MPLS provides flexible infrastructure for Avon Rubber

Key benefits Provided foundation for unified European ERP environment Guaranteed time-critical business and production data applications run ahead of other tasks Reliable and fast network that can be massively scaled Good disaster recovery and security capability Enables European business processes to run with much greater efficiency, with traffic being prioritised as required When £250m Melksham, Wilts-based Avon Rubber decided to consolidate its multiple ERP systems across Europe (the result of acquisitions over the years), it used the opportunity also to streamline and standardise some of its business and production processes. All good text book stuff, but to make it work, it also invested in a modern WAN (wide area network) infrastructure, which, it reckons, is cutting cost and improving scalability and customer service. It chose BT’s MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) WAN – effectively a private, managed IP VPN (virtual private network) running on BT’s infrastructure with Cisco technology – which enables Avon’s key processes to get priority treatment, guaranteeing time-critical business and production data applications run ahead of other tasks. It’s also reliable and fast, with good disaster recovery and security capability, and can be massively scaled. All what you’d look for, and it’s enabling pragmatic, measurable improvements across what has become a diverse, distributed business – with the company making rubber products ranging from automotive hoses and engine mounts, to respirators, hovercraft skirts and dairy farming equipment. Effectively, it’s provided the foundation for the unified European ERP environment – now on Brain Automotive (now part of Infor Global Solutions) ERP system X-Line – across Avon’s 10 manufacturing sites in the UK, France, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal, each of which produces and distributes its own goods across the continent. And it’s ensuring that the firm’s improved and now consistent processes work every time. For example, orders for production of labels for product packaging prior to despatch no longer get delayed in the system by lower priority jobs: as a result, production doesn’t have backlogs, and there’s no longer a knock-on effect on order lead times or inefficiencies on-site and across the organisation. Briefly, MPLS offers any-to-any connectivity, carrying all voice and data information over a single network, thus allowing Avon employees around the world to have email and intranet access 24 x 7. BT project managed roll-out, client liaison, budgets and deadlines. During the consultation process, BT involved Cisco specialists to talk through the network’s technical merits. Then BT worked with Cisco to upgrade Avon’s legacy routers, while the existing LAN systems were deemed adequate. BT also aired several resiliency options, and arrived at a flexible approach to bandwidth sizing. Installation of the network linking all sites took a little under four months, staged according to Avon’s requirements, with all the usual performance testing. Now, BT continues to manage the service, with reviews as part of a three-year contract Says Avon’s group IT director Bill Taylor: “The network has been successful and has met our expectations. It gives us the ability to run European production processes with much greater efficiency, with traffic being prioritised as required.”