Getting the Competitive Advantage
PING, Inc. is a highly competitive and profitable manufacturer of custom-fitted and -built golf equipment. Despite its 46-year record of success, this Phoenix-based family-owned corporation has never lost its commitment to providing superior customer service, a value highlighted by its large and loyal customer base. The organization is marked by innovative thinking and leadingedge application of tools and technology; yet it provides a supportive environment where employees routinely work for decades. In the highly competitive market for golf equipment, PING stands out as a tremendously successful provider of sophisticated, well-engineered and -designed products and an enterprise with a long history of responding to market challenges with innovation and determination.
Supporting PING's operations is an enterprise data warehouse (EDW) based on Teradata system technology; the EDW serves as the single repository for transactional production data and decision support. The Teradata solution provides a form of active data warehousing for PING, one of the first implementations of its kind.
One of the company's competitive advantages is custom fitting of equipment. PING builds custom clubs from components, and stresses timely delivery to customers – within 48 hours from receipt of the customer's order. Providing superior service in the highly technological golf equipment industry is a differentiator for PING. The company's leaders view the Teradata system solution as critical to providing superior service.
Need for speed
Not so long ago, PING spent six to eight weeks building and delivering a customized set of golf clubs. It was a way to create mystique around the products by making them difficult to obtain, notes Crossland. But that system doesn't fly in today's rapid-fire economy, so PING came up with a 48-hour initiative.
PING credits Teradata for its ability to rapidly customize and ship clubs. Using the Teradata platform, PING created a real-time production scheduling engine that guides the order and manufacturing process from start to finish. And because of Teradata's reliability, PING was able to transform its production and delivery timeline in just a few months.
PING's club components all have individual weights and specifications, so the number of combinations is limitless. During the first six months of 2004, the company shipped more than 50,000 configurations of PING irons-and that's not even 5% of the overall volume.
In fact, PING hopes to make its production system one notch better. It's now considering moving to a 24-hour turnaround with confidence. The Teradata system can support such a move, but challenges remain in terms of human resources and production management. Of course, quality is crucial to PING. Its JAS putter, for example, undergoes a complex milling process that involves more than 40 tool changes. PING won't move to a faster turnaround until it can find a way to streamline its manufacturing process without jeopardizing quality
Expanding the game
It may be surprising to learn that a company as innovative as PING has yet to use a Web-automated order process. There's been less demand for automation in the golf retail business, where small independent shops dominate, than in other retail areas. Still, the company recognizes the value of Web-based services, so it's using Teradata to support a range of Internet activities. A portion of the company's Web site (www.pinggolf.com) is now devoted to the "PING Community," a place where golfers can register their clubs and receive information on new products. All the data feeds into the Teradata system, where it can be analyzed.
In addition to expanding its Web presence, PING is working to integrate its European and Asian operations into the Teradata system. The goal is for distributors in Germany, Sweden, France and Spain to be able to input their orders and for PING's U.K. assembly plant to ship directly to customers.
PING is also extending its Teradata-supported order processing system to a new Web site, www.pinggolf.biz. The site is a customer service portal enabling pro shops and golf retail stores to check the status of orders. Eventually, PING will add online ordering and payment capabilities. In addition to expanding its Web presence, PING is working to integrate its European and Asian operations into the Teradata system. The goal is for distributors in Germany, Sweden, France and Spain to be able to input their orders and for PING's U.K. assembly plant to ship directly to customers.
