Fact sheet
Provider: ACS-Embrace
Embrace delivers quantifiable benefits to WABCO:
- Empowered employees with anywhere, anytime real-time access
- Optimised inventory
- Increased visibility into finished products, sub-assemblies and components time for material costing
- Maximised competitive-edge
The company
WABCO South Africa distributes air brake components to all the major vehicle manufacturers and distributors of commercial automotive components in Southern Africa and is part of the global company, WABCO Vehicle Control Systems based in Germany.
The company has been trading in the Southern African region for over 50 years, servicing both the OE manufacturing and aftermarket industry sectors.
WABCO SA is fully committed to offering the fleet-operator, trailer-builder and independent distributors the very best in technical support, information and training to ensure their products provide the ultimate in safety, reliability and braking efficiency, with a low cost of ownership.
To achieve this, it uses the full suite of Embrace ERP modules. The association between WABCO SA and ACS-Embrace goes back to the early 1990s.“Embrace is still today an integral part of the operations of the company and has ensured stability and consistent reliability of the daily functions of the business over the years,” states Enoch Silcock, Area General Manager, WABCO South Africa.
Embrace has enabled us to accelerate order turnaround by bringing greater efficiencies to order management, forecasting and the manufacturing process.
Enoch Silcock – Area General Manager – WABCO South Africa
He explains the company’s operation involves a wide range of operational functions from importing, warehousing, financial and counter parts sales, to complete brake system assembly and production, all involving a host of small peculiarities to their specific business.
“Embrace has met all the challenges we have thrown at it over the years,” states Silcock, adding the strength of the Embrace ERP system has been its adaptability to customer requirements while maintaining simplicity of function for the user.
The challenge
Minimise IT infrastructure costs
WABCO SA separated from its previous partner with which it shared an on-premises system. The decision was taken that they would continue to use the comprehensive Embrace ERP business solution. They did not, however, have the necessary IT infrastructure to implement and support it themselves.
For these reasons, WABCO SA considered the Embrace ERP cloud solution and looked to ACS-Embrace to ensure a smooth transition from on-premises to cloud hosted.
Optimise process for manufacturing and sales
WABCO SA imports a wide range of components which are then locally assembled. The company makes-to-order and makes-for-stock and has over 10 000 part numbers on the system with 3 000 line numbers in stock at any one time. Forecasting and inventory control are vitally important to WABCO’s ability to fill orders on a timely basis.
Cater for different OEM and aftermarket requirements
OEMs demand specialised brake systems, even if just one or two components differ from the standard bill of material (BOM). The Embrace Manufacturing module provides the flexibility required to meet this and all other complex assembly requirements. New systems can be created quickly utilising existing phantom sub-assemblies as building blocks already in Embrace.
Meet global head office operations and reporting requirements
With WABCO Germany buying out the 51% local share, compliance and reporting requirements became more complex.
The solution
WABCO SA deployed the full suite of Embrace ERP modules in a cloud-hosted environment.
“The best thing we did was move to the cloud! The connectivity is brilliant, it’s fast; in fact, much faster than when we ran on-premises. I can now work anywhere, anytime, even at midnight. We can respond to issues as they arise and deliver improved customer service,” adds Silcock.
Local and available
Wabco knew Embrace ERP was a perfect fit for the business, that it offered a lot and would meet all new and future requirements. They also liked the fact that Embrace is a local product, with local support and expertise “just down the road”.
“We can do anything we want to with Embrace. It works the way we do and it’s so easy to customise,” states Silcock.
Outsourced system administration and support
The ACS-Embrace Outsource Centre provides all support and system administration. “The service and support is superb! All issues and queries are quickly resolved and then followed up with a call to ensure we are happy,” states Silcock.
The benefits
Accurate forecasting ensures cost-effective assembly platforms
Embraces filters down to the component level of each item and recommends purchase orders based on sales orders and defined safety stock. Taking lead times and order urgency into account, Embrace suggests whether components be shipped via air or sea freight and calculates the costs accordingly.
With Embrace, WABCO SA has complete visibility over finished items, sub-assemblies and their components and are able to make reliable delivery promises to their customers. “Embrace has enabled us to accelerate order turnaround by bringing greater efficiencies to order management, forecasting and the manufacturing process,” states Silcock.
End-to-end financial management puts finance in the driving seat
Embrace provides complete visibility into every corner of the business. Any anomalies or issues are quickly identified, enabling immediate action to be taken.
“The ability to drill down from the general ledger all the way through to source transactions is a huge benefit,” states Bessie Mampa, Financial Manager.
She adds that Embrace Reporting is comprehensive, gives a true reflection of the business and helps her to effectively manage the department. “I can get any report I want from the system and I trust the numbers,” adds Mampa. The IT14SD VAT report has simplified and streamlined the company’s VAT reporting and saved a lot of time.
WABCO HO reporting deadlines are tight and to meet KPIs, reports need to be submitted within a day after month-end. Embrace enables them to meet these as well as the Sarbanes-Oxley audit compliance requirements.
Increased productivity and efficiency
24/7/365 access to Embrace, along with the upgrade and additional functionality has enabled WABCO SA to become more agile, versatile and competitive. The overall user experience has improved and productivity has increased significantly.
Embrace has boosted efficiency in a number of ways. WABCO SA has aligned manufacturing with the way it functions. The entire assembly process has been streamlined. The company has been able to fulfil orders quickly and accurately, while increasing inventory turnover and reducing supply chain costs.
By having accurate and increased visibility into their inventory, WABCO is able to better manage its strict quality control processes.
“Delivering superior customer service is important to us. Embrace ERP helps us to provide our customers with the goods they ordered, at the right place, as quickly as possible,” concludes Silcock.
