Strategic Information System for Ford Motors

This report focuses on the importance of information system in manufacturing sector as information system in the manufacturing sector collects, stores, analyses and interprets various data and information starting to the procurement of raw materials to the delivery of the products to the end customers of the company. The report proceeds with the identification of the critical success factor of the company and the primary objectives of the company and then gradually proceeds towards identification of the current information system of the company and its drawbacks and accordingly proposing a new information system for the company which will help in addressing the weaknesses of the current information system of the company and help the company to achieve its objectives and to maintain its market share in the global automobile industry.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Strategic information system for business and enterprises
Name of Student:
Name of College:
Authors Note:
1

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14
2

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Introduction
The success and future of every organization are driven by information as without proper,
accurate and adequate information a business organization will fail to take correct decisions
regarding its businesses which eventually leads in downfall of the company. Every business
organization focuses on the collection, analysis and interpretation of data and information which
are collected from various sources in order to take eventful and effective decisions for the
business organization. This report focuses on the importance of information system in
manufacturing sector as information system in the manufacturing sector collects, stores, analyses
and interprets various data and information starting to the procurement of raw materials to the
delivery of the products to the end customers of the company. This report specially focuses on
Ford, a leading global manufacturer of cars, SUV’s and trucks. The report proceeds with the
identification of the critical success factor of the company and the primary objectives of the
company and then gradually proceeds towards identification of the current information system of
the company and its drawbacks and accordingly proposing a new information system for the
company which will help in addressing the weaknesses of the current information system of the
company and help the company to achieve its objectives and to maintain its market share in the
global automobile industry.
Main Body
1. Ford Motor Company founded by Henry Ford is a global manufacturer of cars; SUV’s and
trucks with leading fuel economy, safety, technology and quality. The success of Ford in the
global automobile industry is mainly due to the excessive focus on research and development by
the company in order to develop innovative, environment friendly and affordable automobiles
for their customers.
3

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Fig: Factors for success of Ford Motors
Source: Author
According to Misra, Rana, Verma, Kumar and Kumar (2017) the critical success of Ford is
dependent on various factors which have contributed to the overall growth and development of
the company in the global market. The various critical success factor at Ford are efficient
distribution channel of the company, good brand image of the company in the global market,
healthy cash flow management of the company, compliance of the products of the company with
various local and international standards, being flexible to the changing needs of the customers,
efficient production procedures implemented by the company, efficient cost planning by the
company, effectiveness in organizational size management of the company, joint ventures and
mergers done by the company, focused strategy of the company, un-served markets in various
parts of the world mainly in Asian countries such as India and China, the globalization plan
implemented by the company, cost savings achieved by the company through effective business
operations of the company, operational excellence of the company, the bargaining power over
suppliers of the company as a result of greater number of suppliers of the company, constant
focus on research and development of the company regarding design of the products of the
company and sharing of knowledge between the strategic business units of the company.
4
Effectivedistribution,bettercompliance,strongcashflowmaangementFlexibletochange,effecientcostplanningFocusedstrategy,Jointventures,operationaleffectivenessEffectiveglobalisationplanningEffecientProductionsystemLargesupplierbase

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
The Ford Motor company has developed separate objectives in various areas such as sales,
research and innovation and safety and sustainability. The objective of the company in the area
of sales is to increase the global sales of the company and to achieve more balanced geographical
profitability by the year 2020. The objective of the company in the area of research and
innovation is continued investments in improved materials and technology. The objectives of the
company in areas of safety and sustainability is increasing the fuel efficiency of its entire fleet
and decreasing the emission of carbon dioxide emissions from its manufacturing processes,
reducing water use and manufacturing wastes, decreasing the amount of volatile organic
compound emission arising from vehicle painting, increased use of recycled and renewable
materials in its vehicles interiors.
The types of information which might be helpful in evaluating the business objectives are global
sales report of the company of the last 2 financial years and the sales report and market growth
report of the company of the various geographical locations in which the company is based such
as Asia-pacific, Europe, America and Africa. As stated by Karla Torres and Paola Lamenta
(2015) the other information which might be helpful to the company are the quality report of the
various materials and technology which are being used to manufacture the products of the
company and its compliance reports with various national and international standards and also
quality reports of the technology and materials which are utilized by other competing companies.
The other type of information which might be helpful in evaluating the business objective of the
company are the sustainability report of the company based on the sustainability index of the
company for the last 2 years and reports on the emission rate and emission quality of the
products of the company and report regarding the various organic materials used in the interiors
of the automobiles.
The mission statement which is appropriate for the company is “Single team. Single Plan. Single
Goal” as it is suitable with the ‘One Ford’ plan of the company.
5

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Fig: Mission of Ford Motors
Source: John Owens International (2016)
2. The formal organizational chart of the Ford Motor Company is as follows:
6
CEO
COO
GVP
GloPur
Exe. VP
President America
Ex. VP
Man. & lab aff
Ex. VP
Sales &serv
Ex Vp& Pres.
Eur, Mdl East
Ex Vp& Pres.
Asia Pac Afr
Ex VP
CFO
GVP
Comm.
GVP
HR & Cs
GVP
Qlt & New Mdl
Launch
GVP
Design
GVP
CIO
GVP
General
counsel
GVP
Chairman & CEO of
Ford Credit Company
GVP
Gov& comm
relation
GVP &
controller
GVP
GlbPrdDevl

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
3. The current information system which is used by Ford is Ford Production system which is one
of the major re-engineering projects undertaken by the company in 2000. The Ford production
system was an information system which was developed to achieve a close relationship with the
suppliers of the company. The main of the Ford Production system, information system was to
improve the process of making the motors of the company in order to be pull-based system in
nature with synchronized production, continuous flow and stability throughout the production
process of the company. According to Aburub (2015) in order to achieve stability the could tell
their suppliers with the help of the information systems when and where particular components
of the production process would be required in sufficient days in advance and therefore which
resulted in the reduction of the buffer stocks of the company which in turn benefitted the supply
chain of the company.
Another information system which is currently being used at Ford is order to delivery
information system, which is also a part of the Re-engineering project of the company which
aims to develop the customer relationship management of the company. The main purpose of the
order to delivery information system of the company was to reduce the time of the order of the
products to the customers to the delivery of the products to the customers to 15 days. The vision
behind the order to delivery information system of the company was to create a lean, flexible and
predictable process which helps in harmonizing the efforts of the company’s component in order
to be able to provide the customers of the company with the right products at the right places and
at the right time which also helped the company in achieving the just-in-time technique. As
opined by Wang, Greasley and Albores (2016) by utilizing the information system in the form of
order to delivery, the company firmly believed that they would be able to provide better quality
products to the customers, gain higher customer satisfaction from the customers, and will also
help in improved selection of customers, better productivity of the manufacturing plants of the
company, stability for the supply bases of the company and lesser dealer and company costs.
Ford uses SAP software as basis of information system of the company which helps the company
to achieve total supply chain visibility in real time which helps in increasing the performance of
the supply chain of the company. The use of information system also helps in increasing the
performance of the customer relationship management framework of the company.
7

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
According to Mazareanu (2013) the weaknesses of the current system of the company is that it
is very expensive in nature and therefore using the software as an information system incurs
higher costs for the company and therefore the company must look for alternative information
system at affordable costs which will not only help in achieving the aims objectives of the
organization and gain a competitive advantage in the market but will also lead to higher
profitability of the company due to savings of a resources and money. Another weakness of the
current information system of the company is the complexity of the information system of the
company as the company is able to implement a single feature of the company at a time and
therefore it will take significant amount of time to implement all the features of the information
system at a single time. As stated by Christ, Mintchik, Chen and Bierstaker (2015) another
weakness which is associated with the current information system of the company is that it
requires expertise to operate and work on the information system of the company and therefore
the company needs to train their employees regarding effective use of the information system of
the company which involves investment of a significant amount of resources and time. As stated
by Jeong, Kang and Kim (2018) another weakness of the current information system of the
company is that it is very difficult and complex to set configuration in the current information
system of the company as the current information system of the company has its own interface
and therefore it requires the company to change their existing business interface and replace it
with the interface of the information system of the company which may create disruption in the
business operations of the company.
The document flow chart of the current information system of the company is as follows:
H
8
Vendor Sourcin
g
Inbound
Storage
or
Transpo
rtation
Operatio
ns
Outboun
d
Storage
or
Transpo
rtation
Consum
er
Distribut
ion
Consum
er
Material Flow
Information Flow
Money Flow

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
The Data flow diagram of the current system of the company is as follows:
4. The information system which can be proposed to the Ford Motor company which will help in
addressing the weakness of the current information system of the company is Manufacturing
Information system. Manufacturing Information Systems are defined as powerful software
platforms which are capable of tracking the progress of raw materials in to finished goods. An
integrated Manufacturing Information System enables the control of multiple variables such as
inputs, support services, machines and personnel in real time so that the management of an
organization despite their location can optimize the production of the company and also can
reduce the in-efficiencies of the company. As opined by Eker and Eker (2018) the Manufacturing
9
Customer
Relationship
Management
Offering
Management
Salesman
ManagementProduct
Management
Transaction
Management
Customer
Management
Customer
Feedback
Management

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Information System perform the essential work of providing information to the key decision
makers of the company which they require to facilitate the smooth functioning of the operations
of the company and to increase the productivity of the company. The Manufacturing Information
System also helps the companies in the creation of artificial intelligence which cannot be
obtained from other methods. The Manufacturing Information System has the capability of
performing multiple tasks and functions for an organization and is very vital and indispensable
for organization belonging to various sectors and industries.
As stated by FarajollahRahnavard and NahidBozorgkhou (2014) the various benefits which are
associated with Manufacturing Information system are streamlined product production process of
the company, reduced costs and re-works of the company, increased efficiency of the company
in set-up times, Assessment of correct order priority by the company, effective assignment and
re-assignment of inventory according to the requirement of the company, the evaluation of
optional times regarding the turning on and off of the machines of the company, proper
scheduling and re-scheduling of the equipment of the company, helps in embedding best
practices in the organization, helps in the improvement of reaction time within the supply chain
management process of the company, efficiency in making and measuring parts, effective
assigning of personnel’s in various tasks of the company, smooth movement of inventory from
one location to the other, effective management of the suppliers of the company, incorporating
process such as lean and six sigma in the operations of the company which helps in increasing
efficiency of the company, increase in the overall efficiency of the company by elimination of
wastes and reduction in resource wastage, increases the transparency in the record- keeping
processes of the company and also helps in preparing the audit of the company, helps in
increasing the total output of the company.
The other information system which can be implemented in the company in order to address the
weaknesses of the company and to achieve the aims and objectives of the company is
Management Information System. According to EwaZiemba and IwonaOblak (2015) the
Management Information System provides necessary information to the managers of an
organization regarding the performance of their organization in the market which helps them to
take important decisions regarding the companies. A Management Information System gather,
analyses and provides information to the top management of an organization regarding various
10

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
areas of the organization such as sales and marketing, human resource management, control of
inventory, profits, expenses, taxes, debts, cash balances, accounts payable, accounts receivable
and document flows.
As stated by Rezvani, Dong and Khosravi (2017) Management Information System helps in
providing the top management of an organization with detailed data and information which are
way beyond standard reporting procedures being followed in the company and those detailed
information and data helps the top management of an organization to take effective decisions
which will help in increasing the effectiveness of the organization.
The benefits of a Management Information System to an organization are as follows:
 The application of Management Information System helps in achieving a higher level of
efficiency for an organization as it provides the top management of an organization,
information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the company.
 Management Information System helps in improving the quality of decision made by an
organization as it provides better information to the organization which helps in reducing
un-certainty regarding a decision.
 Management Information System helps in improving communication between various
levels and departments of an organization as sharing of information takes place at all
levels which helps in avoiding chances of mis-communication.
 Management Information System helps in exploring different scenarios for different
alternatives as the top management remains in a position of analysing the consequences
of different situations based on the information available.
 Management Information System helps in increasing the productivity of the employees as
they remain equipped with better quality of information which improves their work
efficiency and productivity.
 Management Information System helps in strengthening the competitive advantage of an
organization as availability of better information helps in taking better informed decisions
which helps in strengthening the competitive advantage of an organization.
 Management Information System helps in providing more detailed information about the
customers which helps an organization to design their products, services or different
11

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
kinds of strategy which satisfies the requirements of the customers and helps in
increasing the profitability of the company.
Materials requirements planning (MRP) and Manufacturing Resource planning (MRPII) are
actually the predecessors of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) which is a business
information integration system. As stated by Marnewick (2016) the development of the above
mentioned manufacturing co-ordination and integration tools such as MRP and MRPII paved the
way for the development of the current day ERP system. Both MRP and MRPII were developed
from commercial database management process and are still now being widely used in
independent way or in modular way of more comprehensive ERP systems.
According to Paulo Eduardo Mondin and Cristina Dai Prá Martens (2016) EDI or Electronic
Data Interchange is defined as the electronic interchange of business information by utilizing a
standardized format and the process allows one company to send information to another
company electronically rather than using paper and the entities which conduct business in an
electronical format are termed as trading partners.
5a.The technology platform which will be used in the new system is computing platform which
will help in enabling interactions between the platform users and the third part developers and
this platform will own the user. The main reason for the use of computing platform is that it will
help in developing strong bi-directional effects once the platform reaches critical masses.
b. The financial attributes which will be present in the ER diagram are common equity, capital
requirements and earnings per share and capitalization ratios.
The non-financial attributes which will be present in the ER diagram are market requirement,
procurement cost, transportation cost and operating cost.
c. According to Theorin et al. (2017) the new proposed system of the company will consist of
four views among which the first view will contain data about procurement, scheduling and Net
Requirements calculation, the second view will contain data regarding valuable fields which will
be mostly used for planning functions, the third view will contain data about various indicators
which can be used to optimize various processes in some modules, whereas the fourth view will
12

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
contain information about the various purchasing group of the company and their frequency of
purchase along with inventory level.
d. Apart from the advantages which the new information system in the form of management
information system and manufacturing information system offers to the company, there are
various threats which are associated with the implementation of new information system in the
company in the form of security threats and data breaches as security threats and data breaches in
the information system of a company leads to disruption of the private data of the company and
its consumers which creates various types of issues and risks for the company. Therefore the
company needs to take appropriate steps in order to reduce the chances of security risks and data
breaches such as by providing extra security to sensitive information of the company, reducing
the transfer of data, restricting the volume of download in the system, shredding files and folders
before disposing a storage device, banning the use of unencrypted device in the system, securing
the process of data transfer, providing a strong password to the system, changing password
within short time intervals, initiating automate security, monitoring the leakage of data,
providing security training to all the employees of the company, preventing incursion by
preventing access to sensitive areas of the system, adopting cyber security measures and having a
breach response plan in place.
Conclusion
From the above report it is clear and evident that the new proposed information system at Ford
will help in increasing the efficiency of the business operations of the company which will help
the company to sustain the competition in the market and also to gain a competitive advantage in
the global automobile market. From the above report it is also clear and evident that the current
information system which is being utilized by Ford, though has been productive in nature but it
lacks certain advanced features which would help the company in gaining more efficiency in the
business operations of the company. The proposed new information system of the company will
help in reducing the excessive costs and resources of the company which will contribute towards
the profitability of the company. The proposed new information system of the company is also
capable of achieving the various business objectives of the company which will help the
13

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
company to increase its market share in the automobile industry and it is also effective in
addressing the various weaknesses of the current information system of the company.
14

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
References
Aburub, F. (2015). Impact of ERP systems usage on organizational agility. Information
Technology & People, 28(3), 570–588. Available: doi:10.1108/ITP-06-2014-0124 [Accessed on
20/09/2018]
Christ, M., Mintchik, N., Chen, L., and Bierstaker, J. (2015). Outsourcing the Information
System: Determinants, Risks, and Implications for Management Control Systems. Journal of
Management Accounting Research, 27(2), 77–120. Available
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1764140953/ [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Eker, M. and Eker, S. (2018). The Impact of Interaction Between Enterprise Resource Planning
System and Management Control System on Firm Performance in The Turkish Manufacturing
Sector. Business and Economics Research Journal, 9(1), 195–212. Available:
doi:10.20409/berj.2018.100 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
EwaZiemba and IwonaOblak. (2015). Change management in information systems projects for
public organizations. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, 10, 047–062. Available
https://doaj.org/article/7ef47745d6bc4e1195761f64253edf6e [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
FarajollahRahnavard and NahidBozorgkhou. (2014). Key factors in the successful
implementation of enterprise resource planning system. Management Science Letters, 4(4), 747–
752. Available doi:10.5267/j.msl.2014.2.013 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Jeong, H., Kang, C. and Kim, B. (2018). Requirements development process for manufacturing
information systems based on quality function deployment. International Journal of Computer
Integrated Manufacturing, 31(2), 164–174. Available doi:10.1080/0951192X.2017.1407448
[Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Karla Torres, and Paola Lamenta. (2015). KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND
INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN ORGANIZATIONS. RevistaNegotium, (32), 3–20. Available
https://doaj.org/article/00a176c7aab24e9c941e721efee52130 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
15

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Marnewick, C. (2016). Benefits of information system projects: The tale of two
countries. International Journal of Project Management, 34(4), 748–760. Available
doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.03.016 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Mazareanu, V. (2013).CONSIDERATIONS ON RISK IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION. Amfiteatru Economic, 15(33), 128–139.
Available http://search.proquest.com/docview/1461375967/ [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Misra, S., Rana, R., Verma, R., Kumar, V. and Kumar, U. (2017). Modelling change
management and risk management in a financial organization due to information system
adoption. Transnational Corporations Review, 9(4), 248–268. Available
doi:10.1080/19186444.2017.1401204 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Paulo Eduardo Mondin and Cristina Dai Prá Martens. (2016). PROJECT MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEM: STUDY IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES OF
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION. Iberoamerican Journal of Project Management, 7(2), 1–31.
Available https://doaj.org/article/f66af51c152f450fb96ef37190a8c9ad [Accessed on
20/09/2018]
Rezvani, A., Dong, L. and Khosravi, P. (2017). Promoting the continuing usage of strategic
information systems: The role of supervisory leadership in the successful implementation of
enterprise systems. International Journal of Information Management, 37(5), 417–430.
Available doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2017.04.008 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Theorin, A., Bengtsson, K., Provost, J., Lieder, M., Johnsson, C., Lundholm, T. and Lennartson,
B. (2017). An event-driven manufacturing information system architecture for Industry
4.0. International Journal of Production Research, 55(5), 1297–1311. Available
doi:10.1080/00207543.2016.1201604 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
Wang, Y., Greasley, A. and Albores, P. (2016). Do manufacturing firms need informality in ERP
post-implementation? A study of Chinese manufacturing sites. Journal of Manufacturing
Technology Management, 27(1), 100–123. Available doi: 10.1108/JMTM-09-2015-
0077Accessed on 20/09/2018 [Accessed on 20/09/2018]
16

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
17