Oracle PLM helps GDM Electronics expand into Eastern Europe

Belgian PCB maker chooses Oracle solution over SAP and Agile

Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider GDM Electronics has gone live on Oracle E-Business Suite to help support the continued growth of its business into Eastern Europe and beyond. The implementation has 50 users working with Oracle Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and also a full range of Oracle applications, from supply chain management and procurement to back-office financial systems.

Since its foundation in 1997, GDM Electronics, a small- to medium-sized business specialising in the supply of printed circuit boards and the production of electronic goods on behalf of third parties, has experienced spectacular growth year on year. Headquartered in Belgium, with production facilities in Romania and Slovakia, GDM Electronics realised it needed to automate its internal processes in order to continue and further extend its growth.

By implementing Oracle enterprise resource planning software, we aim to organise, integrate and streamline our activities, leading to a more efficient and productive business, said Kris Laermans, chief executive officer, GDM Electronics. 

The Oracle Product Lifecycle Management solution was selected by GDM against strong competition from other PLM vendors, including SAP and Agile. The company wanted a solution that could provide automation of the entire product lifecycle, from product development to accounting, order intake and manufacturing.

Oracle Product Lifecycle Management met our requirements exactly, Mr Laermans said. Oracle's ability to integrate all business processes in a single solution and the option to outsource services during implementation or at a later stage were further crucial factors that influenced our decision. We also liked the flexible architecture, the product functionality and the significantly lower overall cost.

The majority of GDMs customers are based in Western Europe. With the implementation of Oracle E-Business Suite, the company will be able to focus increasingly on the expanding Eastern European market. Our long-term strategy is to service our customers worldwide, including those in Asia and the United States, Mr Laermans said. We believe the Oracle ERP and PLM implementation will help support this future expansion and our aggressive growth strategy.

Mr Laermans said that GDM had high expectations for the business benefits of the Oracle implementation. These included the integration of all GDM sites on a single system, accelerated new product development, a major reduction in time to market for new product introductions, a reduction in consolidated fixed costs by up to 40%, increased inventory visibility and reduced inventory levels. Based on our initial experience since we went live last December, I am pleased to say that we appear to be on target to realise our ambitions for this project, he said. I firmly believe we are now poised for exponential growth.

Steve Dunwell, Senior Business Development Director for Product Lifecycle Management at Oracle Europe, Middle East & Africa, said: The Oracle Product Lifecycle Management solution will help GDM Electronics to manage all product-related activities collaboratively, from concept to retirement, as well as centralise product and component information into a single catalogue. These capabilities will be particularly important to the company as it looks to expand in 2006 and beyond.

Oracle Consulting successfully implemented the Oracle applications, with help from Oracle Solution Services India (SSI).