One of the world's largest home appliance manufacturers this week said it suffered delays shipping products in the U.S. after it installed new enterprise resource planning software from SAP AG.
Whirlpool, which supplies washing machines, refrigerators and other products to retailers in more than a hundred countries, says it ran into difficulties meeting some of its orders after it installed SAP's R/3 business software at the start of September.
A Whirlpool spokesman wouldn't say what problems the firm had encountered with the SAP software, although he added that the problems with R/3 have since been addressed. He also declined to comment on whether Whirlpool intends to take any legal action against SAP. Record sales of Whirlpool's products in North America contributed to its inability to meet all of the company's orders, the appliance maker says.
The U.S. is the sixth country in which Whirlpool installed the SAP software, and in each country the company ran into similar problems following installation, says the Whirlpool spokesman, who asked not to be identified.
SAP America, SAP's subsidiary in the U.S., did not immediately return calls seeking comment this afternoon.
Whirlpool isn't the first customer to have run into problems with the German software maker's products. In March, the Australian Wine Society (AWS) said it suffered delivery delays, billing errors and other problems after its installation of SAP R/3. One AWS source at the time told IDGNS sister publication Computerworld Today Australia that the software "runs like a dog," and complained that the ERP company had "oversold" its product.
Whirlpool issued its statement in response to a report in the Wall Street Journal about its problems with SAP's software. The Journal also reported that two companies in the waste disposal industry, Allied Waste Industries Inc. and Waste Management Inc., have scrapped or plan to scrap multimillion-dollar projects to install SAP software.
Observers noted that ERP software, which is designed to enable companies to run their operations by bringing together financial, manufacturing and human resources applications, is by its nature complex and difficult to install.
It would be "facile" to blame a company's installation problems entirely on the software vendor. Consultants, integration partners and even the customer could be equally responsible, says Joshua Greenbaum, principal analyst with Enterprise Applications Consulting in Berkeley, Calif.
"The crux of the issue more often than not hinges on how well the implementation team and the customer understand the requirements of the system, and how well they can bring those requirements to bear," Greenbaum says. "You don't have to have a single weak link."
Nevertheless, Greenbaum cautions that software vendors must be careful not to "oversell" their products by exaggerating their capabilities.
SAP isn't the only corporate software maker to have faced criticism from a large customer over the performance of its applications. Only last week, rival ERP vendor PeopleSoft was slapped with a lawsuit by W.L. Gore & Associates, which makes the weather-resistant Gortex fabric, over an allegedly bungled software installation.
Gore accused PeopleSoft of failing to properly install its human resources management system, resulting in damage to Gore's business. The fabric maker is seeking damages in Delaware court of up to $10 million. PeopleSoft has declined to comment on the allegations.
SAP's global headquarters, in Walldorf, Germany, can be reached at 49-6227-74-74-74, or at http://www.sap.com/. SAP America, in Newtown Square, Penn., is at 610-355-2500, or at http://www.sap.com/usa/. Whirlpool, in Benton Harbor, Mich., is at 616-923-3189, or at http://www.whirlpool.com/.
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