Customer Success Story
VOLKSWAGEN
Fast Lane for Volkswagen's Information Superhighway
Producing a wide range of models cost-effectively on an international scale is a logistical challenge the Wolfsburg-based VW Group masters with its global product strategy. The implementation of the strategy of the world's third-largest producer of passenger cars and utility vehicles depends on an efficient, globally uniform communications infrastructure. With the help of BT Infonet, its chosen communication services provider, VW has introduced the first-ever "highway code" for its network, designed to give mission-critical traffic the right of way at all times.
Whether it's the New Beetle, the Golf, the A6, the Octavia or the Bentley - VW is travelling full-speed ahead on the road to success by meeting its customers' demand for cars that are both original and that offer value for the money. The group's global strategy relies on strong synergies in product development. Part of the realisation of the strategy is the organisation of the VW Group's plants around the world which manufacture the standardised modules, such as engines, gearboxes, chassis, steering systems and driveshafts from which multiple vehicle types can be built.
"We can only ensure efficient development and production at VW if all individual units cooperate closely on a global, integrated basis," says Klaus Schulz, head of Communication Systems at Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg. The Volkswagen communications network enables this cooperation, currently linking around 30,000 users.
In mid-1996, VW made the decision to supplement its existing in-house communication network with solutions provided by a communication services provider. Focusing on its core business had become a fundamental part of Volkswagen's strategy. "Our core competence is developing and producing automobiles, not setting up highly complex networks," Schulz emphasises. The project had become finding a partner who could meet the challenge.
To guarantee systems which fully supported VW's need for absolutely reliable operations, VW needed a provider of high-performance cost-effective communication networks built on state-of-the-art technology. After a thorough international selection process, VW chose BT Infonet. According to Schulz, "global presence" and "the ability to provide reliable services to all locations worldwide where Volkswagen vehicles are developed and produced" are VW's key requirements. And Schulz' list goes on, "We need global, door-to-door communication services, including consulting, planning, implementation and 24-hour operation."
VW's current enterprise IT architecture combines a high-performance network with centralised databases and applications hosted in Wolfsburg. Such architectures can cause problems using unsophisticated wide-area-network technologies. For example, when a VW employee has to retrieve large design files from Wolfsburg they need to do it quickly, but without interfering with interactive, delay-sensitive and relatively low-volume transactions such as ordering.
BT Infonet had the solution. Class of service (CoS) is offered within its Global Frame Relay (GFR) service, giving all network applications a priority ranking with cost-effective global availability. Mission-critical applications traffic can be globally prioritised on the network, ensuring they are executed without delay when the network is busy.
At the beginning of 1998, Volkswagen commissioned BT Infonet to set up a core network for some of its key production locations. During this pilot phase, VW tested concurrent operation of its actual mission-critical interactive processes and data-intensive applications. "BT Infonet had to demonstrate how it handled worst-case scenarios in real-time operation," Schulz says. "BT Infonet met all our demands."
"BT Infonet passed all the tests and the pilot phase was completed earlier than expected," concludes Horst Müller, Volkswagen AG's Long-Distance Network Manager. "They set up the Singapore-Wolfsburg connection in only 16 days. It was a real breakthrough as we already knew from experience that some applications would not run together on other service providers' networks. Now we can use one network for all traffic and realise our planned cost savings."
During the decision-making process, the VW team also recognised that "in terms of global communications, only a network operated by a single-source provider on a global scale can meet our demand for zero-defect operations." Müller also noted, "With a homogeneous global network, plus services and employees in over 60 countries, BT Infonet has the right profile for the job." Also that "the excellent advice given by the project team and the professional support during the pilot phase" were decisive in the decision to enter into a long-term partnership with BT Infonet.
Since concluding the pilot phase, a number of domestic and international VW locations have been added to the network. In the future, all VW global importers will be integrated into the network. The existing internationally decentralised spare parts management systems will be replaced with a centralised solution built on the new network.
Establishing a global network that links all VW locations and functions enables the group to execute product development projects globally and accelerate new model development. An example is worldwide access to engine test beds. "Our aim is to ensure continuous execution of development projects around-the-clock, coordinating all our international development resources via the network," says Schulz, describing the challenge.
"The concept of teams cooperating on a global basis, of transparent, centralised control of spare parts management, and of integrating our business partners, such as engineering firms and suppliers, is working in VW today. And it saves a lot of time and money," says Schulz, summing up VW's experiences to date with BT Infonet.