Owens Corning predicts $20m profit boost in 12 months

Inventor of glass fibre deploys former Shell data warehousing systemÂ…

By Andy McCue, 15 November 2004 17:25

NEWS Fibreglass giant Owens Corning claims it will boost company profits by $20m in one year using a new data warehouse and business intelligence system.

The company has spent $3m on the 60 day implementation of the data warehousing system from Kalido, which was spun-off from its parent company Shell last year.

Klaus Mikkelsen, global development leader of information systems at Owens Corning, told silicon.com the system will help improve profit margins by some $20m.

"We expect that to be over the first 12 months of operation," he said.

The new technology will underpin Owens Corning's Information Access Project (IAP), which will provide more accurate reporting and analysis of which business processes have the biggest impact on gross margins.

Mikkelsen said the IAP has already been used to identify products that were being sold at a loss or very low margins and provided data for managers to identify the problems.

The system is now used by 600 employees and Mikkelsen said the functionality will also be extended throughout the year.

"One of the things we have just completed is the sourcing of sales data. We have also moved forward with sales planning and production statistics," he said.

Kalido was initially developed for in-house use by Shell which sold its controlling stake in the firm to venture capitalists last year for $18m.

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