Implementation
Mitsui Babcock first installed the Financials modules, which effectively replaced the key functions of the previous mainframe system. The next stage introduced Project Management functionality, covering most of new-build requirements. The third stage
was the replacement of a Unix based system for materials, consumables, plant and non-project expenditure’. Focus here was the company’s logistics support centre based in Tipton in the West Midlands. Mitsui Babcock is more complex than most implementations in that it has a much broader spread of activities. At any one time the group can be operating from a large number of sites, each of which will have personnel raising purchase orders and
recording goods received planning etc, and each site may also have particular client invoicing requirements. There is also a degree of transience, depending on the nature of the work. Some projects run over years while others may be completed within a few weeks. As well as new-build programmes, Mitsui Babcock provides contract management services and a wide
range of support operations, covering test, refurbishment and upgrades of control and instrumentation. Most power stations and petro-chemical plants in the UK have a Mitsui Babcock presence, and potentially, many of those will be users of the IFS
system. At each site there may be anything from one PC to 50 or 100 PCs used for various activities. Mostly these are configured with a local server and networking to support electronic mail and planning/engineering systems as well as the IFS business
management applications. The Mitsui Babcock group has three main office locations: Crawley corporate head office and marketing and administration; Renfrew is UK Head office and manufacturing site and Tipton, which is the heart of the procurement and logistics for the UK. This
site has a warehouse and provides a distribution service supplying anything from toilet rolls to welding rods and any other consumable & materials required by the site project teams. Overall most of Mitsui Babcock’s requirement tends to be project orientated. Cash flow to an organisation like this is very important. It is therefore critically important to know the status of every project, at any point in time. One of the group’s biggest cost-out elements in the UK is man-hours, hence the significance for capturing this information, to feed it back into the project, as well as staff payment. For a new-build construction project, roughly 70 per cent of the
cost is in bought out components and material, such as steel plate and pipes, pumps, fans and instrumentation and control. Logistics support from Tipton involves a lot of procurement, shipping and warehouse inventory activities. So in this area the business is more akin to repetitive manufacturer, in that there will be inventory, minimum stock levels and the need for an
MRP (materials requirement planning) system to drive material replenishment. Benefits
Effectively IFS provides the backbone system, into which and from which all other systems are integrated. For example one area of the group’s business not covered by an IFS module is in the management of plant hire. This can cover anything from
porta-cabins to cranes and other heavy equipment, much of which is subject to safety certification. These assets are managed by a proprietary plant hire system, which has been integrated into IFS. As well as the backbone, the IFS system has provided the basis for a corporate information repository. To support this the Mitsui Babcock IT department has produced various non standard reports, as well as the integration of a number of developments
that are not within the IFS immediate foreseeable functionality. Immediate payback from the implementation came from a number of areas. Firstly although the previous mainframe system offered good functionality, it had become very expensive to support. Other benefits relate more from the improved cash flow as a
result of faster reporting. Overall, Richard Waring believes that the ‘cautious and pragmatic’ approach has resulted in a much better implementation. Richard Waring stresses the need for in-house expertise. “IFS has excellent reporting, enquiry and screen based facilities, however non IFS systems cannot interrogate IFS data directly, you have to know what you are doing, but having learned how, it is
entirely manageable.”
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