| Fisher &
Paykel Appliances Case Study
Processes knit together
with Slik integration kit
Managing
'millions of jobs through hundreds of interfaces' was a
logistical nightmare for Fisher & Paykel Appliances until its
development team came up with an integration and scheduling kit to
enable a single view across the enterprise.
The Slik
(standard legacy interface kit) had
such an impact on the organisation that a former systems analyst
with the company licensed the rights to further develop it for the
commercial market.
The kit was the solution to a problem that came to a
head a couple of years back when F&P was about to install a
new J D Edwards OneWorld enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
which didn't support all of the functions required by the
business. To get everything running smoothly the company had to
figure out how to make an assortment of stand-alone systems talk
to each other.
"We worked
out that we either had to redevelop a whole pile of interfaces or
come up with a tool that would allow us to manage them all,"
says IT manager Andrew Cooke.
"Historically
we developed interfaces as they were required but each time they
were done slightly differently so we ended up with a complete dogs
breakfast of different interfaces which required a specialist to
keep them running," says Mr Cooke.
The
developers needed different skill sets and it was time consuming
and expensive to keep everything operating - it was decided a
central tool that treated all interfaces the same way was
necessary.
Single view sought
"We needed
a single view so anyone could see what was happening across all
systems at any time. We didn't set out to develop a commercially
viable product," says Mr Cooke.
Technical
programmer Chris Wenzlik suggested a particular development model
which was initially resisted by Mr Cooke who was project managing
the J D Edwards roll out. "I argued against it, concerned we
could potentially compromise our go-live date but I have since
told Chris many times I'm glad he won - it was certainly the
right answer for us."
All F&P
Appliances' interfaces now go through Slik, which links the JD
Edwards system to production and after sales service systems.
"It is the center of our data layer - all of our
systems talk to each other through Slik which is a vital hub of
our IT infrastructure," says Mr Cooke.
"We
just knew we had to move data from one system to another but it
turned out we built an interoperability engine which uses the ODBC
(open database compliance) layer to talk to all the other
databases. We no longer have to train experts in different
interfaces."
The first
version went live late in 1998 when the company was gearing up for
Y2K compliance, with several revisions produced over two years.
The application largely built in C++ has a full Microsoft-based
drag and drop approach with interfaces into disparate systems able
to be created in a matter of minutes. It generates
and executes SQL scripts and batch file (FTP) and ODBC data
transfers between systems.
Automated
scheduling
Slik
is also a scheduling tool. Previously each software application
had its own scheduling capability sucking data out of one format
into a file before being loaded into the next system. However if
any job ran over time or fired off too early then everything would
be out of synch. "We wanted something that would fully automate
jobs across all systems."
For example
F&P needed to take its production requirements out of J D
Edwards and into the five different factory production systems and
integrate this with the factory scheduling systems which in turn
produce washing machines, fridges, dishwashers and other
appliances.
That
production process is based on what is sold from the company's
warehouses. "This is part of a global inventory management
system done on the J D Edwards system. As we sell product from the
warehouses we create requirements on the factories to replace
those. "Slik now
handles thousands of bits of data flying around every day," says
Mr Cooke.
"Slik
has given us a single, consistent view of all the data moving
around so we only have to train people how to read the screen once
to manage any interface. There have been major operational
efficiencies and it has taken huge cost out of our support
layer."
The
innovative New Zealand-based white goods manufacturer hadn't
envisioned it would move so rapidly into new markets in Europe,
the UK and the USA. Since Slik became an integral part of Fisher
& Paykel Appliances processes the company has moved to a 24 x
7 operation, running shift-based support across multiple sites.
"It's
not only helped with support and operations but also with our
ongoing roll out into these new markets. Without a tool like Slik
we would have had to put a lot more work behind the scenes to
cope," says Mr Cooke.
About Slik
Slik (Standard Legacy Interface Kit) was developed in house
for Fisher and Paykel Ltd to give them control of data transfers
and business processes. It sits in the centre of their IT
operations running across a WAN linking New Zealand and Australia.
It has been in operation at F&P since November 1998.
Slik
Software has the commercial rights to further develop and sell the
Slik suite which is now used by Sky Television and concrete and
pipe manufacturer W Stevenson & Sons. Technical experts from
Slik Software Ltd developed Lemoncheck,
which checks the authenticity of motor vehicle purchases by interrogating multiple disparate
databases in an average time of 15 seconds. This produces a report
which highlights any concerns such as money owing, stolen,
outstanding road user or registration charges etc. see (www.lemoncheck.co.nz)
For
more information:
Fisher & Paykel Appliances
IT manager
Andrew Cooke
64 09 273 0600
Andrew.cooke@fp.co.nz
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