Caution Recommended - Manager CSM Bakery Solutions Employee Review

My goal here is twofold. First to inform you about CSM so that you can determine if you would like to work there, and second, to inform management of the nature and scope of its cultural problems. As has been previously reported, the company initiated a conversion to the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software application, with the intent that it would enable it to consolidate a large variety of legacy systems in use at its far-flung sites into one organized application with its management and inputs to be enabled on a distributed basis. The company’s goal was to integrate the management of its complex manufacturing, procurement and logistics processes in order to streamline them and gain efficiencies at all points in the value chain. Unfortunately, the preparation for the conversion was incomplete, training was inadequate, and execution was done hastily. The result was disastrous. Existing systems, which had been at least sufficient, if not particularly efficient, were disabled, leaving the company relying on the SAP application which could not function as intended. The well-known phrase “garbage in – garbage out” may indeed have been coined to describe such situations. Production scheduling suffered and customer orders were delivered late, often at variance with ongoing supply contracts. Many customers cancelled orders. Sales and cash collections declined. The company ran short of money and had to borrow from its parent. In the confusion, it often appeared the company would become confounded, actually unable to book a sale, schedule its production, obtain the raw materials, and deliver the goods. Top management was fired. Its successor is working hard to steer the company back to stability and profitability. Given the extraordinary complexity of the company’s activities, the task is enormous. Unfortunately, this spirit of determination has not worked its way down to lower levels of management, partly because of the problem with SAP. Many initiatives are based on outdated or inaccurate information, and are irrelevant. But those in a position to understand it, and who could inform upper management, do not do so, instead soldiering on in the pursuit of goals that will not benefit the company. Altogether, with all the problems the company is dealing with, there is an overarching climate of fear. Mid-level management, charged with coping with and repairing the damage done, but not emotionally equipped to do so, assigns illogical and unrealistic tasks, seemingly without regard to their achievability. Despite the fact that production requires close cooperation among numerous departments, there is an enormous amount of institutional friction, making even the simplest assignments an exercise in frustration. Teamwork is non-existent. Timelines, which may have seemed reasonable when designed, prove unattainable in practice. If you work there, expect to be evaluated against these ill-informed objectives. Intra-company transfers may be perilous; merely signaling your interest in moving to another department may invite retaliation, in ways cleverly designed to fall within H.R. guidelines. As if this were not enough, at the same time as the SAP rollout, the company embarked on a plan to reduce the number of its offerings, called SKU’s, from about 18,000 to about half that amount. It certainly made sense to do so, when it was realized that half the existing SKU’s accounted for 5% of sales. But apparently no one told VP-level management that it must be done, made it a requirement, or otherwise instituted any incentives or accountability to ensure it actually happened. And I guess they didn’t anticipate that the sales force would fight against it, not wanting to displease their customers by telling them that their particular shade of blue icing was to be discontinued, and they would have to go with a different formulation. Tough to do, when your company is basically a contract manufacturer, supposedly eager to produce products to its customer’s specifications.