While in Boston the other week I was able to stick around to attend the SAP SME Deep Dive, this was a day dedicated to SAP’s SME market space and they filled it with customers and partners telling their own stories. Dennis Howlett a fellow
Irregular was in attendance as well and has a great post about a
SAP All-in-One implementation. For Starship Enterprisey having Stacey and Mona from SAP setup an interview with an actual customer was a first overall let alone a first in the SME market space. The customer is TAM Ceramics LLC and I got to sit down for a chat with George Bilkey.
George Bilkey is President of TAM Ceramics LLC currently implementing SAP Business ByDesign. Bilkey has had extensive experience of ERP implementations in the ceramic manufacturing and was previously holding management positions in global companies including Ferro Corporation, Washington Mills, and Saint Gobain. He holds a BS of the Ceramic Engineering, Alfred University and an MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Management. Bilkey also holds executive level positions with key trade associations and groups.
Before I even turned on the camera though I got to know some things about what it is George and TAM does, TAM’s mission is to focus on being the quality leader in the zirconia market and to expand into new markets. With a dedicated highly seasoned labor force, low overhead and costs, the company is positioned to reclaim the market volume leader in the industry. TAM sees continued expansion in both the investment casting and refractories industries and will greatly expand their reach in these areas along with a focused effort on increasing the Titanates business. Working with existing and new customers to provide new innovative solutions that are customized for their specific use, TAM has increased annual sales for 2008 by over 30% compared to 2007 in less than four weeks.
After awhile I decided I should probably start the camera rolling and hear about the pain points, successes, positives and the negatives of an aggressive two month implementation of SAP Business ByDesign!
