Carlex are visionary people dedicated to exceptional quality

The Carlex philosophy is simple: They are visionary people dedicated to exceptional quality, focused service, excellent response time and environmental consciousness.

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Carlex took over the Luxembourg division, and with this take over the formerly used custom made maintenance asset management system needed to be replaced. The preference was to use a default solution that offered the possibility for configurations: IBM Maximo.

PROJECT

After a careful selection process, Carlex chose the IBM Maximo premium partner MACS to implement IBM Maximo Asset Management for the Luxembourg location.

The implementation of IBM Maximo Asset Management was completed three months earlier than projected including two interfaces with the production and financial system.

More than 225 users are currently using IBM Maximo for maintenance and procurement, while the implementation of some new modules, such as Mobile Anywhere, are scheduled.

MACS CHALLENGE

  • Understand Carlex needs and translate that into IBM Maximo.
  • Be able to provide consultancy, project management and implementation support for different Carlex locations worldwide.
  • Implement IBM Maximo Asset Management within 5 months.
  • Provide quick and hands-on solutions for any upcoming implementation issues.

CLEAR VIEW WITH IBM MAXIMO

Can you imagine that a windshield would be a luxury option when you buy a new car? Approximately 120 years after the first car came out at the end of the 19th century, car drivers could buy windshields as an extra paid option for their protection and to keep a clear view on the road. Things have come a long way from these first windshields made of window glass to the current windshields that must comply with safety regulations. Carlex Glass, a subsidiary of the Central Glass Ltd, is well aware of all the safety, quality and environmental requirements that are involved with manufacturing windshields. A Carlex IT Business Analyst, with 18 years at the Luxembourg location in Grevenmacher, was responsible, together with the maintenance group, for the selection and implementation of IBM Maximo.

CARLEX’S MAINTENANCE

Carlex’s location in Luxembourg is the one of the main automotive manufacturers in Europe for clients such as BMW, VW, Audi among others. It is from this location that Carlex supplies the European automotive industry with 1.2 million windshields a year. Until recently Carlex Luxembourg worked with a custom made maintenance asset management system. Becoming part of a larger worldwide company, the need arose to move to another maintenance management system that could also be used at more locations. “We manage our maintenance with the system, but also spare parts and non-direct material such as computers. It is for us also quite essential to have a system that seamlessly interfaces with our production and finance system.”

 

AN ANSWER TO CARLEX’S REQUIREMENTS ON DIFFERENT LEVELS

IBM Maximo was one of the systems Carlex looked at. A Carlex IT Business Analyst explains why IBM Maximo was chosen by Carlex as their preferred maintenance system. “We evaluated different well known maintenance management systems. Based upon presentations and experiences with IBM Maximo in the past, we knew that IBM Maximo came close to how we schedule and organise our maintenance. Next to that, it gave us the possibility to configure it to our user needs and environment, if necessary.” The range of possibilities IBM Maximo offers, also played an important role in the selection.

The purchasing solution was pretty close to our previous environment that worked well for us. But also modules as scheduling and the mobile solution got our interest”. Carlex found in MACS a European IBM Maximo partner that is also able to offer their services in the USA. “As we also have sister plants in the USA that are scheduled to implement a new system, we were looking for a capable maintenance partner that was able to assist us globally. Besides that MACS came with an attractive price.”

 

 

A WELL PREPARED AND QUICK IMPLEMENTATION

“From the start there has been a constructive relationship with MACS. They were able to provide the resources when needed and were able to quickly understand how the system needed to fit in our environment” states a Carlex employee. Contributing to the satisfaction, is also the fact that the implementation went much quicker than estimated. Explaining that the implementation was actually finished three months earlier than the set deadline. “The implementation went smoothly. There was a very good collaboration between MACS’ product consultants and Carlex. Issues we came across were addressed quickly, while we were able to test the solution quickly and deliver clean data.” He adds that the Business Pilot with realistic data as well as to be able to view how their different workflows were working during the implementation process, resulted in a system that fulfilled Carlex’s needs and expectation at the moment the system went live. And: “All lessons learned during the Luxembourg implementation will be used with the implementation at the US sister plants.”

SATISFIED FIRST USERS

“IBM Maximo is as we want it to be and is fully customised to our requirements. Our different systems, Maximo, Production and Finance, as well as the users talking in the same language. This means that fewer mistakes and errors are made”. After the implementation, a project team member, provided all users at Carlex Luxembourg with training.

Further customised documentation is provided and accessible to those users that have questions. “The system is valuable with its quick reporting tools and start centres that push to users exactly what they need. Still the new system is a major change, users need some time to learn to navigate it and get used to it.”

A SYSTEM TO BUILD UP FOR THE FUTURE

Carlex Luxembourg has chosen for a well thought through implementation strategy that gradually introduces the users to the functionality of the new system. Carlex explains which next steps are taken to expand on the possibilities IBM Maximo offers.

At the beginning of 2017 Carlex has scheduled to launch the use of the mobile solution IBM Maximo Anywhere to give users remote access to the maintenance management process. “Next to Anywhere, we are also looking at the Health Safety Environment manager (HSE) next year, to build up the use of Maximo and migrate our current data.” With the use of HSE Carlex is planning to increase health and safety in the maintenance environment.

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