JTEKT delivers quotes 25% faster using Oracle Cloud EPM

The JTEKT Group is affiliated with the Toyota Group. In Brazil, the company is responsible for the production of steering systems (manual, hydraulic, and electrical) and for the distribution of bearings. JTEKT has more than 130 units on five continents, two of them in Brazil, and approximately 600 employees.

One of the company’s main challenges was to work with increasingly lean and decentralized teams, who were using manual processes. The company had used Excel spreadsheets to prepare and consolidate budgets. This brought a high risk of errors, and sometimes financial planning and other business areas required some rework.

But in an economic landscape as unstable as the Brazilian one, assertiveness in planning is essential for good decision-making. The amount of time it took JTEKT to prepare the budget often led to a delay in decision-making, which sometimes impacted the company’s competitiveness. In a crowded market, customers demand increasingly faster responses, and if they don't get them, they will go to the competition.

Given this scenario, JTEKT was faced with the challenge of finding tools to optimize the time and productivity of its employees.

In search of a solution that would meet business expectations, JTEKT surveyed different tools in the market. The company started a tendering process with three market players to evaluate which solution would have the most synergy with its processes and culture. The platform users went through several rounds of presentations and benchmarking.

In the end, JTEKT concluded the solution that most adequately met its needs was Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM).

“The main reason [for choosing Oracle Cloud EPM] was the fact that the tool matches our business expectations," says Camilo Prado, IT operations supervisor for Central and South America at JETKT. In addition, the partnership with Oracle Consulting was crucial for the company’s process redesign. “To date, two years after implementation, the group still receives suggestions for improvement from the Oracle Consulting team,” Prado says. “Not to mention that Oracle is also a partner vendor in other units of the JTEKT Group, for instance, in North America, which facilitates integration.”

During implementation, Prado says, it was necessary to redesign processes and change the mentality of some of the internal teams. Now, he points out, Oracle Cloud EPM is being used in every key area, including finance, business, planning, human resources, and information technology.

With the number of features offered by Oracle Cloud EPM, JTEKT was able to reduce budgeting time by 25%, while improving scenario forecast and assertiveness. Another benefit was the reduction in project delivery time—mainly for automakers, but also for companies operating in the aftermarket. This was possible because the platform reduced the time it takes to analyze the cost of the parts. “We have not yet been able to quantify the reduction in days or weeks, but an improvement in meeting the deadlines has already been noticed,” says Prado.