Stories about: Delphi Automotive Systems

Palm Inc. envisions its popular handheld computer taking a prominent place in your car.

They're celebrating again at Covisint's temporary headquarters in Southfield, Mich.

Microsoft made a strong move on the automotive front Monday when the software maker reached an agreement with five Japanese car component makers on the use of Windows CE for Automotive.

When Michael R. Spano Jr. set out to re-create his company's enterprise systems in the summer of 1998, he knew application integration wasn't going to be easy. The CIO of Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution in Raleigh, N.C., chose general ledger and electronic data interchange applications from Baan Co. NV as the company's fundamental enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. He then planned to add more preintegrated Baan applications in phases.

In a move that came just three days after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave an initial green light to the Covisint online exchange being developed by the Big 3 automakers, Visteon Corp. - the world's second-largest automotive supplier - Thursday announced that it plans to participate in the Internet-based purchasing venture.

Wedged between Appalachia and the Great Smoky Mountains, Kingsport, Tenn., doesn't look like ground zero in the new economy. But it's as good a place as any to see that e-commerce isn't just about selling books.

In September 1998, when Juan Sanchez took over as CIO of Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. Europe in Villepinte, France (north of Paris), the company was in the midst of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project with straightforward targets and a dizzying array of challenges. As the project got under way, the stakes for a successful implementation increased. At the end of the day, Sanchez and his team learned that such a project took a lot more than careful planning. It took vigilant monitoring of detailed goals, the committed involvement of executives and workers alike, a focus on customer needs and the careful building of a business case for the endeavor.

Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. is the world's largest auto parts marker. The Troy, Mich.-based company operates 176 manufacturing plants in 38 countries, posted revenue of $29 billion last year and has been in the midst of a major technology infusion since its spin-off from Detroit-based General Motors Corp. in May 1999.

After less than six months in business, digital marketplace M-xchange.com Inc. closed its doors this week, citing a dearth of funding options and downward pressures in transaction fee-based business models.

At Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Orlando next week, users are hoping the computing giant will lift the covers on a slew of new initiatives.

Even as the Big Three automakers seek federal approval to create an online trade exchange, seven giant suppliers of automobile components want to study the costs and the feasibility of creating separate exchanges of their own.