Countdown to survival [manufacturing IT]

After being acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in July 2001, the Somerset-based structural castings manufacturer, Doncasters Chard, had only six months to install a completely new manufacturing software system and the IT infrastructure to go with it, in addition to putting in the necessary infrastructure and business processes and recruiting for the newly-created specialist functions. Doncasters implemented a 22-seat software system running on a Windows 2000 server with an SQL database, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office 2000 throughout. Using a combination of the new system and some lean manufacturing practices, the company saw lead times fall from an average of eight weeks to just four and as a result of OTD improvements, Doncasters received an award from Rolls Royce as its top supplier for full and on-time delivery.