Mexicana Rolls Out Oracle Package

Implementing a big information technology project is akin to having a baby--while you eagerly await its arrival, not everything goes as perfectly as you planned, according to Ruben Arguero, VP of the MRO business unit at Mexicana. In both cases, there's a lot to plan, before and after the birth.

Arguero should know, because Mexican just finished a major two-year IT implementation that included Oracle's Complex MRO, Oracle's E-Business Suite and Siebel Loyalty Management--together linking maintenance and engineering data to financial, human capital and supply chain management. "We're now at the walking stage," he grins, "because our efficiency plan is driven by planning and production control and resources," which he says are aligned. "We're changing the way we plan, the way we assign people," to ensure the business flows smoothly and in the right direction.

Gaining visibility to more data, including parts and asset service histories, and being able to integrate that with materials and maintenance services, is no small accomplishment. It's actually a big step.

Mexicana previously used MaxiMerlin and other older systems that often didn't work together efficiently. "Seamless" would not have been a word to describe the disparate systems. "We can see so much more information now," including being able to measure the utilization of each component and link those parts to reliability reports.