Swindon Pressings’ engineering, manufacturing and business IT separation projects looking good

Swindon Pressings, the Tier One automotive supplier owned by BMW and undergoing a substantial IT systems disaggregation project across engineering, manufacturing and business management (from its former MG Rover connections) says it’s choice of doing so with engineering systems and IT services provider CenitDesktop is paying off. Mike Godwin, Swindon’s CAX systems manager says implementation so far has been speedy, with problems being dealt with quickly by the CenitDesktop and Swindon Pressings team it established. He adds that the firm has helped by providing everything from alternative strategies and best practice, to valuable insights into network management options and support, specifically for its Catia CAD/CAM systems. Swindon has also been able to use CenitDesktop to turn resources on and off as needs have changed during the IT projects, which involve transforming from a tight but complex infrastructure of applications, some good, some legacy, using around 160 computer systems, with servers distributed around Swindon, Solihull, Longbridge and Gaydon, as well as Germany. “Basically they filled a gap of resources and knowledge,” says Godwin. “We will soon have achieved a fully integrated IT set up that is best in class, future proof and most satisfyingly of all, ours.” Projects that CenitDesktop has been working on include: the disaggregration project itself, involving a new IFS ERP system, CAD/CAM, data migration, servers and infrastructure; ‘at-elbow’ support for Catia and its infrastructure; installing a Windows 2000 PC system across the company; and implementing IBM’s Tivoli network management software. Godwin says: “Since we did not know in advance what our workload would be, using CenitDesktop makes great sense... They are a commercial organisation; they are aware of current trends and the latest products and techniques available.” For example, it was CenitDesktop that suggested the introduction of Tivoli for network management and introduced Swindon Pressings to the best techniques on proceeding with the implementation. Dave Watson, who heads the team of CenitDesktop staff working at Swindon Pressings says: “The projects … were a text book example of the type of company that we like to deal with and to whom we can offer the most help. The IT landscape at Swindon Pressings combined a range of good, bad and ugly solutions that offered massive scope for improvement. “The company was obliged to disaggregate from BMW, but at the same time saw the opportunity to provide itself with the best in each class of IT solutions that when combined would produce a truly elegant system.” “The complete scope of the job could not be pre-defined since at the start no-one knew what would be uncovered, nor how these discoveries would have to be dealt with. And all the time there was a need to keep current work underway.”