write a report summarizing: - for each project selected, a brief summary of what
ID: 383498 • Letter: W
Question
write a report summarizing:
- for each project selected, a brief summary of what occurred
- significant common factors evident in all failures that contributed to the project failures
American LaFrance
On January 28, 2008, American LaFrance, an American emergency and vocational vehicle manufacturer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, blaming an ERP implementation project failure as a main factor leading to the bankruptcy.
American LaFrance was one of the oldest fire apparatus manufacturers in the United States founded in 1873 but with roots going back to approximately 1832. In 2005, the company was the fifth largest manufacturer of emergency vehicles in North America. The company was bought by Freightliner LLC in 1995 and in 2005 it was sold to investment firm, Patriarch Partners, LLC.
American LaFrance, for a number of years up until the sale in 2005, had relied on the use of its parent company Freightliner. For a period of time after the disposition, the company continued to use Freightliner systems on an outsourced basis for its accounting, inventory, payroll and manufacturing process services. To replace the Freightliner based systems, American LaFrance commenced the development of a new standalone ERP system contracting with IBM Corp. and IBM Global Services for the development and implementation of the new system.
The bankruptcy filings listed a number of problems with the new system and the system conversion that American LaFrance cited as critically impacting its ability to operate which in turn led to its bankruptcy.
Explanation / Answer
The case is about bankruptcy filing of American LaFrance, an American company that started as a fire apparatus manufacturer in late nineteenth century. The company was fifth largest manufacturer of emergency vehicles in the US in 2005, when it was bought by Patriarch Partners LLC from Freightliner LLC, which bought it in 1995. Post 2005,The company continued to use the systems of its old owner for accounting, inventory, payroll and manufacturing systems. It decided to go for its own ERP systems with help of IBM, but certain issues with the new system and its conversion with the old one impacted the ability of company to operate, leading to its bankruptcy.
The probable causes for the failure are given below.
1. Difficulty in integration of the new systems with the existing ones.
2. Technological incompatibility.
3. Incapable or untrained human resources who could not handle the change.
4. Management support
5. Inefficient risk assessment and management.
6. Communication gaps between teams
7. Improper planning and execution.
8, Poor stakeholder management.
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