Common ERP System Challenges in Consumer Products

The biggest businesses can get major programmes horribly wrong. Here are 4 famous examples, the fundamental reasons for failure and how that might have been avoided. Hershey: Sought to replace its legacy IT systems with a more powerful ERP system. However, due to a rushed timeline and inadequate testing, the implementation encountered severe issues. Orders worth over $100 million were not fulfilled. Quarterly revenues fell by 19% and the share price by 8% Key Failures: ❌ Rushed implementation without sufficient testing ❌ Lack of clear goals for the transition ❌ Inadequate attention and resource allocation Hewlett Packard: Wanted to consolidate its IT systems into one ERP. They planned to migrate to SAP, expecting any issues to be resolved within 3 weeks. However, due to the lack of configuration between the new ERP and the old systems, 20% of customer orders were not fulfilled. Insufficient investment in change management and the absence of manual workarounds added to the problems. This entire project cost HP an estimated $160 million in lost revenue and delayed orders. Key Failures: ❌ Failure to address potential migration complications. ❌ Lack of interim solutions and supply chain management strategies. ❌ Inadequate change management planning. Miller Coors: Spent almost $100 million on an ERP implementation to streamline procurement, accounting, and supply chain operations. There were significant delays, leading to the termination of the implementation partner and subsequent legal action. Mistakes included insufficient research on ERP options, choosing an inexperienced implementation partner, and the absence of capable in-house advisers overseeing the project. Key Failures: ❌ Inadequate research and evaluation of ERP options. ❌ Selection of an inexperienced implementation partner. ❌ Lack of in-house expertise and oversight. Revlon: Another ERP implementation disaster. Inadequate planning and testing disrupted production and caused delays in fulfilling customer orders across 22 countries. The consequences included a loss of over $64 million in unshipped orders, a 6.9% drop in share price, and investor lawsuits for financial damages. Key Failures: ❌ Insufficient planning and testing of the ERP system. ❌ Lack of robust backup solutions. ❌ Absence of a comprehensive change management strategy. Lessons to be learned: ✅ Thoroughly test and evaluate new software before deployment. ✅ Establish robust backup solutions to address unforeseen challenges. ✅ Design and implement a comprehensive change management strategy during the transition to new tools and solutions. ✅ Ensure sufficient in-house expertise is available; consider capacity of those people as well as their expertise ✅ Plan as much as is practical and sensible ✅ Don’t try to do too much too quickly with too few people ✅ Don’t expect ERP implementation to be straightforward; it rarely is

I’ve seen $10,00,000+ ERPs break down because one warehouse team used the word “Box”… while the other said “Carton.” That’s it. Master data is the real killer in most ERP projects. But nobody wants to talk about it because it’s not “attractive” It’s not the software. It’s what you feed into it. And here's the stuff actually wrecking your ERP: 1. 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 – “PCS” vs “Pieces” vs “Nos.” – Finance gets confused. Inventory gets misaligned. 2. 𝐃𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 – Vendor A – Vendor A␣ – Congrats, now you have two aging reports and no idea who’s overdue. 3. 𝐒𝐊𝐔 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 – Sales calls it “1L Oil Bottle” – Warehouse calls it “OIL1L” – Finance sees two lines and overpays freight. 4. 𝐆𝐋 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 – 4010-Admin vs 401A-AdminExp – Good luck finding out why your reports don’t reconcile. 5. 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡 – “US” vs “USA” vs “United States” – Then one team can’t file GST because the country code doesn’t match the statutory system. You don’t need another ERP module. You need a data governance spine. If you're migrating, consolidating, or upgrading fix this first:  → Unified naming logic → Approved master data owners → Clean-up workflows → Real UOM and GL dictionaries → Vendor & SKU de-dupe policies Your ERP isn’t broken. Your data is wild. And if you don’t fix it, every report, every dashboard, and every decision will quietly rot from the inside. Seen something worse? Drop your horror story in the comments. ♻️ 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧.

Many companies believe that once an ERP system arrives, all their process problems will disappear. IT teams often say that the current process will be implemented inside the system. The expectation is that the ERP will mirror the real workflow and improve it. The reality is very different. What actually gets implemented inside the ERP is not the process that the business needs. Instead, it is only the part that fits the system’s standard modules. As a result, the final workflow is far away from the process that the operations team expected. This creates serious gaps • The real process is complex, but the ERP captures only fragments. • The old wastes and delays continue, only now inside a digital system. • People believe the ERP will solve everything, but the output becomes even more complicated. • Everyone blames the system, yet the root cause is that the process was never fixed before digitalization. The ERP is not a silver bullet. It is only a tool. If the underlying processes are unclear, lengthy, or full of waste, the ERP will simply make those weaknesses permanent inside the system. The correct approach is very simple. First fix the process. Then simplify it. Then map it. Then implement it. This is the only way to ensure that ERP reflects the real workflow that the business needs. If the process is not corrected before digitalization, the ERP will always be far away from what the business expected.

Going live with Dynamics 365 F&O doesn't mean your ERP implementation was successful. Here's a list of painful stuff you could find out after go-live: 1. Dirty data Turns out the system is missing critical data (parameters, etc.) and the master data is full of dirty records. As a result, operations suffer and many reports are wrong. Decision making is impacted. 2. Insufficient integration Surprisingly, your ERP doesn't exist in a vacuum and it actually depends on data contained in other applications. Are these applications talking to each other, and are they doing it correctly? If not, expect operational delays and a lot of manual intervention from employees. 3. Lack of training It's almost like it's impossible for people to master Dynamics in an afternoon. Exposing key users to a single round of UAT only wasn't enough, and it wasn't very smart to skip creating documentation. Result? Inefficiency that persists months after go-live, and money wasted to build features that are not used. 4. Technical debt Oh noes, the system is slow. Surely it's not related to those 72 major customisations you had your system integrator develop because "we have it in the old system and it's essential for go-live". Now you've spent millions to replicate the same inefficient, slow, clunky monster of an application that was your previous ERP, just on a new platform. Prepare to face the same problems you had before, just on a bigger scale. 5. Bad fit for purpose Ah yes, my favourite. You implemented (or worse, custom built) a feature that was perfect for your company. Except it doesn't match how your people do things. So you see workarounds, out-of-system processes, and parallel databases on Excel spreadsheets. The ROI of your ERP implementation is basically negative. So how do you save yourself from these issues? Get an independent advisor on board. Somebody who understands how ERP implementations work. And make sure they're on your side. And if it's too late? Well, start fixing those issues now, because the more you wait, the worse they'll become.

ERPs are a common need for growing companies. But most implementations fail. Having been a part of a few, I've seen three main mistakes: 1. Implementing too soon 2. Implementing too late 3. Not having the right support Implementing too soon: Young companies change all the time. They also don't have a lot of resources. They want to streamline and simplify, and incorrectly think that an ERP will do that. An ERP actually complicates things. It introduces rigidity. And unless the controls are followed, garbage-in starts making garbage-out. At that point, they start skirting the system. It becomes irrelevant, then dead. Implementing too late: The company is suffering from system bloat. Each department creates their own systems and processes that become engrained. There are now many people, and change cost is huge. Along comes an ERP. The implementation team becomes overrun with customization requests to fit the system to their existing processes. The code is so complex that bugs run rampant. Nobody trusts the system, and it's back to the old ways. Not having the right support: Somebody decides that it's got to be done, and then it's delegated. Some try to do it on their own, others solely rely on an implementer. Finance is angry that it's costing so much. Nobody has time to test. Go-live gets pushed again and again. Management gets frustrated at the lack of buy-in and sets a hard date to go live. The cutover happens, and it's chaos. People make incorrect assumptions, and bad information starts going in and never really gets cleaned up. Recommendations for success: Delay an ERP until the company has adequate traction and resources. Streamline and simplify along the way. Focus on good processes, and get all input on systems. Hiring an external "data person" to connect disparate systems is much cheaper than an ERP, and lets people use proven systems while allowing visibility. Start talking to different ERPs before it's too painful. Probably somewhere around $20m-$50m. Maybe less if complicated manufacturing. Spend time when shopping. Include all department heads in the 3-day test drives. Ask lots of questions. Leadership needs to be all-in. It costs a ton. Not only will like likely be 2x-3x what was originally quoted, but it takes lots of time to test, train, plus all the lost opportunity. Choose a qualified implementation partner. Don't do it yourself, and sometimes the ERP-specific teams that are virtual only don't work well. You'll need a dedicated internal team. The leader chosen should have the political clout within the company to make action happen. It will be their full-time job for 6-9 months. Consider hiring. Test, test, test. Explore the limits. Try to break it. Once it's nailed down, training should be complete and heavy. What else?

A big 4 consulting firm implemented ERP which caused a major business disruption for a client.   Top level partners in top notch suits made best promises in a beautifully crafted presentation.   The client got excited. Deal signed.   I joined the party at the SIT phase. Which could not complete.   The integration between ERP, WMS and boundary systems was failing.   SIT lasted for 3 more months. Go live data had to be pushed. But the integration still did not work.   The burn rate was insane.   Eventually the leadership decided to make it live and forced half-baked solution.   Yay! Everyone was happy until they realized what a sh*t show they were in.   Right after go live the planners and supply chain operations realized that the stock on hand in ERP, WMS, their custom system and on the shelf were all different.   They had to call the warehouse to make sure they had the right quantity of equipment.   The result: ·      All the departments started overordering to cover up for their projects. ·      2 million dollar sales were lost. No stock. Couldn’t deliver. ·      Inventory across the supply chain grew by $20M. ·      It took 18 months to stabilize the system.   Why did that happen? 1.      The vendor recently bought the WMS solution and did not yet build native integration. 2.      Poor integration between the systems. Transactions were stuck due to errors. 3.      Terrible user experience. Warehouse workers could not perform their role in a system and circumvented the restrictions. 4.      Lack of training and end user support   Want to avoid this costly mistake? Here’s what you should consider. ·      ERP can look great on a slide deck but may not necessarily fit your business ·      ERP can fit your business but not your boundary systems ·      An implementation partner can have a big brand name, but one integration architect can screw the whole thing ·      Hire an independent ERP adviser to make sure you have the right solution and partner   In summary:   Don’t trust ERP fairy tales.   Do your due diligence.   #ERP    #TheERPGuy     #ERPImplementation

We Were Growing—Until Our Systems Couldn’t Keep Up A consumer products company I know was on fire. I know some of you will relate to this one! Sales were booming. New markets were opening. Demand was higher than ever. But behind the scenes? Chaos. Orders were getting delayed because inventory data was scattered across systems. The finance team was buried in spreadsheets, trying to reconcile numbers from different platforms. And the supply chain? Predicting demand felt more like guessing than strategy. Not what you would expect from a business doing ac couple hundred of millions a year in revenue! They didn’t have a sales problem. They had a systems problem. That’s when they decided to overhaul their backend with an ERP designed for growth—not just survival. The impact? Orders were processed faster because inventory, sales, and logistics finally spoke the same language. Real-time data gave the leadership team confidence to make bold decisions—without second-guessing. Manual errors vanished as automation took over repetitive tasks. Now, instead of fighting fires, they’re focusing on expansion. The system that once held them back is now driving their growth. Sounds familiar? Does anyone have a similar story? I’d love to hear your experience in the comments.👇! ----- Hi I'm Ralph Hess VP of Sales & Marketing Navigator Business Solutions Follow me for news insights and opinions on everything SAP. #ERP #Growth #BusinessSystems #ConsumerProducts

55% - 70% of ERP implementations fail to meet business objectives. Not because of the technology — but because teams lose sight of the bigger picture. You invest millions in new enterprise systems hoping for: • Better operational efficiency • Streamlined processes • Improved decision-making • Reduced costs But within months, you’re dealing with: • Inventory allocation issues • Process disruptions • Team frustration • System optimization challenges Here’s what often goes wrong: ERP implementation is treated as a technology project rather than a business transformation. The reality? Technology is just 30% of the equation. The other 70% comes down to: • Clear vision and strategy alignment • Change management and team adoption • Process integration and optimization • Data migration planning • Proper project management • Buy-in*** When implementing enterprise systems, it's best to remember your teams will be managing dual systems, learning new processes, and adapting to completely new ways of working – all while trying to maintain business as usual. That’s why organizational buy-in, setting the right expectations, and good planning are so key. New ERP integration on your 2025 technology roadmap? My advice? Talk to a Solutions Integrator with experience leading complex digital transformation projects. At Anatta, we bake thoughtful change management processes into every major transformation. I'd be happy to offer you guidance on this. Just comment below or send me a DM. #ecommerce #technology