Automotive components giant leverages Infor cloud as a core business system that will pave the way for other similar companies in Japan

TOKYO, JAPAN - Media OutReach - 26 March 2020 - Infor Japan K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Infor, a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry, today announced that Topre Corporation has selected Infor CloudSuite™ Automotive, Infor's cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for the automotive industry. The company will leverage this ERP solution on its core business system for the management of production, sales, purchasing and inventory for its domestic automotive business across seven sites, and will also use the suite for accounting management across its entire domestic operations.

In the future, Topre plans to roll out the cloud ERP solution to all its global sites, including the US, China and Thailand. Infor's cloud ERP is viewed as a platform with capability in production management, which is an absolute priority among automotive companies seeking accurate production-planning and on-time customer delivery.

■ Background

Topre is a manufacturer of a range of products that supports people in their daily lives, from pressed automotive components for frames and other parts of automobiles, to refrigerated trucks for the safe transportation of food, air-conditioning systems to improve comfort, and electronic equipment that is essential in the information technology economy. The company's automotive business in particular, which is focused on pressed automotive components, accounts for about 70% of the Group's total sales. It is also an expanding business area for Topre, which continues to evolve press forming as one of its core technologies.

Japan's highly-competitive automotive industry is currently undergoing an enormous transformation, with an increasing need to drive digital transformation through utilization of the "Internet of Things" (IoT) and other state-of-the-art technologies, and improvement of business practices. Topre previously used an in-house core business system for achieving function-specific optimization of production management and costs. To enable it to respond to new initiatives for transformation, however, it decided to introduce a cloud-based core system package with high scalability and the ability to standardize business processes. As a result, it chose Infor CloudSuite Automotive, Infor's cloud ERP solution for automotive companies, as its new core business system.

■ Reasons for adoption

Infor CloudSuite Automotive is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based cloud ERP suite of solutions for the automotive industry. With rich functionalities for the automotive industry incorporated into a beautifully-designed user interface, it is delivered on the highly-reliable Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.

Topre chose Infor CloudSuite Automotive as the solution comes packaged with the functionalities required by automotive suppliers, and that it is already being used extensively in the industry. Enabling advanced production and quality management, coupled with the sharing of data with automakers, and visualization of supply chains, the suite offers cloud-based functionality for agile responses to marked changes in the industry. The Infor Automotive Exchange component of the suite, in particular, supports the unique Electronic Data Interchange system for managing sales of the main domestic automakers, and helps improve the efficiency of Topre's operations.

At the same time, Topre will adopt Infor Birst, a cloud-based business intelligence platform to utilize data accumulated in the cloud for its transformation. Together with Infor CloudSuite Automotive, Topre will build a platform for driving digital transformation aimed at improving business processes through standardization and efficiencies, and implement data-based management and policies.

■ Quote from Tesshu Harada, Acting General Manager, Business Process Re-Engineering Department, Auto Parts Headquarters, Topre Corporation

"To survive what people are calling a once-in-a-century transformation in the automotive industry, we have to transform our business structures in cooperation with the automakers. We will start this process by stepping away from our old systems and rebuilding a core business platform in a highly scalable cloud environment to drive further digital transformation across Topre. We chose Infor for its highly specialized cloud solution with  a track record in realizing the standardization of business transformation."

Media Contact

Phyllis Tan

Infor Asia Pacific Japan

+65 97999133

phyllis.tan@infor.com

About Topre

Since it was founded in 1935, Topre Corporation has been advancing itsmetal press forming technologies and die manufacturing technologies. Leveragingthe strength of an integrated system from design assistance through toproduction, it supplies automakers in Japan, the USA, Mexico, China, Thailand,and India with high-quality products such as automobile frame components. In additionto automotive components, it is utilizing its considerable technicalcapabilities to expand into a wide range of business areas, includingrefrigerated trucks for which it holds a leading share of the domestic market,air-conditioning systems for buildings and homes, and REALFORCE keyboards forpersonal computers.

Listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Topre wasalso selected in 2019 as one of the 400 “companies with high appeal forinvestors” that comprise the JPX-Nikkei 400 index.

About Infor

Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized byindustry. With 17,300 employees and over 68,000 customers in more than 170countries, Infor software is designed for progress. To learn more, please visitwww.infor.com.

Infor customers include:

• The top 20 aerospace companies
• 9 of the top 10 high tech companies
• 14 of the 25 largest U.S. healthcare delivery networks
• 19 of the 20 largest U.S. cities
• 18 of the top 20 automotive suppliers
• 14 of the top 20 industrial distributors
• 13 of the top 20 global retailers
• 4 of the top 5 brewers
• 17 of the top 20 global banks
• 9 of the 10 largest global hotel brands
• 7 of the top 10 global luxury brands