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IT Turnaround
The Stephens Group has assisted three companies that were experiencing serious operating problems and business interruptions resulting from their ERP system implementations. Examples of problems included:
Inability to ship,
Inability to invoice after shipment,
Manufacturing products that were not needed by customers,
Not manufacturing products that were needed by customers,
Undisclosed inventory shortages,
Inability to track in-process inventories and
Poor system response and performance.
Causes for these problems included:
Poor definition of business processes,
Failure to re-engineer flawed business processes,
Poorly configured software,
Software problems that were not identified or fixed,
Failure to maintain/fix failed transactions,
Lack of user training,
Failure to properly close completed orders and
Failure to archive, etc.
One company had been dealing with critical issues since their last seasonal peak. They had order fill rates of less than 75% with staff working 7 days a week, suffered a corresponding loss of sales and built excess inventories. After implementing numerous Stephens Group recommendations and modifications to the software configuration, the Company experienced the following results:
Manufacturing was able to keep up with customer order requirements with a 5 day work week even during peak periods (this had never occurred in the history of the company).
Order fill rates for initial picks exceeded 95% and deliveries were on time.
Inventories were reduced by $8 million dollars during the peak season.
Sales recovered and increased over previous period results due to improved shipping and order fill rates.
Using a step-by-step approach we identified problems, developed corrective procedures, assigned responsibility for fixing and/or maintaining the system area and established procedures and reports for monitoring problem areas. We were able to have all three businesses fully operational in a 2 to 3 month period. Major problems were addressed within 30 days.
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