ERP Problems Put Brakes On Volkswagen Parts Shipments
German warehouse having trouble with modified version of SAP R/3
Another painful ERP installation has surfaced, this time in Germany. Volkswagen AG is having trouble delivering spare parts to some car dealers there after turning on SAP AG's R/3 software in its central parts warehouse.
An SAP spokesman in Germany confirmed that the enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendor has assigned 13 employees to help Volkswagen fix the problems, which are forcing some owners of VW and Audi cars to wait up to several weeks for needed repairs.
But the spokesman added that the R/3 applications being used at the parts warehouse in Kassel, Germany, were heavily customized without SAP's involvement before Volkswagen turned on the system in September.
Officials at Volkswagen corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, weren't available to comment on the problems at press time.
Dave Caruso, an analyst at AMR Research Inc. in Boston, said many users end up customizing ERP software to fit their business needs.
But often, that's "asking for trouble," he said. "These systems are so complex that what seems like a benign change has a good possibility of upsetting things downstream."
Delayed Shipments
System problems can have an especially big impact on warehouses by delaying shipments to customers and causing product inventories to build up, Caruso added.
For example, order processing problems in Hershey Foods Corp.'s warehouses after an installation of R/3 and other applications hampered the Hershey, Pa., company's ability to ship candy and other products to retailers during the lucrative Halloween season. Hershey executives blamed a 19% drop in third-quarter profits on the problems with the new system (News, Nov. 1).
German newspaper reports said Volkswagen -- which typically delivers spare parts to dealers in one or two days -- hopes to get back to its usual level of performance early this year.
The problems primarily affect deliveries to dealers in eastern Germany, many of which are providing rental cars to customers while waiting for parts to arrive.


- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Practice Management: Double Billing Rate and Improve Patient Services
- Would you like to double your billing rate and achieve faster payment for services?
Download this customer success story to see how One Health... - Mission Critical Data Explosion and Customer Case Study
- Would you like to double your tier 1 storage capacity while simultaneously reducing your storage footprint?
Download this customer success story to see how... - Protecting Against Database Attacks and Insider Threats: Top 5 Scenarios
- Read this new eBook to learn the top five scenarios and essential best practices for preventing database attacks and insider threats.
- Database Activity Monitoring Is Evolving
- Read the analyst report and learn how you can leverage the core capabilities of a DAP solution for better database security.
- Establishing a Strategy for Database Security is No Longer Optional
- The options for securing increasingly valuable databases are very broad and deep, and can be confusing. This research provides an overview of three...
- Live Webcast
Data Privacy and Protection in Production Environments: New Research from Ponemon Institute - Date: Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT / 10:00 AM PDT
In a recent study conducted by Ponemon Institute, fifty-five percent of respondents... - Live Webcast
A Geek's Guide to Presenting to Business People - Live Webcast: Wednesday, June 20th at 1:00 PM EDT
Join this live webinar with Paul Glen, author of Leading Geeks, to learn how to... - Live Webcast
Today's NAS: A Solution Beyond Old Limits - Date: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 2:00 PM EDT
Traditional NAS systems don't scale beyond fixed limits. Proliferation of NAS systems leads to management... - Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring
- View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with...
- InfoSphere Warehouse Packs Demo
- These flash modules make warehousing more tangible and relevant to business users through detailed explanations of the InfoSphere Warehouse Packs.
- Delivery Management -- Extending Lifecycle Management
- Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT
Siloed organizations continue doing the wrong things and doing things wrong, leading to increased costs,... - Leverage automation today to reduce IT complexity
- Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 2:00 PM EDT
Whether your B2B complexity is caused by multiple technologies due to M&A, business or application specific... - Redefine Expectations in the Data Center
- Need to do more with less? Watch this video to learn how HP ProLiant Gen8 servers can help your business deploy servers three...