Timothy C.

Delmar

1. From their initial planning on their ERP, their intended goals for the ERP seemed
pretty doable for a company like HERSHEY. However due to management not fully
grasping the size and difficulty on the project, it ended up failing ultimately.

2. A lot of consideration should be taken care of before, during and after the ERP
implementation. During the implementation of the new ERP, parts of it should not be
rushed and should be taken on step at a time. Adding or changing things should also
be taken one step at a time. Clear communication with the team should be practiced
also. A lot of their mistakes were due to not communicating properly on the
different divisions on their team on their intended goals.

3. Their goals were:

• Develop a single supply chain plan for the entire organization, encompassing all
divisions.

• Re-engineer all functional areas of the firm to streamline the overall business
process.

• Increase gross profit by utilizing new supply chain efficiency.

• Maintain an annual sales growth rate of at least 3–4%.

• By the end of 2002, the company will have saved $75–80 million through corporate
reorganization and the closure of aging distribution centers.

• Due to Y2K date-related issues, replace existing old software.

• Replace legacy mainframe IS with a client–server architecture for the enterprise

4. One issue they had was that they lacked people at the higher ups to make the
proper decisions during the ERP implementation. They had people a tier below
working on different sections on the ERP but no one at the higher up was able to
oversee everyone working. They also tried to change and add things way too fast,
discarding past ERD system. They added and tried to work on 3 new applications at
the same time which was way too overwhelming for their team. They did not even
try to recycle or reuse any past implementations.
5. Hersheys, despite having solid goal for their ERP it was their lack of somebody to
oversee the entire project and the rushing of the project that lead to the failure.
They tried to work with the implementation with different teams handling each part
but they had no Top level manager that could make sure things are going smoothly.
They ultimately achieved their goal in 2002 by having top level management be
handled from another company and not from within Hersheys. They had to scrap
their initial plan but they still were able to achieve once they had proper leadership.