Whirlpool selects Lighthammer for information platform

Exton, PA - Lighthammer announced November 12 that the Whirlpool appliance company has selected Illuminator as its manufacturing information systems platform to help drive operational excellence through improved quality, reduced costs, and increased operational equipment effectiveness (OEE).

By Control Engineering Staff November 13, 2002

Exton, PA – Lighthammer announced November 12 that the Whirlpool appliance company has selected Illuminator as its manufacturing information systems platform to help drive operational excellence through improved quality, reduced costs, and increased operational equipment effectiveness (OEE). Illuminator will also be used to enable dynamic, real-time information flow between plant people/systems and enterprise systems, including SAP R/3. Under the agreement, Illuminator will be deployed in 24 manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe as part of its worldwide manufacturing IS strategy.

The rollout began with the development of performance management applications in the Evansville North American manufacturing division, and will be followed by additional locations and solutions. These solutions could include functions built around manufacturing digital dashboard, quality management, and SAP integration.

Whirlpool is a leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances. The company manufactures in 13 countries and markets products in more than 170 countries under major brand names such as Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Roper, Estate, Bauknecht, Ignis, Laden, Inglis, Brastemp, and Consul. Whirlpool is also the principal supplier to Sears, Roebuck and Co. of many major home appliances marketed under the Kenmore brand name.

”Our overall IS strategy is to reduce the number of applications that we must develop and maintain throughout our IT landscape. To this end we have selected four leading application suppliers: SAP, Siebel, I2, and Lighthammer, to form the basis of our IS application infrastructure. This strategy provides the platform for operational excellence and corporate productivity improvement,” said Jim Shimp, Whirlpool’s IS director of manufacturing applications. ”We require a solution that will work in all of our plants, regardless of their IS and automation infrastructure choices, that is robust enough to address manufacturing performance applications driving operational excellence, as well as, provide the transactional integration with SAP. Illuminator’s ability to provide both of these functions was a major factor in Whirlpool’s decision to build its manufacturing IS strategy around it.”

Whirlpool went live with Illuminator in the Evansville, IN, facility in August 2002. Whirlpool plans to extend its deployment of Illuminator to the remaining plants in the United States by the end of 2002 and Western Europe in January 2003.

”Whirlpool manages some of the world’s most popular and well-established brands, and Illuminator will enable the company to consolidate its manufacturing applications for better visibility and higher productivity,” said Russell Fadel, president of Lighthammer. ”Illuminator provides Whirlpool with a common solution to help drive operational excellence across disparate plant infrastructures and to enhance the value of its SAP investments by optimizing the timeliness and accuracy of information throughout the manufacturing supply chain. Our singular goal is to deliver software products that provide exceptional value and ROI to our customers, and partnerships with industry leaders such as Whirlpool demonstrate our unique ability to execute on this vision.”

Control Engineering Daily News DeskGary A. Mintchell, senior editor gmintchell@reedbusiness.com