Smart Content

Infor, a leading provider of beautiful business applications specialized by industry and built for the cloud, today announced key enhancements for Infor CloudSuite™ Automotive to help manufacturers achieve a stronger return on technology investments. The latest release, version 11.3, includes several layered functionality enrichments to streamline the repetitive, schedule-based manufacturing process. Infor CloudSuite Automotive now includes improved analytics, localization updates and pre-defined workbenches to further support specific automotive industry roles and business processes.

At its core, Infor CloudSuite still provides beautiful software with deep industry functionality and a flexible, subscription-based delivery model through Amazon Web Services (AWS) to significantly reduce upfront IT expenditure.

Key Advancements

-Repetitive Manufacturing – This latest version of Infor CloudSuite Automotive has been augmented to deliver stronger industry-based functionality. Among these enhancements are improvements to the repetitive, schedule-based manufacturing processes, which are a core function for automotive companies and suppliers. By updating these features, users are better able to extend and manage everyday capabilities from shop floor planning and operations down to work and repair cells.
-Enriched Analytics – Infor CloudSuite Automotive was initially designed to deliver industry specific analytics through a robust user interface to highlight insights on finance and key metrics of the business. The latest version builds upon the existing functionalities and introduces more than 40 new key performance indicators (KPI) and 10 new Quality Statistical Process Control capabilities. With greater depth of analysis, users are better equipped to draw actionable insights that can directly boost the decision-making process.
-Complementary-Product Components – Infor CloudSuites are built to work well with complementary applications and components such as Infor ION®, a purpose-built middleware, and Infor Ming.le™, the social collaboration engine, which supports internal and external communications between customers and their suppliers. The latest version includes optional Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities to create a unified technology structure that simplifies the development and manufacturing processes.
-Modern Localization – Localization is particularly important to the automotive industry, where manufacturers, suppliers and OEMs are based in various markets around the world. Infor CloudSuite Automotive expands the global footprint of the technology portfolio by supporting a wider range of geo-specific regulations and localization requirements.
-Pre-Defined Workbenches – Infor CloudSuites are designed with user feedback in mind and continuously evolve to build upon the combination of ease of use and visual aesthetics while delivering robust functionalities. This is evident through pre-defined workbenches and role-based home pages to support specific automotive industry roles and business processes.

Infor CloudSuite Automotive provides customers with a broad range of access to utilize core industry applications. The suite allows OEMs and top tier suppliers to electronically share data such as demand, supply and delivery information. The solution also provides a direct path to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), as customers are not required to purchase onsite servers or hardware, and can greatly diminish the need for additional IT support.

“Today’s manufacturers, particularly companies in the hyper-competitive automotive industry, have a greater need for pervasive and seamless business platforms that help them gain a competitive edge. This latest version of Infor CloudSuite Automotive offers a prescriptive approach for reducing operations costs by proactively bolstering visibility to the entire manufacturing ecosystem, fostering collaboration across disparate stakeholders, and automating execution throughout the entire process,” said Christina Van Houten, senior vice president, Industry & Solution Strategy Infor. “The number of cloud adoptions by Infor customers in this past year underscores that Infor’s strategy of blending pioneering innovation such as enterprise collaboration, mobile, user experience, and analytics with proven industry best practices is directly aligned with the needs of the manufacturing industry.”