SAP Implementation For Ford Motor: Analysis, Risks, Opportunities

Compare the literature analysis with current practice 
Issues studied

This is an introduction to the topics being analysed. Briefly describe the topic areas (ERP Implementation Successful / Failt) and why you have selected them. Per topic, organise it as follows:

Issue 1 – Put subject of issue 1 here
Introduction to Issue 1. What is it all about? What are the important research for this issue?

Literature Analysis
The literature analysis should be the length as set in the assignment sheet.(Theory)

Organisation 1
A discussion of the solutions that organisation 1 may have selected or implemented in relation to your topic area. A

Opportunities studied
The same for Issues 1 to 4, you will perform for opportunities.

Background of Ford Motor

The report is created for Ford Motor that have a requirement of implementation of SAP in their current business process for the management of the growth of the organization. A cloud based web application is selected for deployment such that the initial investment cost of the SAP system should be kept minimum (Chang 2016). The risk and the advantages of the implementation of SAP in the current business process is analyzed before the deployment of the system. The problems with the current system is also analyzed for aligning the system with the business needs and management of the different business operation (Tetteh and Quansah 2017).  

The report is created for provided an idea regarding the organization background of Ford. After that, a comparison has been provided regarding the literature analysis with the present practices. The coming pages provide an idea regarding four kinds of issues which needs to be tackled. The last section of the report provides an idea regarding various kinds of opportunities which are needed to be tackled.

Ford Motor company is considered as one of world largest organization in automobile industry. It is considered to be world largest producer of trucks (Singhla 2014). Under the given leadership of Henry Ford, the organization has implemented lime methods for mass production. The organization manufacture cars which are affordable to middle class consumer. Ford is known to be second largest vehicle organization manufacturer in United States. Ford is a subsidiary of Hertz organization which is considered as one of the largest rental organization. It is considered to be world’s largest provider of automotive financing (Ekman, Thilenius and Windahl 2014). Vehicles manufactured by Ford markets comes under the brand Lincoln, Mazda and lastly Volvo.

Ford manufacture a large number of methods which is all about manufacturing various cars and managing large-scale management (Jia et al. 2017). It is mainly inclusive of workforce which can easily engineer manufacture sequence by assembly of lines. Currently, Ford is considered to be fourth largest manufacturer of world-class vehicles that are sold on annual basis (Lee and Tang 2018). In addition to Ford, it also owns Volvo cars of Sweden and also has small stake in Japan.

The growth of the automobile industry across the globe has been a great opportunity for different automobile companies. However, there have been several risks with the growth if industry in the market (Acharya, Schaefer and Zhang 2015). Different new companies have been rising in the market.  The increase in the completion the sale of automobiles has been increased. Ford Motors has been facing a decrease in their sales for some years due to bad inventory control. According to the first question, productivity has been an important factor for the development in the Ford Motors in the market. Increment in the sales of the sales of motors has been enhanced with the implementation of ERP module in the company.

Issues That Need to be Tackled

The implementation of SAP has been a positive venture for the company. SAP has helped in maintaining the number of sales of cars in the market (Barnes 2014).  The use of SAP software has been helping in providing a descriptive approach to monitor sales and business of the company in the market. According to it the IT manager, productivity has been an essential element for the development if the company (Chang 2016). The correlation with the customers in the market has been helping in enhancing the sales of motors in the market.

Enhancement in technology has been modifying the cars and other-other vehicles across markets (Tetteh and Quansah 2017).  There has been a huge evolution in the automobile industry in recent years.  Therefore, Ford Motors need to change their strategies and business plans with changes in the market.  The company has been using their old software that has been creating issues in the customer satisfaction level.  The old model of Ford Motors has been dissatisfying their customers.  There has been enhancement in the technology used in the manufacturing of cars and motors in the market (Singhla 2014).  Therefore, Ford Motors has been lacking in the implementation of technology in business operations.

The implementation of SAP software has been helping in implementing new technologies in the company for the development of the company in the market (Ekman, Thilenius and Windahl 2014). According to the IT manager, the use of the technology has been helping in boosting the quality and quantity of the motor vehicles in the market.

 Database management has been an important aspect for a business organization. Ford Motors has been lacking in managing their database. Ford Motors have been manufacturing use number of motor vehicles in the market. Therefore, there is a requirement for proper database management in the company (Jia et al. 2017).  The SAP implementation has been helping in maintaining their database in a simpler aspect.  The use of SAP software has been helping in analyzing data and information of vehicles and costumes altogether. Data management has been maintaining a keen approach in the development in the SQL queries in searching and analyzing data.

According to the IT manager, the financial department has been an important department of the company. Therefore, SAP software has been helping in roping proper balance sheet and cash flow analysis of the sales of the company in the market.  The use if the SAP software has been helping in providing cost-benefit analysis that focuses on profit aimed by the company within a year (Lee and Tang 2018). These reports have been helping in monitoring and achieving goals of the company in the market. The resource of the company has been properly managed in the company with the implementation of the SAP software. This software has been able to create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for dividing tasks into small tasks and allocate to specialized department. This help in maximizing quantity and quality of cars in the market.

Opportunities for Ford Motor

Stakeholders are the important resources of the company. Ford Motors has been shared with various stakeholders to increase their profit and better decision-making system.  However, the stakeholder management system has been ruptured in the operation of the company (Acharya, Schaefer and Zhang 2015).  Therefore, there have been problems in the decision-making system of the company. Managers and other administrators have been facing difficulties in making decisions in the company.  The use of the SAP software has been helping in managing stakeholders of the company in the market. It has been helping in enhancing the decision-making system of the company (Barnes 2014).

According to the IT manager, the key skill of a manager needs to be leadership. Leadership skills in manner help in providing regular path for the employees in the company it completes their goals and objectives in the company (Chang 2016).  The use of the SAP software has been helping in providing employee database with their skills. This process helps in maintaining a keen approach to handling employees according to their skills. Training session and motivation skills might be provided to the employees in order to enhance their skills and knowledge.

At present, the ford organization is producing a large number of cars which comes up with low mileage and proper kind of pick up option (Tetteh and Quansah 2017). Ford comes up with much greater option which is needed for fuel-efficient cars and various commercial vehicles. The organization aims to produce vehicles which can run on various forms of energy outside both petrol and diesel. The cars can easily run on renewable energies like biofuels and solar power (Singhla 2014). This particular point will the help the organization to easily become a pioneer in the industry.

Ford has expanded its business for designing of cars and various commercial vehicles which are expected to be switched in hybrid electric engines. It mainly occurs due to limited nature of petroleum (Ekman, Thilenius and Windahl 2014). The given cars are designed on the basis of proper electric engines which will show more interest to the buyers of the cars. It is mainly done because of the fact that car which on electricity comes up with repairing cost (Jia et al. 2017).  

Ford organization have diversified their market in India and China. They have mainly done this so that they can diversify their revenue in this countries which have huge geographical market and have huge population(Acharya, Schaefer and Zhang 2015). Most of the people in this countries are very much interested in owning a four-wheeler for their family.

Ford comes up with a restructuring plan which is needed for improving their performance of business in North America (Lee and Tang 2018). This particular plan will help North-America more customer-focused, efficient and lastly product driven. The forward plan focuses on restoring North America automotive operation for much better profit.

Conclusion:

From the above pages of the report, it can be concluded that this report is all about SAP implementation for Ford Motor. In the report, the organization background of Ford Motor has been provided in details. After that four issues that risk in market analysis, industry evolution, improper database management and risk in stakeholder management have been discussed in details. The last section of the report mainly deals with various kinds of opportunities for this organization. The ultimate goal of Ford is to become the world’s leading organization in automobile products and services.

References:  

Acharya, V.V., Schaefer, S. and Zhang, Y., 2015. Liquidity risk and correlation risk: A clinical study of the General Motors and Ford Downgrade of May 2005. The Quarterly Journal of Finance, 5(02), p.1550006.

Barnes, N.G., 2014. Social commerce emerges as big brands position themselves to turn" follows"," likes" and" pins" into sales. American Journal of Management, 14(4), p.11.

Chang, J.F., 2016. Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. Auerbach Publications.

Ekman, P., Thilenius, P. and Windahl, T., 2014. Extending the ERP system: considering the business relationship portfolio. Business Process Management Journal, 20(3), pp.480-501.

Jia, W.J., Wang, S., Lu, H., Shao, Y., Lee, E. and Zhang, Y.D., 2017, June. Ford motor side-view recognition system based on wavelet entropy and back propagation neural network and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. In International Symposium on Parallel Architecture, Algorithm and Programming (pp. 3-12). Springer, Singapore.

Lee, R.P. and Tang, X., 2018. Does it pay to be innovation and imitation oriented? An examination of the antecedents and consequences of innovation and imitation orientations. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(1), pp.11-26.

Singhla, J., 2014. Challenges in implementation of enterprise resource planning in india: a case study of corps of electronics and mechanical engineers: EME.

Tetteh, U.S. and Quansah, C., 2017. An Examination of The Significance of The Choice of Dramatic Techniques in Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead. African Journal of Applied Research (AJAR), 3(1), pp.1-13.