Using ReThink helped Xerox identify a number of steps in its process that could be changed to achieve a purchase order lifecycle time savings of 10-15 percent and an overall cost savings of 5 percent, which translates to $150 million.
Xerox's Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) team began by mapping their existing purchasing process using a simple flow diagramming tool. They then used a paper-based methodology to propose a revised procurement process. After identifying a new 42-step procurement process, the BPR team used intelligent software to validate and refine the proposed purchasing process and quickly evaluate different scenarios, including identifying bottlenecks and areas where automation was essential.
The intelligent software enabled the re-engineering team to represent more refined flows and more detailed data points than the flow diagramming tool had. Using its simulation capabilities, the intelligent system graphically tracked individual items through each step of the proposed process and offered feedback to the re-engineering team and business analysts. The team simulated daily, weekly and annual volume cases to understand constraints and throughput performance.
Thanks to the intelligent system, Xerox was able to identify six steps that could benefit from being either combined or divided, Bowman noted. The system also provided concrete evidence to management that the new procurement process could be successful when implemented.
World Builder is addressing these hazards with educational tools available to use. Using the model developed, the user can "walk through" a virtual building complex containing offices, conference rooms, restrooms, laboratories, utility rooms, lounges and a cafeteria. The sights and sounds of a real office are present during the walk-through to add an additional dimension of reality. As the user moves through the virtual building selecting items that he or she might commonly come in contact with at work, audible health messages are given on the hazards associated with each object selected.
More than 200 auditory health messages are located in the virtual building. The messages provide the worker with a "safe" means of identifying health hazards in the real working environment.
Health messages cover such topics as computers, copiers, air sprays, office plants, new furniture, insulating materials, food in desk drawers, furniture polish, cigarette smoking, carpet adhesives, cleaning solvents, radon gas and much more.
Safety and health personnel can use this virtual world to train employees to recognize pollutants in the workplace and to communicate these findings. Facilities managers can also take advantage of this virtual world for preventive maintenance.
By using RTworks, a real-time expert system development tool from Talarian Corp. (Mountain View, Calif.), Lockheed Martin has reduced testing time on each satellite bus from weeks to hours. RTworks also enabled Lockheed Martin to cut costs by helping engineers identify hardware and software problems before designs reached the production stage.
Traditionally, engineers have built hardware to allow them to test a satellite. To eliminate this time-consuming task, Lockheed Martin simulated components in software, creating virtual displays and control panels. Once data was graphically visible, engineers could make changes very quickly. Using expert system technology, a core group of five software engineers was able to get the test framework up and running within a week.