Eaton Truck Components Operation Accelerates Manufacturing Collaboration With eMatrix
18 July 2000
Eaton Truck Components Operation --TCO-- Accelerates Manufacturing Collaboration With eMatrix
CHELMSFORD, Mass. - MatrixOne, Inc. , a leading provider of Internet business collaboration solutions, today announced the implementation of the Company's eMatrix solution at Eaton Corporation's Truck Components Operations, headquartered in Galesburg, MI. Eaton TCO, a leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of drivetrain systems for medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles, has deployed eMatrix for approximately 400 users at four of the Company engineering and manufacturing sites.The eMatrix solution provides Eaton TCO with the ability to standardize its manufacturing procedures so the integration and collaboration of systems for its multiple sites and many components are derived from a single infrastructure. For example, in moving to the MatrixOne solution, Eaton TCO reconciled disparately structured data from multiple facilities and retired a legacy system. Eaton TCO's unified system approach ensures that collaboration is consistent, coordinated and manageable across its engineering and manufacturing processes.
At Eaton TCO, the eMatrix solution allows the company to manage and coordinate the development of tooling and manufacturing process plans among its multiple sites. Manufacturing plans are represented in the MatrixOne schema as business objects and relationships. These are associated with data and files from other applications (such as process drawings and tooling data) and combined in HTML pages that can be easily accessed by shop-floor users through a Web browser. Data created in the MatrixOne solution is also communicated to an external database system to be processed by a cost accounting system.
The Manufacturing Service Manager, Douglas Wood, reviewed why Eaton TCO chose eMatrix. "We were replacing a non Y2K-compliant system and needed to establish a MES system which interfaced with both our Oracle ERP and Pro-E CAD systems. After reviewing many standard process planning packages, we chose eMatrix because it not only fit the above requirements, it allowed our manufacturing engineers to develop an application to best meet our needs. We now have a QS-9000 compliant control system that manages all of our quality and manufacturing data. In-house enhancements are planned to further increase our productivity and automate many routine engineering tasks. We continue to find the flexibility of the eMatrix system to be a significant advantage in integrating all aspects of our MES environment."
The MatrixOne solution is able to coordinate critical business processes by managing their required data, including specification of a part's manufacturing routing, required tooling, the support of documents and drawings, and the costs to manufacture and assemble the part. The accessibility of this information strengthens Eaton TCO's coordination between divisions, which enhances its productivity.
"When the power of the eMatrix Internet architecture is applied in operations such as Eaton's, it can dramatically improve routing and managing the complex data sets required to execute modern manufacturing plans," said Mark O'Connell, CEO of MatrixOne, Inc. "Our applications, and the unique MatrixOne architecture that enables them, represent a growing range of enterprise business-to-business collaborative solutions that will continue to meet the needs of companies like Eaton TCO as they create their own visions of e-business."
About Eaton
Eaton Truck Components Operations is the leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of drive train systems and components for medium duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicles on the American continents. In concert with its manufacturing and marketing partners, principally Dana Corporation, Eaton provides manual and automatic transmissions, clutches, drive shafts, steer, drive and trailer axles, brakes and chassis control systems, and fleet logistics, communications and management.
Eaton is a global manufacturer of highly engineered products that serve industrial, vehicle, construction, commercial, aerospace and semiconductor markets. Principal products include hydraulic products and fluid connectors, electrical power distribution and control equipment, truck drive train systems, engine components, ion implanters and a wide variety of controls. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the company has 64,000 employees and 195 manufacturing sites in 23 countries around the world. Eaton's sales for 1999 were $8.4 billion.
About MatrixOne, Inc.
MatrixOne, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet business collaboration solutions. The Company's eMatrix suite of products provides an infrastructure for establishing business-to-business collaboration among trusted customers, suppliers and other business partners, while also enabling standards-based access to independent trading communities and applications hosted by industry service providers. This XML-based environment uses the Web to link people, processes and information to enable dramatic improvements in profitability and efficiency throughout the value chain.
MatrixOne has global customers in the high technology, aerospace/defense, automotive, communications, consumer, mechanical, machinery, medical equipment and process industries. These companies are using MatrixOne solutions to enhance their competitive advantage in the burgeoning business-to-business economy.
Headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, MatrixOne maintains offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.