Key Issues in the Automotive Industry

QAD is known for its commitment to the manufacturing industry and to its customers, because of our traditional focus on manufacturing, and in particular automotive manufacturing. QAD understands, better than any other ERP vendor, the challenges and opportunities our customers face:

Meeting automotive compliance (MMOG/LE and others): QAD provides complete mapping of processes to global OEM compliance models. We provide the training, modeling and solution necessary for you to meet your customers’ rigid demands.

Identifying low cost approach to new markets: QAD currently provides solutions in over 90 countries. We understand local requirements by geography, OEM or cluster. QAD provides a low cost On Demand solution as well as predefined monthly pricing models.

Enabling acquisition and divestitures: The simplicity, global completeness and architecture of QAD Enterprise Applications enables you to quickly divest or acquire new sites. We have predefined process maps that allow rapid implementation and conversion from legacy systems. Our component architecture also allows for the use of high value solutions (such as advanced planning, visualization, transportation, etc.) regardless of the legacy ERP system.

Key Issues in the Consumer Products Industry

QAD prides itself on intimately knowing its customers’ business challenges and opportunities and has developed deep vertical expertise in the consumer products industry.

• Building consumer confidence in product safety and quality: Heightened global consumer concerns about the quality of products and ingredients being produced in China and other Asian countries are impacting manufactures’ ability to sell into these markets.
• Meeting the requirements of global compliance: September 11th changed the rules for global commerce. Across the supply chain numerous compliance reporting requirements exist such as food and drug compliance reporting, transportation documentation and managing electrical waste products.
• Supporting global sustainability initiatives: Global retailers such as Metro and Wal-Mart are mandating that manufacturers implement sustainability “Greening of the Globe” programs that take emissions out of the environment, save on natural resources and improve utilization of materials. QAD Enterprise Applications can help consumer products manufacturers reduce packaging size, run trucks at full loads and run machines more effectively to comply with these standards.

Today’s food and beverage manufacturers face unparalleled quality, sustainability and compliance pressures and challenges.

Taking the lead in the food and beverage industry requires the ability to anticipate and exceed customer demands, develop close supply chain partnerships, increase customer service levels, control costs and streamline operations. QAD understands these needs and has the developed the solutions and services to address them.

Enabling operations excellence: Margins can be thin in the fast-paced food and beverage market and competition is strong in the fight for shelf space. Brands and SKUs are proliferating, with a steady stream of new flavors and product variations entering the marketplace. Seasonality can have a huge impact on this market, both in terms of predicting demand and production planning. To win, food and beverage companies must develop effective processes and enable these processes with user-friendly, integrated and powerful QAD solutions.

Building consumer confidence in product safety and quality: Heightened global consumer concerns about the quality of products are impacting the ability of manufactures to sell into new markets such as China. The inability to implement quality controls, to deploy validation processes, and to ensure consumers that products are safe will result in increased business failures.

Meeting the requirements of global compliance: September 11th changed the global rules for global commerce. Across the supply chain numerous compliance reporting requirements exist such as compliance reporting, product tracking and tracing requirements, proper transportation documents. and waste products reporting. QAD Enterprise Applications address these business concerns and help food and beverage manufacturers avoid significant fines and delays, resulting in loss of revenue and unhappy customers and consumers.

Supporting global sustainability initiatives: Major retailers and food service providers are mandating that manufacturers implement sustainability “Greening of the Globe” programs that take emissions out of the environment, save on natural resources and improve utilization of materials. QAD Enterprise Applications can help customers reduce packaging size, run trucks at full loads and run machines more effectively retailers to comply with these pressures.

Key Issues for the High Technology Industry

QAD’s goal is to deliver the best suite of products and services to its customers. To achieve this goal, QAD works closely with customers and industry experts to understand and address their challenges and opportunities:

Achieving supply and demand balance: In high change environments, the ability to react to events is essential to manage profitability and delivery performance. Product variations and short product life cycles increase the challenge of variability in demand and volatility in supply. QAD systems support collaboration with trading and visibility; integrated transaction and planning systems allow real-time execution with accurate information.

Accelerating revenue: quote to cash across all channels: Apply lean to the quote to cash process, for every sales channel, and you will be more competitive and accelerate sales and collections. Customer management from distributors to OEMs requires comprehensive sales and marketing automation to establish competitive advantage.

Driving innovation: High tech is all about innovation and optimization of the short product lifecycles. QAD has partnered with PTC to provide a full Product Development System (PDS) integrated with procurement and manufacturing to offer the single best approach to full Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). In addition, QAD enables an effective configure to order process. QAD Configurator allows order entry personnel to easily configure complex products without the need for technical knowledge of the product or the system.

Key Issues for the Industrial Manufacturing Industry

QAD has developed deep industry expertise in each of its six key vertical markets, including industrial equipment:

Applying Lean and effective quote to cash process, across all channels: With a focus on customer management, responsiveness is dependent on the implementation of a lean process, eliminating manual intervention with improved automation and integration from quoting to delivery. QAD Enterprise Applications helps industrial manufacturers present one face to the customer through rapid introduction new products from research & development (R&D) or by way of product and technology acquisition.

Achieving fast Implementation, low TCO for mature and emerging markets: QAD has the best track record for fast to implement ERP. Our software and services reduce the risk of implementation for any market, critical in emerging markets with less experience and remote from head quarters. QAD’s global presence, local support and expertise in setting up new locations are often cited by our customers as a major reason they select QAD for emerging markets even when they may have a different standard ERP in North America.

Creating innovation, new products, value add and competitive differentiation: QAD has partnered with PTC to provide a full Product Development System (PDS) integrated with procurement and manufacturing to offer the single best approach to full Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). In addition, QAD enables an effective configure to order process.

Key Issues in the Life Sciences Industrial

QAD is known for its commitment to the manufacturing industry and to its customers. Because of our traditional focus on manufacturing, QAD understands, better than any other ERP vendor, the challenges and opportunities our customers face in the life sciences industry:

Meeting global regulations: All life sciences manufacturers are mandated to comply with the established quality code of conduct enforced by the governing bodies where they operate, sell or distribute their products. The requirements can vary by region: in the US, the FDA is the main regulatory agency, while in France, a manufacturer must comply with standards set by the EU. The regulations cover all aspects of how a product is manufactured, the environment in which is it manufactured, and how it is sold and marketed. Failure to comply can result in heavy fines and product recalls. QAD solution …

Introducing new products: More than most industries, life sciences companies’ success are driven by innovations in technology and science, and there is no shortage of consumer demand as we look to the industry to improve our quality of life. In many cases new products take 10 or more years to reach the consumer. QAD Enterprise Applications provides the tools needed to manage resources and contain costs across all phases from discovery and development to marketing and manufacturing. QAD solutions will allow you to achieve maximum efficiencies in manufacturing, and allow you to drive success through your pipeline.

Reducing risk: A key mandate for the life sciences industry is to maintain secure and auditable systems. From discovery through manufacturing, the details on how a product was made, and from which materials need to be accessible in the event a product’s integrity is called into question. QAD Enterprise Applications equips manufacturers with the tools to manage systems validation, electronic records and signatures, comprehensive audit trails and lot traceability to reduce risk and cost-effectively manage compliance.

Enhancing performance across the supply chain: QAD Enterprise Applications helps manufacturers to operate in full compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices by allowing the standardization and control of key processes from receipt of raw materials to shipment of finished goods. By managing these processes from a single source of information, supply chain managers will have complete visibility across not only the internal manufacturing cycle from planning to WIP, but extended throughout the supply chain to incorporate information from suppliers as well as collaboration with customers.