Connecting Planning to the Factory Floor
Rockwell Automation is the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and
information. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately
23,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries. As a B2B company, procurement
management is essential. The company has over 7,000 suppliers and provides industrial automation
and information products to a variety of industries in over 80 countries. The company’s sales totaled
$6.3B in 2017.
Rockwell’s finished products fall into three categories: components, control, and visualizat ion. Some
products--push buttons, relays, and switches--turn very quickly with high volume sales. Configured
products include panel views, industrial monitors and computers, and drivers turn more slowly. At the
core, Rockwell Automation produces logic controls. The company also offers engineered-to-order
solutions, such as control centers and medium-voltage drives. From a manufacturing perspective,
products vary significantly in complexity. Some items take very little processing time while others
have a quite an extended lead time. Solutions, for example, can take from 12 to 16 weeks to
manufacture.
Figure 14: Organizational Overview
The company understands global manufacturers’ problems because they are one. Like most
industrial manufacturers, they manage a profoundly diverse portfolio of products. In this environment,
complexity is both an opportunity and a challenge. Rockwell Automation has more than 400,000
items in its catalog. A typical order is about 200 SKUs, and an average product life cycle is 20 years.
Value creation and a value-driven approach are the pillars of the Rockwell Automation model. The
company’s current strategy is to bring a Connected Enterprise to life. This starts with defining value,
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