Transforming the Business and IT in Gas Turbine Manufacturing

The Situation

Turbine blades supported by complex, global supply chains are the most success-critical components in gas turbine manufacturing at Siemens Power Generation. One blade requires up to seven steps in the supply chain, with a mixture of in-house and external production in North America and Europe. Its high intrinsic value and long production time put the supply chain management focus on continually reducing lead times and inventories.

In addition to an optimally configured global supplier network, a precisely planned and operated supply chain offering end-to-end process transparency in real-time is a prerequisite for effective performance. With this in mind, Siemens Power Generation, supported by Capgemini, has designed and implemented a global business transformation program making optimal use of SAP.

The Solution

Joint teams, covering order and supply management, production and controlling at Siemens, were formed, augmented by IT resources from Siemens and consultants from Capgemini. Project teams in Berlin, Orlando, and Hamilton (Canada) ensured global process and system harmonization between Europe and North America. They developed a target process model based on analysis at all three locations, comprising six end-to-end main processes with clearly defined sub-processes and activities:

• Forecast-to-supply chain planning
• Order-to-cash
• Purchase-to-pay
• Production-to-cost settlement
• Master data maintenance
• Supply chain reporting

The Result

The optimized and harmonized business processes and SAP support led to precise supply chain planning and processing, with end-to-end, real-time transparency in gas turbine manufacturing at Siemens Power Generation. Increased process accuracy and speed optimize supply chain performance and provide a competitive edge in the global gas turbine business.