1. Gary Wilson A H E A D O F T H E F L O W® Sr. Vice President and
Chief Technology Officer
March 2009

2. NIBCO Information Technology Career in Business Information Technology
Agenda
NIBCO Overview
NIBCO Information Technology
Career in Business Information Technology
Company overview
NIBCO Information Services
Who are we?
What technologies are used
Highlight our successes
Main focus is on a career in information technology

3. WHO IS NIBCO?
Founded, 1904 in Elkhart Indiana, NIBCO, Inc. is a world leading manufacturer of flow-control solutions to the commercial, residential, irrigation and fire protection markets.

4. COMPANY PROFILE
Private company with four generations of Martin family leadership
Over 100 years experience in flow-control solutions
More than 2,700 employees worldwide
Headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana on a 100 acre campus
10 manufacturing plants and two distribution centers in the US, Mexico and Poland

5. Locations World Headquarters: Elkhart, IN
Manufacturing Locations: Blytheville, AR; Corona, CA; Greensboro, GA; Charlestown, IN; Goshen, IN; Franklin, OH; Lebanon, OH; McAllen, TX; Nacogdoches, TX; Stuarts Draft, VA and Reynosa, Mexico
Distribution Locations:
Atlanta, GA
Locations across the US

6. MISSION
To be a dominant customer-driven provider of flow-control solutions to the global construction markets while providing superior long-term prosperity to our stakeholders.
Do I need this?

7. Breadth of Product Offering
Plastic fittings
Metal fittings (copper & brass)
Valves – metal and plastic
PEX – plumbing systems
Pipe supports and seismic bracing

8. END USE APPLICATIONS Residential and Commercial Plumbing
Industrial / Manufacturing Plants
Chemical Processing
Water / Wastewater Treatment
Plating & Metals Finishing
Food Processing
Pharmaceuticals
Ultra-Pure Chemicals
De-ionized Water
Compressed Air
Used anyplace that needs fluid flow.
Water, water solutions, air, gas, etc.

9. “The New Pittsburgh Arena” (The Consol Energy Center)
NIBCO:
Bellagio Casino
Mandalay Bay
Intel Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
Google Data Center
Universal Studios
Walt Disney Golf Courses
Pepsi Center
Mayo Clinic
Wide Product Reach
Commercial construction is our sweet spot
Hotels, schools, hospitals, prisons, etc.
“The New Pittsburgh Arena”
(The Consol Energy Center)

11. NIBCO
Information Services

12. Information Services - Organization
(Mike Sajdak)
IS Director
SAP Center of Excellence
(13 associates)
Applications Development
(4 associates)
(12 associates)
Technical Services
IS Customer Support
Small organization with about 34 people
Good team with high skill level

13. Key NIBCO IT Partners
Key IT partnerships that have been established over the last 10 years at NIBCO
Focus here is on the fact that we use a small set of key vendors that we have partnered very closely. We believe that this allows a SMB type company to best leverage our influence and reduce technology cost over the long-term.
ASUG is important to stay close to our application provider – benchmarking, learning, networking, influencing, etc.

14. NIBCO SAP ERP We are focused on maintaining our initial investment
One global instance of SAP BW
One global instance of SAP R/3
upgrade every months
Strategy – Continuous Improvement:
We are focused on maintaining our initial investment
Philosophy
You should maintain the software you purchased, resist modifications. If you do not keep it current and maintain it will become a legacy application

15. H R Management System -- 2000
SAP Milestones
3.0F
Dec. 1997
4.0B
Mar. 1999
4.7
Oct. 2004
ECC 6.0
Dec. 2007
4.6C
Mar. 2001
SAP Upgrades
H R Management System
Poland
4 upgrades on 10 to 12 years
We upgrade the application then focus on rolling out new functionality until the next upgrade
I know of no other company that has this track record
Very important to protect and leverage NIBCO’s investment
Business Warehouse
SAP Portal

16. Major SAP ERP components
SAP R/3 – ECC 6.0
Sales and Distributio n; Materials Managem ent (w/ WMS;
Productio n Planning; Financial Accountin g; Controllin g; Fixed Assets; HR- Payroll; PDM (UniGraph ics); Web sites
BI – 7.0
SAP
SAP Netweaver / Portals 7.0
We are at the most current release for the SAP software.
We are well positioned for the future.
Maintain our very large investment

17. mySAPTM SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT NIBCO (Indiana University)
Published Successes
NIBCO’S “BIG BANG”
A teaching case, prepared by:
Carol V. Brown, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University
Iris Vessey, Ph.D.
Professor of Information Systems
Published in:
Martin, E.W., C.V. Brown, D.W. DeHayes, J.A. Hoffer, and W.C. Perkins.
Managing Information Technology: What Managers Need to Know,
6th edition, Prentice Hall [2009].
mySAPTM SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT NIBCO (Indiana University)
NIBCO IS has had several case studies written about our SAP experiences
Two are included in the text book “Managing Information Technology”
Big Bang and Vendor managed inventory
The Big Bang was fairly controversial. Still used as a teaching case on how to implement an ERP package.
mySAP.com in Lódz, Poland: a U.S. company integrates its Polish subsidiary
Ahead of the Flow  

19. Information Technology
Career
All companies large and small need information technology experts

20. Business information technology is an excellent career
I want to spend the remaining time talking about information technology in business as a career.
I personally have found this to be a career where I:
enjoy going to work,
it has been rewarding
all be it demanding

21. Two major technology roles
Businesses roles
Provide service and support for a business
Technology company roles
Builds operating systems, databases, networks, technical applications
I classify technology jobs in to two major groups.
Business
Technology developers
Technology company roles are somewhat different than business roles. In general they are much more technical
Tonight, I want to focus on the business roles

22. Consider business information technology as a profession
What's in it for you?
Challenging
Exciting
Marketable
Rewarding
(financially and personally)

23. Some roles more technical than others Old stereotypes disappearing
IT roles in a business
Some roles more technical than others Old stereotypes disappearing
I want to talk about how information technology roles are changing.
Are there any Dilbert fans in the crowd?
I enjoy poking fun at technical people because I am one. But I think Scott Adams (Dilbert creator) has not done the IT profession any favors over the past decade.
I do admit that some roles are technical in nature an may require a certain type of person but a lot of roles require a diverse combination of skills.

24. Software advances are enabling a shift in expertise
However, automation is making IT roles less technical and more business. Automation replaces so the technical management tasks and application development tasks with drag and drop tools.
More roles are process improvement and information delivery roles that require more business knowledge.
Business knowledge and skills are important. People who can bridge the gap between business and technology are in high demand and very sought after in business.

25. Roles are changing Versatile workers
Various education backgrounds are good
Business knowledge
Analytics
A base of technical knowledge is very helpful
My background (BSIE, MBA, but I can be either business oriented and technical when it necessary, I even taught myself how to read assembler code in the early days.
IT associates do not need to be geeks
Well respected in the company

26. 20 years ago not many options for advancement or rewards
20 years ago not many options for advancement or rewards. Primarily had to move into management
10 years ago – you could advance equally in technical and management roles and move across job families, application development to Internet or project management
Now – people are leveraging their technology skills both in IT organization and in the business
In 10 years – IT workers will need multiple IT skills and a variety of business skills which will lead to many advancement opportunities

27. Fast paced, rapidly changing, exciting
iPod
Analytics
You tube
Web 2.0
CRM
Facebook
Google
Web
SOA
Fast changing
Always something to learn
Keeps work interesting
One of the best rewards is learning something new and seeing the business impact of implementing a new technology or application
Personal example, Say you buy new PC with a lot more memory and faster chip and a new video card. You see how much more fun it is to play you favorite game.
Think about doing that on a large scale and getting paid to do it.
You can learn on your own. Many opportunities to learn online.
ERP
Mobile
TIME
1995
2009

28. Variety Project Manager Business Analyst Software Engineer
Information Technology Jobs
Project Manager
Business Analyst
Software Engineer
Web Designer
Security Analyst
Database Administrator
IT Management
User Support
CIO
Variety
One last dimension of the roles in a company is variety
Companies depend on a wide variety of technology roles to be successful.
Many roles in a typical business
Business functional roles (e.g. SAP)
Project management
Technical roles
Management roles
You can move between roles to keep your job interesting and learn new skills

29. IT jobs are…
In high demand
Rewarding

30. Certain IT skills are in high demand and hard to find
Certain IT skills are in high demand and hard to find. Most are technical however both to the two major applications vendors are on the list.
Source: Gartner 2008 IT Market Compensation Study

31. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
IT roles in high demand
This chart show the top 10 job growth occupations 2006 to 2016.
5 of the top 10 jobs are information technology jobs.
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupations with the largest job growth for Bachelor's Degree graduates,

32. Computers are like Old Testament gods;
lots of rules and no mercy.  ~Joseph Campbell
Just to make sure I present the full picture there is more to the IT business than having fun. IT work is:
Hard work
Not very forgiving. Close most often does not work in the technology world. One small mistake can be a major problem.

33. Average Total Compensation $72,000
Important to note that second highest paying job is program manager which is not a technical role.
Average Total Compensation $72,000
Copyright © Computerworld Inc

34. Information Technology is a good career
Visit a business
Take a class
Learn more
I would like them to consider information technology as a career.
Challenging and rewarding
Find a way to learn what it is like in the real world.
You can leverage IT knowledge in your business roles

35. "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Jonathan Schwartz
CEO
Sun Microsystems Inc
Philosophy in a nutshell:
"The harder you work, the luckier you get."

36. Questions?