The implementation of ERP packages is a major effort. Licensing the package is only the beginningERP implementation costs include consulting, process redesign, data
conversion, training, integration and testing. A Gemini Consulting survey of 220
companies in a wide range of industries found that the average SAP R/3 implementation
effort consumed 141 person-months and cost $7.5 million. While most companies
surveyed were pleased with the outcome, many ERP implementations are problematic,
characterized by cancelled or scaled-back projects, late deliveries, budgets overruns and
hampered processes. Hershey Foods, the US largest candymaker, went live in July 1999 with a companywide $112 ERP system13 that left many retailers empty-shelved. Hershey
incurred significant losses when its order fulfillment problems could not be fixed in time
for Halloween, then Christmas. Whirlpool switched to a new SAP platform over the
1999 Labor Day holiday; the combination of large order volumes and a software problem
resulted in the loss of about 10% of orders entered to the system.