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| Bell Helicopter Flying High with Cost Savings Using Business Objects
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 2003-- Commercial and Military Aircraft Manufacturer Uses Business Objects to Adaptive intelligence for a serious advantage: business, investment and technology- BizVantage! Improve Assembly Operation Performance Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), is using Business Objects to reduce reporting costs, help streamline manufacturing planning, scheduling, and floor operations, and improve quality assurance. Bell uses Business Objects to improve enterprise performance management across every aspect of its business -- from purchasing and finance to logistics and manufacturing, and has led to a strong return on investment for the company. For example, in its Mirabel, Quebec, Canada plant, the company is using Business Objects to save approximately $190,000 USD ($250,000 CDN) per year. Based on this success, Bell is expanding its Business Objects deployment with a supply chain extranet to its 1,700 suppliers and component manufacturers. Manufacturing helicopters involves a very complex supply chain. The process requires components, sub-components, special raw materials, and "just-in-time" windows for parts delivery and airframe temperature treatments. Helicopter components and sub-components are often custom made by model. Missing a stage, or a delay anywhere in the manufacturing process by even a few hours, can quickly reduce margins for Bell Helicopter. Business Objects helps Bell to preserve these margins by giving the company a view into their supply chain and the ability to track key metrics such as on-time shipments or inventory levels. Bell also has deployed an application using an i2 Technologies solution for product design and sourcing. Bell uses Business Objects to access the i2 data and gain insight that helps them find the best vendor at the best price as they purchase parts for manufacturing. Resulting from the success of these deployments, Bell is using Business Objects to roll out a BI extranet to 1,700 suppliers to provide more visibility to each member of its supply chain. "Business Objects continues to prove itself in each successful deployment, adding more insight, continually bringing down reporting costs, and helping reshape our manufacturing processes based on the visibility we see into our business and that of our suppliers," said Yves Baril, chief of business systems integration at Bell Helicopter Textron's plant in Mirabel, Quebec. "Based on using Business Objects in our plant, we've been able to reduce the report production time from days to minutes, which translates to a time savings of 1 to 1.5 days for our employees." Bell chose to work with Business Objects and Montreal-based Odesia, a Business Objects consulting partner with expertise in manufacturing among other areas, after also evaluating other BI tools. Business Objects was selected for its speed, accuracy, and ease of use in reporting, which led to rapidly delivering business insights that showed a substantial return on investment. "Bell Helicopter is leveraging the power of the Business Objects solution," said Guy Hudon, vice president of business development at Business Objects partner Odesia. "They are taking a pragmatic approach to BI where each individual project must first meet stringent ROI criteria and add value to their customers. We are extremely proud to have such a prestigious name among our clientele." About Bell Helicopter and Textron Bell Helicopter Textron, a subsidiary of Textron Inc., is a $1.6 billion, leading producer of commercial and military helicopters, and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Globally recognized for customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce of over 7,500 employees serves customers flying Bell aircraft in over 120 countries Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) is a $12 billion multi-industry company with more than 51,000 employees in 40 countries. The company leverages its global network of businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services in industries such as aircraft, fastening systems, industrial products, industrial components and finance. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO and Greenlee, among others. More information is available at www.textron.com. About Odesia Solutions Odesia solution is a leading Canadian partner of Business Objects since its inception in 1998. Odesia assists customers in their BI strategies and deployments, leveraging the hidden value of data into information and knowledge. Odesia's clientele is issued from the banking and finance, pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense, and government sectors. More information is available at www.odesia.com. About Business Objects Business Objects is the world's leading provider of enterprise business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business Objects enables organizations to track, understand, and manage enterprise performance. The company's solutions leverage the information that is stored in an array of corporate databases, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Popular uses of BI include management dashboards and scorecards, enterprise performance management applications, customer intelligence applications, enterprise reporting, financial reporting, and both customer and partner extranets. These solutions enable companies to gain visibility into their business, acquire and retain profitable customers, reduce costs, optimize the supply chain, increase productivity and improve financial performance. Business Objects provides the industry's most integrated business intelligence suite, called BusinessObjects Enterprise 6. This suite includes the industry's best web query, reporting, and analysis; the most advanced and complete suite of analytic applications; and the best connectivity to packaged applications. Business Objects has more than 18,000 customers in over 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris (Euroclear code 12074). It is included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408-953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com. BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects S.A. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
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