Information Capital Development in an OEM in the West Midlands United Kingdom

This paper describes the development of Information Capital Development (ICD) [Carkhuff et al 2000] in an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the West Midlands in the United Kingdom. As hundreds of suppliers´ assessments are performed every year by OEMs´ product development departments, the need for highly effective information management has never been more important. Management and analysis of this data might be seen as an unnecessary task when suppliers perform under specification, but the introduction of a new product brings complexity and variety to parts and processes. By using modern data technologies and statistical software, suppliers´ data can be analysed to predict their performance and warranty claims. The company analysed developed a Supplier Component Status Report (SCSR) together with an automated data capture system to be able to obtain more accurate and timely information.