MATADOR Automotive Vráble: Methodological controlling

Our company had been able to increase its turnover several times more in the course of recent years. It processed its reports required for the management at a superior level. What had been missing, however, was a uniform and integral system which could ensure the development of the integrated tactical plan with a forecast for the following year and at the same time would perform an analysis of results on separate dates.

Company characteristics

MATADOR Automotive Vráble, a. s. belongs to the Slovak companies which succeeded in penetrating the European automotive market. At present the company employs more than 900 persons and invests on an annual basis significant funds to develop their skills.
The company was able to increase several times its turnover in the course of recent years and to implement its investments in the latest production technologies. Approximately 90 per cent of the total turnover cover complex welded or assembled units, e.g. the bumper carrier or instrumentation board carrier, inside seat frames, exhaustion systems and, last but not least, a wide range of car body internal parts. In the recent time the share of non automotive industries has been growing because of diversification of the product portfolio.

Prior to BNS installation

At the turn of 2003 and 2004 we felt the need to integrate data from different operational systems (ORFERT, SOFTIP – Prometheus, etc.) within a single whole, which would simplify the strategic planning and feedback analysis. At the same time we had to streng then the company standards of the management, information and decision making processes.

After BNS installation

In 2006 fourteen modules of the integrated information system SAP were implemented. Installation of the Business Navigation System (“BNS”) then provided a uniform platform for the all-company planning and identification of variations when compared with the reality.

What was the decisive point

BNS fulfilled our controlling concept complying with our ideas regarding methodology. We moreover appreciated its simple environment (Excel) which did not require any long-term training of our staff. A substantial role during the selection was played also by the offered programs resulting in savings of costs, as well as the openness of Inekon Systems representatives during our mutual negotiations, references and the firm price charged for the services.

Implementation procedure

In the first stage the proposal part of the module Navigation Concept was implemented. We identified in collaboration with the Inekon Systems specialists a suitable range of solutions for the maximum and interactive training of our specialized personnel. It was the operational area from the production environment and corresponding management reports. The involved employees then successfully completed this stage under the supervision of Inekon Systems consultants and thus verified BNS functionality in practical life.

Results:

• Processes of the development of and modelling the annual plan and analysis of results of business performance were unified within a transparent and highly functional whole thanks to the Business Navigation System.
  
• Intentions of the company obtained an option of variability (reference plan, optimist variant, etc.) and they are at the same easy to be updated when developing forecasts for the future.
  
• All the planning modules „collaborate” so that a change of any one of them is automatically calculated in the remaining ones too and thus affects the overall financial plan.
  
• Direct interconnection of different applications with the operational system has enabled us to work with uniform and correct data for evaluation of the company business performance.

Ing. Vojtěch Žák, controlling manager:

„In the Business Navigation System we have acquired a top controlling tool. Among its indisputable benefits may be included comfortable user’s environment, multidimensionality and openness in relation to other information systems. I am convinced that in a combination with the possible application of SAP system we have achieved a maximum which may be expected from MIS. “