VOP-026 Šternberk, s.p. implements a system of advanced planning

VOP-026 Šternberk, s.p., a leading Czech military repair plant have concluded the Agreement on Supply and Implementation of system i2 Factory Planner for advanced planning of production with the LOGIS company.

Šternberk, 22/12/2005

VOP-026 Šternberk, s.p. (VOP-026), a leading Czech military repair plant have concluded the Agreement on Supply and Implementation of system for advanced planning of production (APS) with the LOGIS company. During the eight-month project, the i2 Factory Planner system from i2 Technologies will be implemented. Šternberk VOP-026, a traditional service centre of military armoured wheeled vehicles was one of the few Czech military repair plants that was able to cope with the radical change of the situation in the Czech army related to significant reduction of the army vehicle fleet. The decline in the volume of military orders was successfully compensated in the past by obtaining orders from the civil sector. At present, the main customers include producers of construction machinery – FERMEC (Great Britain) and SCHAEFF (Germany) – members of the TEREX Corporation supranational group. The performance of orders from the civil sector is ensured by an independent engineering division, for which the system of advanced planning of production i2 Factory Planner is primarily used. Ing. Martin Smolka, Financial Manager of VOP-026, comments on the decision to implement the system of advanced planning: “The fact that VOP-026 is a state enterprise does not limit our attempt to succeed in the present highly competitive environment. The need to be a faster and more reliable partner for our clients and, on the other hand, the low transparency of the present situation in production, the ever-changing requirements of clients and the inability to make new plans while revealing the impacts of the new plans on all orders, made us think of a radical change of the planning system and production management in the engineering division of the company.” Ing. Antonín Kratochvíl, Deputy Director of the Company describes the course of the bidding procedure: “In the first round of the bidding procedure we were assessing fifteen bids, six bidders were allowed to proceed to the second round, after presentations and reference visits we selected the two favourites, whose task was to prepare a pre-implementation study and demonstrate their readiness to manage the whole project in the proper manner. To tell the truth, it was only the final round of the bidding procedure that persuaded us that it was LOGIS that would provide the best chances for success. At the beginning we knew that LOGIS was a leader in the field, but we considered their solution to be excess luxury. It was the same as purchasing company cars from Rolls-Royce, so why not act in a similar way in the selection of the supplier for the APS project? At first it looked like most of the bids were similar, so we preferred the seemingly ‘golden mean’. “Only in the other phases of the bidding procedure, when we went deeper into the fundaments of the bids, did we discover that in this case the similarity to cars is incorrect. Even if you buy a car of the highest class, it will take you to your destination with similar reliability to a medium-class car, for which you pay much less money. Both cars will be safe, they will have everything important for the car to work properly. There is no such analogy for the APS systems. We came to the conclusion that in close inspection you can find out that many of the offered APS promise low consumption and high performance, but in fact they lack some important things – sometimes a steering wheel, sometimes even the motor. “And if I stick to this car analogy, in the world of cars you can expect that in almost all driving schools they will teach you well how to drive. However, it’s not that simple with the APS systems. This is not only because top-quality knowledge of the APS system can be obtained from real experts, but also because APS is operated in a much more complicated environment than a road network. In addition to a very good knowledge of APS, experts also have to be capable of very good orientation in the company environment. However, this can become obvious only within the pre-implementation study. The study confirmed that LOGIS’ specialists are capable of the proper application of experience from many successful projects in engineering companies. In addition, we were surprised by their knowledge of the specific terminology of the repair field because we are consider extension of the utilization of APS into the division of Military Production in the next round. “VOP-026 is our first client from a state enterprise. I must confess that it was a nice surprise for us to see how professional the company’s approach was. This is not only about a thoroughly organized bidding procedure, consistent compliance with all the agreed terms and exemplary cooperation in preparation of the pre-implementation study – but also clear development objectives of the company, the emphasis on improvement of the main company process, concentration on increasing the speed and reliability of orders. This is the most important reason why we think there are great prerequisites for a good result of the whole project.” said the executive manager of the LOGIS company, Ing. Vladimír Seibert, adding: “It’s obvious that there’s a lot to do in the near future. Work connected to many significant and often radical changes in the company. We’re looking forward to it and we’re glad that we will be able to contribute to the development of such an interesting company as VOP-026 in Šternberk”.

About VOP-026 Šternberk, s.p.

The history of the company dates back to 1951 when, in a newly built production hall, the repairs of surface military technology for the needs of the Czechoslovak army were initiated. Since the 1960s, the company has specialized in repairs of wheel and crawler armoured personnel carriers and combat infantry vehicles; at the beginning of the new century it also took over repairs of engineer technology. The scope of repairs ranges from general repairs to on-the-spot repairs, including the provision of service to international missions. In addition to repairs, various technologies were modernized, or rebuilt to meet the needs of the army. In this way, many research, signal, headquarters and purpose vehicles on crawlers were created. In the past the scope of activity of the company was significantly extended with an organization measure of the establisher, by including three military technical institutes in Brno, Slavičín and Vyškov, A significant part of the capacities is now intended particularly for solving research and development tasks in the area of surface technology, research and observation systems, arms systems, ammunition, military chemistry, electronic research devices and material engineering. This includes creation of the operation and training documentation, teaching aids and equipment. In these areas, the company provides support to the Czech Army and to other clients, outputs of research and development capacities are often realized in the production plant of the company. In this area, the company is involved in international cooperation with research capacities of other countries and expert activity within NATO and EDA. A significant share in the turnover is occupied by the engineering production, where the company established a position as a reliable supplier of processed weldments for foreign clients. The company capacities were also extended in the area of testing, which enables continuous measurement, trials and testing of the research, development and production outputs in order to provide the clients with services and production in the adequate quality. Many company testing laboratories are accredited; the company holds a certificate of compliance of the quality management system with European standards. From a repair shop of salvage technology, the plant has been transformed to a company that is capable of satisfying clients’ needs using state-of-the-art technologies from research to servicing, to a company with highly qualified personnel with a positive attitude toward clients and their needs.

About LOGIS

LOGIS is a supplier of expertise services and information technologies. The deliveries are executed in the form of projects aiming at improvement of management effectiveness and development of business success at the customers’ businesses. Within the framework of their solutions, LOGIS applies advanced managing and planning methods and procedures, including high-performance information technologies in the field of Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS).