Showing Its Metal
Timet is the world's largest integrated manufacturer and distributor of titanium products. As this strong, lightweight, and corrosion-resistant metal has found its way onto a growing list of applications, Timet has relied more on its network to help improve efficiency and contain costs in a time of rapid global expansion.
"This is a titanium company, not a networking company. We need networking equipment that works without a lot of special attention. That`s our company`s IT philosophy--- enhance production. And Cisco has helped us stay on track."
Jeff Coleman
Network Engineer
Timet
Challenge
A move to an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) application with a graphical user interface (GUI) required Timet to upgrade its network across the board---from wide-area network (WAN) connections between dispersed offices to desktop PCs. The company's information technology (IT) infrastructure, previously a mix of incompatible systems and out-dated technologies, needed to deliver faster and more manageable WAN services, higher performance and greater scalability in local-area network (LAN) workgroups, and reliable connectivity with minimal intervention from the IT staff.
Solution
Timet deployed Cisco solutions from the WAN to the workgroup, gaining end-to-end support for the company's ERP system and a strong foundation for leveraging Internet, intranet, extranet and Virtual Private Network (VPN) technologies as the business' needs evolve.
Results
Timet can now leverage the power of global ERP---thanks to network access to its new SAP application at Timet sites across the U.S. and Europe. Easy installation and configuration of Cisco solutions has allowed the company to roll out a major network upgrade without a major increase in IT staff and capital costs. Most important, the reliability and scalability of Cisco solutions enables Timet to make information technology a strategic asset throughout the business by enabling its top priority---pumping out titanium products around the world.
Background
In the titanium business, the name Timet looms large. The midsize company is a fully integrated manufacturer and distributor of all things titanium. Timet transforms the dark-red, sand-like rutile ore into titanium ingots, slabs, milled products, and castings, which are then shaped into everything from jet and car parts to golf clubs.
The company has 250 employees at its headquarters in Denver, with offices and processing plants across North America and Europe. Timet's diverse activities---from research to engineering and manufacturing through sales and distribution---require a tightly integrated organization, with a strong information network that spans from end-to-end.
Network Engineer, Jeff Coleman, says that today's focus of information systems (IS) investments at Timet is simple: "trying to create a more efficient company."
"We're ensuring Y2K compliance and at the same time upgrading all aspects of our network---not just equipment, but processes," Coleman said.
Challenge
To enable a seamless flow of ideas and information Timet planned to deploy an SAP ERP system. But like many manufacturers confronting massive change in the Internet age, Timet had outgrown its information infrastructure.
"What's driving the changes in our network is the deployment of ERP---replacing several systems that weren't integrated together, pulling those older systems out and installing SAP," Coleman said. "We had a bunch of disparate systems---including custom applications running on DECnet in our VAX environment and UNIX on our HP host system."
In addition, he said, the existing WAN structure would not scale easily as Timet extended its operations to Europe and beyond.
"Building our WAN using flat point-to-point circuits was too expensive," he said. "Going to Europe wasn't practical."
Timet needed scalability in both its WAN and LAN, which the company is now integrating into all aspects of the business, including the plant floor. The company needed open networking systems to allow implementation of applications such as a corporate-wide intranet, an extranet, and virtual private networking. And it needed solutions that could be deployed and managed easily, to conserve the company's relatively scarce IT resources.
Solution
Timet installed a range of Cisco routers, switches, and hubs, with CiscoWorks network management software serving as the command center for configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting.
The ERP host computers reside in Timet's Denver data center, connected to the enterprise through a Cisco 7200 series router and Catalyst® 5500 and 5000 series switches for redundant switched links to the network. These Catalyst 5000 series switches also provide dedicated 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet links to workgroup hubs and switches in the central Denver office. A Cisco 3600 series router provides redundant WAN links to the network for mission-critical hosts in the data center.
The WAN consists of multiple T-1 lines feeding into the data center, with Frame Relay circuits from nine U.S. and four European sites mapped to these T-1 lines. For larger remote sites, a Cisco 3600 series router provides the main link to the Denver data center via Frame Relay circuits, with ISDN backup in case of Frame Relay failure. Smaller sites connect to the WAN via Cisco 2500 series routers, which provide both WAN and LAN ports for easy integration of remote LANs into the central fabric. CiscoWorks network management software provides centralized configuration and troubleshooting for all networked Timet sites.
Within the titanium manufacturing and milling plants, Cisco 2900 series switches provide dedicated Fast Ethernet service to the desktop, with Cisco 1500 series Fast Ethernet hubs providing shared service to less-demanding workgroups. The Cisco 2900 switches provide economical, scalable workgroup connectivity for workstations running the SAP ERP system, as well as plant-floor applications such as an electronic time card system and production control.
"The Cisco network is allowing us to make manual shop-floor data collection and product tracking into networked applications." Coleman said. "We needed networking equipment that could withstand environmental concerns like chemicals and heat in our plants,"
Internet connectivity for the company is channeled through the Cisco 7200 series router in Denver. While pure customer self-service via the Web is not yet realistic for Timet's customized order patterns, Web site visitors can find product characteristics and specifications to work into their own designs. Today, Timet employees rely on the Internet principally for e-mail communication and research. But with major automotive and aerospace customers moving toward requiring electronic data interchange (EDI) with vendors, the built-in security features of the Cisco router infrastructure gives Timet the confidence to connect with its customers' systems and implement an extranet whenever it chooses.
Coleman says that Timet is also examining how the Internet could lower the company's costs for providing remote network access for branch offices and individuals.
"We're looking at different VPN possibilities as a way of reducing long-distance access charges," he said. "We have a lot of salespeople who dial in using long-distance calls. Implementing a VPN with our Cisco equipment would allow us to save money by making local calls to our Internet service provider."
Timet also will leverage Internet technologies as it finalizes plans for a Web-based intranet and extranet, said Network Engineer, Chris Lautenbach, who oversees application deployment.
"The intranet implementation will provide all the basic human resources information over the network--- information such as employee policies and benefits and corporate directories," he said.
Timet is evaluating extranet links to its customers to become a more valuable and efficient partner.
"Having an extranet would be beneficial for ordering, tracking our material quality throughout our customers' operations, extending some of the SAP functionality over the Internet, and giving customers access to more of our business processes," Lautenbach said.
Results
Timet considered products from three leading contenders to support its move to comprehensive ERP and a future- ready network.
"We looked at track records, support, pricing, technology," Coleman said. "Overall, the Cisco solution was the most solid."
A major benefit has been the ease of deploying Cisco solutions across Timet's far-reaching network, Coleman said. Cisco also has delivered the reliability and support to keep Timet's mission-critical manufacturing activities going strong, with minimal IT intervention.
"This is a titanium company, not a networking company," he said. "Some of the sites don't have IT personnel, which makes high-quality support critical. The Cisco support has been excellent."
"We need networking equipment that works without a lot of special attention," Coleman added. "That's our company's IT philosophy---don't interrupt production. And Cisco has helped us stay on track."
The Cisco solutions also give Timet a wide open window on the future, enabling the company to deploy emerging solutions such as voice over IP when the time is right. Coleman points to Cisco's scalability---in both capacity and functionality---as another major advantage for Timet.
"To do voice over IP, we just need to buy the voice modules and cards for the 3640 routers," Coleman said. "Throughout the network, we have extra module slots or can add equipment to upgrade as our needs grow. That was one of the main reasons to go with Cisco---they gave us the broadest range of possibilities."
