Efficacy of hybrid enterprise resource planning at Sabmiller, Prospecton Brewery in KwaZulu-Natal: the end-users’ perspectives.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system assists a company to integrate all business activities thereby creating cohesiveness and efficiency. The ERP system enhances communication and sharing of information. The system is installed into the companies’ computer network infrastructure. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the hybrid ERP system at SABMILLER (Prospecton Brewery) in KwaZulu-Natal. The quantitative method to collect data was utilized. A closed-end questionnaire was designed using the Likert scale of rating. The target population identified for this study was the brewery’s manufacturing systems end-users. The total number of users in the target population was 337 from which 201 was the sample frame. However, the breweries management eventually only allowed for 31 questionnaires to be distributed which does not allow for the results of this study to be generalised to the larger population. However, there was a 100% response from the selected sample. The findings revealed that after embedding Infor’s ERP (APS), particularly supply chain related problems improved drastically. A collective majority of 90.3% of the respondents indicated that interdepartmental systems integration improved significantly, whilst a further 83.9% agreed that there was an increase in the integration of all business activities. Ninety six point five percent (96.5%) of the respondents agreed that the inventory planning improved, 93.5% indicated that there was an improvement in materials resource planning, whilst 90.3% of the respondents agreed that the implementation of hybrid ERP software improved the brewery’s manufacturing systems efficiency. In addition, a collective majority of 96.8% of the respondents agreed that optimum manufacturing systems back-up had since been attained. Practical recommendations from the findings include the fact that it is essential for top management to ensure that the project leader has a list of roles and responsibilities which is critical to the success of any ERP system implementation. The project leader must ensure that vendor support is at an optimal level as required by the brewery, that training is on-going, and that there is constant feedback from end-users regarding any challenges that they may face. The challenges should be dealt with immediately, hence ensuring the efficacy of the hybrid ERP system.