Operational Forecasting Assessment Identifies Improvement Opportunities for Johnson Controls

In today’s economy, automotive companies must have constant and accurate information on how they are financially performing against their annual operating plan. The team from Capgemini clearly defined the planning and forecasting process used by the Automotive Division of JCI. The expertise of the consultants was demonstrated throughout the project. The Capgemini team pointed out numerous inconsistencies in our processes and recommended improvements through the application of best practices. Monte Nuckols, Executive Director, IT, Finance & Purchasing Systems, Johnson Controls

The Situation

Johnson Controls (JCI) is a global leader in automotive experience, building efficiency and power solutions. The company has 140,000 employees in more than 1,300 locations serving customers in 125 countries, with headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Johnsons Controls’ Automotive Experience Group (seating and interiors) acquired an electronics business in France. In the post-merger integration process, the global ERP template was deployed, impacting existing processes. As a result, the business team started to develop non-standard applications to meet their requirements so they could continue forecasting and planning business functions. In addition, a company-wide survey of the finance employees indicated significant challenges with the current planning and forecasting process.

The Solution

Capgemini was asked to conduct a global current-state assessment of Johnson Controls’ forecasting and planning processes (including sales, purchasing, operational plant and P&L/financials). The project also involved an analysis of pain points, benchmarking, identifying leading practices and the creation of a roadmap for the future.

The Result

The resulting future-state roadmap identified opportunities to achieve measurable benefits, including reduced forecasting cycle time of up to six weeks, reduced FTE effort in forecasting and planning through process efficiencies and reduced cycle times, and a refocusing of efforts toward a common global planning and forecasting initiative.

JCI is now planning the next phase of the project. The output of this project has provided us with the areas we need to focus on to maximize the benefits of the GlobalPlanning & Forecasting program Monte Nuckols, Executive Director, IT, Finance & Purchasing Systems, Johnson Controls