Ford Motor Company is the world's second largest automotive producer.

In 1993, Ford chose Teradata as a cost-effective alternative to a mainframe upgrade, but the initial cost savings realized from off-loading mainframe applications to Teradata was just the beginning.

Since then, Teradata has become the basis for an evolving analytical solutions environment in both the financial and automotive arms of the company.

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 2-3 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
• 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 were immediate. In 12 months alone:

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

Teradata Supply Chain Intelligence helped Ford lower costs and improve efficiency, and now Ford has extended IMAS into its packaging and coating (parts painting) centers.