When Ford Credit began actively using Teradata to better market and structure the business, large amounts of data began feeding Ford's decision support and branch profitability analysis system. For the first time, vital information became available in two to three days, rather than the typical 10 days.

Yet one of Teradata's most impressive Ford gains was in inventory optimization for Parts, Service and Logistics. Ford required visibility, monitoring and proactive alerting across the entire supply and distribution chain. The scope of the parts included 35 model years of vehicles, 2,000 parts suppliers, 220,000 to 250,000 possible part numbers and almost 7,000 dealers.

When Teradata's Supply Chain Intelligence solution, known by Ford as Inventory Monitoring Alert System (IMAS), went into full production in January 2001, positive results emerged within the first year:

• Back orders dropped 20%
• Safety stock inventory levels were reduced 20%
• Cycle time decreased 30%

Today Ford has migrated from a 30-day data refresh cycle to a one-day cycle. Teradata helped Ford lower costs and improve efficiency, and now Ford has extended IMAS into its packaging and coating (parts painting) centers.