Communications of the Association for Information Systems
Volume 5 Article 1
1-5-2001
NIBCO’S “BIG BANG”
Carol V. Brown
Indiana University, cbrown@iupui.edu
Iris Vessey
Indiana University
Follow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais Recommended Citation
Brown, Carol V. and Vessey, Iris (2001) "NIBCO’S “BIG BANG”," Communications of the Association for Information Systems: Vol. 5, Article 1. Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol5/iss1/1
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Volume 5, Article 1 January 2001
NIBCO’S “BIG BANG”
Carol V. Brown Iris Vessey Kelley School of Business Indiana University
cbrown@iupui.edu
TEACHING CASE
Communications of AIS, Volume 5, Article 1 NIBCO’s “Big Bang” by Carol V. Brown and Iris Vessey
1
NIBCO’S “BIG BANG”
Carol V. Brown Iris Vessey Kelley School of Business Indiana University
cbrown@iupui.edu
ABSTRACT
NIBCO, Inc., a mid-sized manufacturer of valves and pipe fittings headquartered in the U.S. with $460 million annual revenues, implemented SAP R/3 across its 10 plants and 4 new distribution centers with a Big Bang approach in December 1997. NIBCO management agreed with the Boston Consulting Group recommendation to "cut loose" from its existing legacy systems and replace them with common, integrated systems for finance, materials management,
production, and sales/distribution, such as offered in the ERP packages of major vendors by the second half of the 1990s. However, the company leaders chose not to heed the advice of their consultants, or the current trade press, about taking a slower, phased-in approach. Instead, they developed plans for a Big Bang implementation of all modules (except...