The Opportunity

HJ Heinz acquired a long time Logan Consulting client, Appetizers And INC. 

HJ Heinz management asked Appetizers to review their current ERP systems with them.  Having led that selection and implementation, Logan Consulting was asked to participate.  It was found that Appetizers had implemented a superior solution that included ERP, E-Commerce, and extensive use of bar coding to track material movement.  Heinz informed Appetizer management that their solutions were not as robust but that implementation was ultimately required.

Logan Consulting was then retained to advise both Appetizer and Heinz management on the best approach and timing for that implementation.  It was recommended that as the acquired business unit; it was in the business’s best interest to integrate itself into the Heinz structure as rapidly as possible.  It was further recommended that this could be accomplished in less than five months – an absolute requirement since the seasonal nature of the business made a busy season go live an unacceptable risk.

Heinz management challenged that recommendationLogan Consulting was originally engaged to perform a Program Management role over the entire outsourcing project. In this role, Logan Consulting would manage the objectives, scope, roles and responsibilities, and issue and conflict resolution. The latter of these roles was of primary concern to Lucent’s CIO organization due to the transition from internal resources and current consulting organizations supporting the legacy import / export strategy to a new outsource partner who would replace the existing systems and personnel.  The Heinz ERP solution had been implemented at over 30 units worldwide with none of the projects completing in less than eight months.  Also, the most recent implementations at acquired business units had resulted in business interruption and negative effect on earnings.

Logan Consulting was engaged to develop plans for such a rapid implementation and to present them to Heinz executive management.  Based on that presentation and with the full support of the legacy client (Appetizer); Heinz approved a rapid implementation project.  Logan Consulting was engaged to “stick its neck on the line” and to manage that implementation.

The Solution

Logan Consulting led a detailed review of the current Appetizer “As Is” environment and contracted against a similar review of the Heinz current state.  This resulted in a GAP analysis that then drove many of the project decision.  Design sessions were held to transfer business process and to find solutions to the identified GAP’s.  As the processes were defined, detailed sets of process flows and procedures were created.

Using the tested Logan Consulting Methodology, the above processes and procedures were ran through extensive Conference Room Piloting that either proved out their viability, caused revisions, or identified further GAP’s.  This testing not only eliminated issues prior to a Go Live, but also gave the user community detailed training guides.

A major issue was that eliminating the use of bar code would have significantly degraded production activities and the movement of materials.  Heinz approved the investigation and selection of a bar code partner to integrate with their legacy ERP solution.  This integration was tested as part of the project implementation.

The Results

• Successful implementation was achieved in less than five calendar months.  Subsequently, Logan Consulting was retained to provide project management services for all other acquisitions to have similar rapid integrations and implementations.
• No business interruption occurred even though the Go Live came right at the start of the busy season.
• Bar Code technology was extensively deployed to record material movements accurately, timely, and with lot control.  This was the first such project at HJ Heinz – subsequently the use of bar code was leveraged at future acquisitions and retroactively implemented at existing sites.