Who You Gonna Call? Some Consultants Who Can Help

Automotive Manufacturing & Production, May, 2001 by Gary S. Vasilash, Christopher A. Sawyer

With the rapid downsizing of companies and the increased complexities associated with transforming business models due to factors ranging From the Internet to global requirements, there is more work to do and fewer people to do it. So what are you going to do to handle this? You might try consultants. Here's a look at some of them and how they do what they do.

Getting It All Done: Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

Michael Wujciak is a vice president and Americas Automotive Leader at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y). As he talks, one thing is very clear. These people aren't the kind of consultants who create a notebook (or notebooks) and then drop it on an executive's desk (invoice to follow). "One differentiator is that we always link the business to technology," he explains, adding that implementation is often part of the equation.

That is, yes, there is a strategic portion to what they do for OEMs and suppliers (Tiers 1 and 2, mainly). They look at various aspects of strategy for companies, from developing new markets to determining how assets should be handled. "But when we provide strategy as a deliverable," he says, "it is tied to how it is implemented."

A very telling observation that he makes is that because they are so attuned to performing implementation for clients, they are acutely aware of the importance of creating an implementable and a workable solution to a customer's needs. Having to practice what is preached keeps one honest.

There are a variety of functions that the 300-plus people involved in the practice perform. In addition to people who are experts in business functions and organizational design, there are people who have operational expertise, all the way down to plant-floor control systems. There is a large contingent of know-how related to enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, but Wujciak hastens to point out, "We firmly believe that the first thing we must do is to solve a business problem; it's not that everything we do is related to an IT solution, so let's find a problem." Information technology (IT) is important. It isn't everything.

When they do perform an implementation, they use what he describes as a "rational, unified process": they utilize an iterative approach rather than the classic waterfall approach. In the CGE&Y method, they get a prototype up and running quickly so that they can demonstrate results; they don't wait until the whole thing is ready to flow.

This whole notion of speed--of getting things going expeditiously--is perhaps captured best in the company's Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) and Advanced Development Centers (ADC). This is proprietary know-how--and real estate--in which things can get done... fast. According to Wujciak, the slogan that they use in association with the ADC is: "What it normally takes six months to do can get done in three days."

He describes an actual setup. There is a cadre of CGE&Y experts who have done prework on a project. Then there is a group of 75 executives from a major company. These folks work 12-hour days. Three of them. At the end, they have an operational strategy and an implementation plan. They know what they need to do and how it needs to get done. And it is worth repeating: All of this is done in three days. Sure, it is a big commitment of resources for a company to bring together a far-flung executive staff in one place at one time. But it is something that can provide a framework for results pronto.

Wujciak acknowledges, "In this Internet economy we're in, a company can ill-afford to wait six months." At least it can ill-afford to wait that long if it can be done in three days.

Speaking of "e," Wujciak remarks, "One of our big clients is Covisint. We're going to help make that a big success." He acknowledges that other firms are also working with it; he claims that CGE&Y has more consulting people working on Covisint than any other. His point seems to have less to do with bragging than it does with a point that he thinks is very important to the auto industry, which is build-to-order. He says that automotive needs to work hard at linking order management with physical material and information flow.

In effect, what he is talking about is a collaborative environment wherein customers, manufacturers and suppliers are synchronized. Covisint is certainly one manifestation of this. Which may go a long way in explaining why CGE&Y is so involved with that organization: supply chain, IT, B2B, B2C, CRM, ERP, technology--these are many of the things that they're all about.

The Cross-Functional View: Accenture

By now you probably know that Accenture is the company formerly known as Andersen Consulting. John Cunningham, a partner with the firm who specializes in the automotive sphere, explains that given the company's size--it is a $10-billion organization with 70,000 people in 46 countries ("Approximately 50% of our revenues are generated outside of North America," he notes)--it tends to work with OEMs and larger suppliers. "This is partly because we work on strategic programs," he explains, adding, "And the bigger Tier Ones gravitate to us because we are a global firm." (Of course, Accenture works with a broad range of industries; it shouldn't be thought that all of those people and all of the revenue are associated with the auto industry alone.)