Background
PDMS worked with Stanley Black and Decker’s Technical Services team to deliver a single modern web-based system for maintaining the engineering Bill of Material (BOM) for products from launch, through revisions, to ‘end of life’.
The first phase of the project streamlined global processes, removed silos, and delivered automation. This gave the Technical Services team control of warehouse inventory and supply chain, reducing wastage and improving time to market.
Current interfacing issues
Website issues
The new BOM system developed by PDMS replaced two existing applications which infrequently provided information to two websites that are used by Service and Repair Agents for technical information and sourcing parts. Stanley Black & Decker wanted to retain the existing websites, therefore an interface was required for the new BOM system and the two existing websites.
Business system issues
The new BOM system developed by PDMS replaced two existing applications which were used to extract data and supply Stanley Black & Decker’s SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for the pricing and accounting of inventory. The existing process was manual, time consuming and error prone, so Stanley Black & Decker looked to PDMS to automate the entire process for passing part inventory data and pricing between the two systems.
Improved accuracy and performance
The second phase of the project developed an interfacing solution which sends product data in JSON structures to API endpoints at Microsoft middleware.
This meant improved accuracy of the data displayed on the two existing websites by supplying data at a regular and high frequency, to reflect the very latest product and part changes.
It also improved the performance to a global audience of website users by including image hosting which enabled product images, part images and exploded diagrams to be served directly from the PDMS cloud infrastructure to end users.
A subsystem was developed within the new BOM system to handle job scheduling, error reporting and handling. The Technical Services team are now in full control of the data published via the websites.
Stanley Black and Decker were involved in the project, which was managed to completion by PDMS, using an Agile Project Methodology.
SAP (ERP) interfacing solution
PDMS developed the API endpoints and integration logic to trigger:
- The automatic creation and depletion of part inventory in SAP, so the SAP system and associated financial processes are all now in sync.
- The automatic update of part and warehouse status to enable associated departments such as supply chain have the latest information to inform decisions.
- The update of Inventory Pricing in the BOM system, to allow Technical Services Teams to develop products in the most cost-effective and profitable way.
This entire project has bridged many gaps between departments and regions globally, bringing with it a transformation of the Technical Services capability.
