The development of the smart Control Tower solution benefited from a solid foundation of business understanding. Vivansa had previously conducted a thorough one-year analysis of LEAR Corporation UK’s business ecosystem and IT environment, providing valuable insights into their operational structures and processes. This preliminary work positioned Vivansa to effectively address the specific requirements emerging from BREXIT implementation.

LEAR UK’s analysis identified the need for an intermediary IT component to facilitate communication between their various enterprise systems (including ERPs, INET, and IC4EDI) and their selected customs declaration filing system (MIC-CUST). This intermediary needed to manage and coordinate customs compliance data flows while accommodating LEAR’s complex environment.

Standard Global Trade Management Software (GTMS) and typical customs declaration filing systems had limitations in addressing LEAR’s specific requirements. Developing an in-house solution presented considerable project and financial considerations, particularly given the implementation timeline constraints. The situation was further complicated by LEAR’s diverse IT landscape, which included multiple systems managing products, partners, and logistics information with different identifiers and data formats.

LEAR required a solution that could adapt to their complex environment, provide effective automation for compliance workflows, and offer an intuitive interface for their trade specialists. Additionally, the solution needed to accommodate potential future expansion to other global operations while providing comprehensive visibility and control over compliance processes at both regional and global levels.

The operational scale involved approximately 8,000 shipments annually and 20 internal users across multiple departments, requiring both robustness and user-friendliness while effectively supporting customs compliance management.

Based on Vivansa’s experience in the customs domain and the insights gained from the previous analysis of LEAR’s operations, LEAR engaged Vivansa to develop a specialised solution (project codename: Qomply). The objective was to create a smart Control Tower — a purpose-built compliance management system designed to address LEAR’s specific requirements while establishing an effective approach to customs compliance management.

The development was organised into four strategic milestones:

• M1: Parts & Partners Master Data Management – Implementing effective master data management capabilities to address LEAR’s complex data environment, creating a unified view of trade products, business partners, and logistics information with their multiple identifiers—a foundational element for effective compliance management.
• M2: Simplified Frontier Declaration (SFD) Management – Developing streamlined workflows to coordinate multiple data sources (schedules, purchase orders, transport orders, ASNs, etc.) and transform them appropriately for customs declaration filing—improving how compliance data flows were managed.
• M3: Export Declaration Management – Extending the solution’s capabilities to address export declaration processes with similar automation features.
• M4: Supplementary Declaration for Import (SDI) Management – Completing the compliance framework with management of supplementary declarations, creating a comprehensive solution.

Throughout the development process, Vivansa established three levels of integration that would characterise the smart Control Tower approach: business integration through change management and continuous improvement; functional integration with features designed for customs practitioners’ workflow effectiveness; and technical integration that minimized impact on LEAR’s IT teams while managing the complex data transformation and routing operations required for effective compliance management.

The implementation of the smart Control Tower provided six significant benefits to LEAR Corporation UK:

1. Effective Integration Approach: The solution introduced an efficient method for handling customs data integration, reducing demands on LEAR’s IT team by managing data transformation and routing operations.
2. Reduced Development Risk: LEAR mitigated financial and project risks associated with custom development, while obtaining a solution tailored to their specific operational requirements.
3. Comprehensive Change Management: The implementation included a structured Transition Program to help LEAR’s Trade Department adapt to the new approach to customs compliance management.
4. Specialized Expertise: Vivansa provided both customs domain knowledge and technical implementation capabilities, creating a solution aligned with LEAR’s business needs.
5. Adaptable Design: The solution was developed with flexibility to accommodate changing regulatory requirements and evolving business needs.
6. Expandable Architecture: The design established a framework that could extend beyond BREXIT-related requirements to other LEAR operations globally, supporting visibility and control over compliance operations at regional or global levels.

The smart Control Tower has been operating in production since April 1st, 2022, demonstrating its practical effectiveness. This implementation served as the foundation for subsequent research and development activities at Vivansa, leading to the creation of Viictor — an AI-enhanced solution for Customs and Global Trade Compliance.

Viictor builds upon the smart Control Tower concept implemented at LEAR while incorporating AI capabilities including natural language interaction, continuous compliance support, and intelligent process automation. While the initial implementation established the 3-layer integration approach (technical, functional, business), Viictor extends this by providing an AI-powered assistant that helps trade professionals improve visibility and control over compliance operations.

Following the validation through the LEAR implementation, Vivansa is preparing to introduce Viictor to the market during Q1-Q2/2025, offering organisations the benefits of an AI-enhanced solution that integrates with existing technology infrastructure to support customs compliance management. Additional information about Viictor is available on our dedicated solution page.