B. Foster Enhances Operations With BI and Performance Management Information Builders

L.B. Foster Enhances Operations With BI and Performance Management

Information Builders

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries	Construction & Infrastructure Transportation
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Discrete Manufacturing
Use Cases	Inventory Management Predictive Maintenance
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	L.B. Foster, a leading manufacturer, fabricator, and distributor of high-quality transportation and construction materials, faced challenges in accessing, analyzing, and presenting information in a cohesive and timely way due to its diverse software infrastructure. This included packaged applications such as a JD Edwards World enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a Sage SalesLogix CRM system, and more than 200 IBM Lotus Notes applications. As the company grew and its pace of business accelerated, the ability to access and analyze information became critical for company managers. For instance, production personnel were creating bills of materials by hand for shop floor operations, a process that took two to three hours every day. They had to extract data from JD Edwards, key it into Microsoft Excel, analyze it, print it, and distribute it. Read More
About Customer	L.B. Foster is a leading manufacturer, fabricator, and distributor of high-quality transportation and construction materials. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and supplies the materials necessary to build and maintain infrastructure for companies in the transportation, construction, utility, energy, recreation, and agriculture markets. As a lean manufacturing organization, L.B. Foster embraces continuous improvement and is always looking to make things better. The company's diverse software infrastructure includes packaged applications such as a JD Edwards World enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a Sage SalesLogix CRM system, and more than 200 IBM Lotus Notes applications. Read More
Solution	L.B. Foster decided to purchase business intelligence (BI) and performance management (PM) technology from Information Builders. The company's BI team created nearly 400 WebFOCUS reports and applications, from parameterized production schedules to inventory commitment reports. This allowed about 100 users throughout the organization, from executives to plant and shop floor managers, to instantly retrieve information on their own. By empowering users at all levels to generate their own reports about everything from inventory and accounting to sales orders, L.B. Foster increased productivity company-wide. For example, production floor paperwork that used to take three hours a day to compile is now automatically generated by WebFOCUS. The company also used WebFOCUS Performance Management Framework (PMF) to reveal metric relationships and align operational activities with corporate strategy. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Construction & Infrastructure

Transportation

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Discrete Manufacturing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Predictive Maintenance

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

L.B. Foster, a leading manufacturer, fabricator, and distributor of high-quality transportation and construction materials, faced challenges in accessing, analyzing, and presenting information in a cohesive and timely way due to its diverse software infrastructure. This included packaged applications such as a JD Edwards World enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a Sage SalesLogix CRM system, and more than 200 IBM Lotus Notes applications. As the company grew and its pace of business accelerated, the ability to access and analyze information became critical for company managers. For instance, production personnel were creating bills of materials by hand for shop floor operations, a process that took two to three hours every day. They had to extract data from JD Edwards, key it into Microsoft Excel, analyze it, print it, and distribute it.

About Customer

L.B. Foster is a leading manufacturer, fabricator, and distributor of high-quality transportation and construction materials. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and supplies the materials necessary to build and maintain infrastructure for companies in the transportation, construction, utility, energy, recreation, and agriculture markets. As a lean manufacturing organization, L.B. Foster embraces continuous improvement and is always looking to make things better. The company's diverse software infrastructure includes packaged applications such as a JD Edwards World enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a Sage SalesLogix CRM system, and more than 200 IBM Lotus Notes applications.

Solution

L.B. Foster decided to purchase business intelligence (BI) and performance management (PM) technology from Information Builders. The company's BI team created nearly 400 WebFOCUS reports and applications, from parameterized production schedules to inventory commitment reports. This allowed about 100 users throughout the organization, from executives to plant and shop floor managers, to instantly retrieve information on their own. By empowering users at all levels to generate their own reports about everything from inventory and accounting to sales orders, L.B. Foster increased productivity company-wide. For example, production floor paperwork that used to take three hours a day to compile is now automatically generated by WebFOCUS. The company also used WebFOCUS Performance Management Framework (PMF) to reveal metric relationships and align operational activities with corporate strategy.

Impact #1	The BI team has created hundreds of WebFOCUS reports and strategic performance management applications, saving time, increasing accuracy, and boosting productivity.
Impact #2	About 100 users throughout the entire organization, from executives to plant and shop floor managers, can now instantly retrieve information on their own.
Impact #3	Production floor paperwork that used to take three hours a day to compile is now automatically generated by WebFOCUS.

Impact #1

The BI team has created hundreds of WebFOCUS reports and strategic performance management applications, saving time, increasing accuracy, and boosting productivity.

Impact #2

About 100 users throughout the entire organization, from executives to plant and shop floor managers, can now instantly retrieve information on their own.

Impact #3

Production floor paperwork that used to take three hours a day to compile is now automatically generated by WebFOCUS.

Benefit #1	Production floor paperwork that used to take three hours a day to compile is now automatically generated by WebFOCUS, saving approximately 15 hours a week.
Benefit #2	The BI team has created nearly 400 WebFOCUS reports and applications.

Benefit #1

Production floor paperwork that used to take three hours a day to compile is now automatically generated by WebFOCUS, saving approximately 15 hours a week.

Benefit #2

The BI team has created nearly 400 WebFOCUS reports and applications.

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Overview

L.B. Foster Enhances Operations With BI and Performance Management

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit