Toyota's main competitive advantages are rightly considered to be high quality products, a wide model range, efficient marketing and precise interaction with dealers. But there is one more important component of the automobile corporation's success - the powerful ERP-system that allows to manage in real-time mode the full cycle of sales operations of all cars of Toyota and Lexus brand that are officially imported into the territory of the Russian Federation. The need to introduce a centralized ERP-system that would ensure a clear-cut operation of the company arose from the first days of its founding. A wide model range of vehicles and constant development of the dealer network led to a significant growth and increase in the complexity of business processes.
The strategic plans of Toyota Motor included further regional expansion in the Russian market, which could not be achieved if the level of automation of relations with dealers was insufficient. A tender was organized in November 2002 to choose a corporate system meeting high requirements of Toyota Motor. The tender resulted in the identification of the undisputed leader – Microsoft Dynamics AX. Toyota Motor entrusted Odyssey, an international company, with the entire package of work concerning implementation and support of the system. Based on Microsoft Dynamics AX, Odyssey specialists developed their own solution for auto distributors - an optimal technology to automate the entire life cycle of a car, starting from ordering from the manufacturer and ending up with selling to the dealer.
The project started in April 2003, and in June the system started operating. The peculiarity of the Russian project is that the solution was maximally adapted to the market situation, all the various nuances of the Russian business model and the legislative framework. The uniqueness of the project to automate the Russian distributor of Toyota is that many specific functions of the automobile business, which are not present in the basic version of Microsoft Dynamics AX, were implemented for the first time during the project. The dynamic development of Toyota in Russia required a high speed of the consultants` reaction to the changes and additional requirements. And Odyssey managed to achieve this.
Thanks to the introduction of the system the entire scope of supply chain management operations could be fulfilled. Receiving a request from a dealer with order details, booking a car for a specific dealer, planning purchases, shipping cars to dealers, tracking the status of delivering cars to dealers' showrooms - all of these processes are performed automatically. This has dramatically reduced the amount of manual labor at Toyota Motor LLC. The solution based on Microsoft Dynamic sAX enabled the automation of other areas of activity of the Russian distribution company: sales forecasting and calculation of customer requirements, procurement management, control over vehicle delivery to dealers and accounting of dealer sales, accounting of settlements with dealers and the supplier plant and reflection of overhead costs, accounting of warranty registration and warranty claims - via a web-interface, construction of key performance indicators (KPI) of service and spare parts sales.
The project to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX coincided with the rapid development of Toyota Motor business in Russia, when new schemes were created, new lines of business were born, and many existing business processes were changed. This, of course, affected the course of project work, adding complexity to their implementation and placing higher demands on the level and quality of project management. Despite the complexity of the conditions, Odyssey's specialists have been able to implement Toyota's unique methodologies and business practices at the highest level in the system. The unified corporate system made it possible for the company and its dealers to promptly receive information on the availability of particular vehicles in stock or their movement to the sales outlets.
In addition, Microsoft Dynamics AX created reports for the accounting department on purchasing, moving and selling cars. A new scheme for delivering cars to St. Petersburg was implemented as part of the project. All sales to dealers in St. Petersburg, thanks to a clearly calculated algorithm, were no longer carried out through the Moscow warehouse, as was previously the case, but directly.The use of the "with wheels" sales mechanism made it possible to avoid unnecessary loading and unloading of cars.
In 2014, Toyota Motor LLC, an authorized importer and distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, parts and accessories in Russia, began implementing a new management system based on MicrosoftDynamicsAX2012. The project partner is again the international consulting company Odyssey. Toyota Motor will completely update its current ERP on the basis of Microsoft Dynamics AX 3.0. The company abandoned the previous version of Microsoft Dynamics AX because of the lack of performance and technical limitations of the corporate accounting system. The vendor stopped releasing updates for the AX 3.0 platform. The Toyota Motor management's choice of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 was also due to cost-saving considerations. Third-party systems require significantly more money to implement. This version of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is fully localized and quickly supports changes in Russian legislation. In addition, the distributor has the necessary experience and a proven team for the deployment and further development of the solution.
The solution offered by the Odyssey consulting company provides Toyota Motor with real-time management of vehicle sales - from order planning for manufacturers to sales and service to buyers of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Since the system went into commercial operation, the company expanded its functionality with a large number of additional modifications. Many of these tools are built into the standard of the new platform, requiring significantly less effort to update and support.
"The industry expertise of Odyssey's consulting team and its responsible attitude are undeniable, and we have been working together for a number of years. Despite the fact that our first projects were implemented 10 years ago, the main core of our project team has been preserved, along with its previous experience and many successful developments. Over time, the processes of the company have become significantly more complex, and with them the requirements for the ERP-system have changed. Within the pilot project we have jointly automated the business processes of selling used cars on a new platform, improved the dealership portal, and successfully mastered the basic tools of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012". - Stanislav Nesin, lead consultant in the application support department of Toyota Motor LLC
The main task of the project team of Toyota Motor and Odyssey is to completely reconsider the approach to business automation, to use the new features of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to the maximum extent possible, and to ensure the system flexibility.
