The gigantic Whirlpool corporation was founded in 1911 and is today the largest electrical appliance manufacturer and distributor in the world. The company operates in 17 countries through its own factories and sells its products in over 170 countries, under brand names that include Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Roper, Estate, Bauknecht, Ignis, Polar, Laden, Inglis, Brastemp and Consul. Its European Operations Centre is in Italy and houses the central office of Global Information Systems (G.I.S.) which serves the entire continent. There are 10 operation centres, six of which are in Italy: three in Cassinetta (Varese) and the others in Trento, Siena and Naples, staffed by a total of 6,000 employees.
"Our decision to work with Atos Origin has led to an efficient and effective reorganization of our IT processes that has in turn enabled us to set up a service capable of promptly handling both the corrective and evolutional maintenance of ERP and Legacy systems, sharing service levels with Whirlpool’s business"
Walter Manfredi, Director of Business Application Support of Whirlpool Europe
Business Challenges
For a number of years now, Whirlpool has been concentrating on its core business, using outsourcing as a strategic option, delegating the maintenance and evolution of its applications entirely to Atos Origin. The goals to be reached were to optimize the use of internal resources and to reduce costs by shifting the emphasis from fixed to variable costs.
“We immediately saw the validity of Atos Origin’s approach”–explains Mr. Manfredi. “Our partners were proposing a model that went well beyond the usual, pre-packed solutions, offering us one that was fully in line with our own goals in terms of structure and organization. Atos Origin was therefore chosen due to the great affinity which has seen us and continues to see us work together in all phases of the process, with each new decision discussed, assessed and agreed upon together.”
The collaboration between Whirlpool and Atos Origin began in 1999 and all the objectives set so far have been achieved. Whirlpool has seen a reduction in its overheads of about 40%, increased business unit responsibility in the budgeting of significant evolution projects and the setting up of teams with an average value that ensures faster estimates and lower costs. There has been a marked improvement in the time-to-market, especially as regards greater flexibility and ability to meet changing market needs. The resources chosen by Atos Origin have demonstrated their high technical competence, proving capable of providing quick and effective solutions. Finally, as regards customer satisfaction, the levels of service agreed with the business according to needs guarantee the sharing of all aspects, including risks. Atos Origin experts then give their support in developing and implementing the project. The new process therefore entails full sharing of the decision-making process and technological investment with an information flow that moves through the entire organization and starts from a new technology laboratory, where both decisions and applications are evaluated. Today, only one person at Whirlpool interacts directly with Atos Origin. This is in itself indicative of the bond that has been created between the two companies and the complete trust that Whirlpool has in Atos Origin.
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