Why So Many PLM/ERP Projects Fail – And How to Put Them on Track in 6 Phases

Imagine you board a plane and the pilot says:

“We’re flying somewhere – let’s see where we land.”

Sounds ridiculous, right?

But that’s exactly how many PLM, ERP and “digital transformation” projects get started.

“We need a new system.”

“The old one is outdated.”

“We have to become more digital.”

Sounds modern. But it’s not a goal.

Over the last years I’ve supported more than 100 technical projects – from machinery and plant engineering to PLM/MES/ERP implementations. The technology was almost never the real problem.

Projects failed because of something far more basic:

• no clear goals,

• unclear processes,

• overloaded designs,

• big-bang go-lives,

• overwhelmed people,

• no roadmap after go-live.

The good news: all of that is fixable.

The bad news: it requires leadership, clarity and decisions.

In this article I’ll walk you through the 6 phases that decide whether your project becomes a success story – or a very expensive lesson.

Phase 1 – Project Start: Without Clear Goals, Your PLM Is a Blind Flight

Last week I sat in a boardroom. The CEO said:

“Francisca, we need a new PLM system.”

My first question: “Why?”

His answer: “Well, the old one is kind of… outdated.”

That’s the moment when a strategic investment silently turns into a blind flight.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most PLM/ERP projects don’t really know what success looks like.

“Faster”, “better”, “more digital” – none of that is a goal.

Examples of real KPIs:

• Reduce quotation lead time from 10 to 5 days

• Cut BOM error rate by 40%

• Shorten time-to-market for new products by 20%

Suddenly your IT project becomes a business project. And at the end you can answer, with three numbers, whether it was worth it.

👉 Reflection:

If your CEO asks you tomorrow whether your last IT/digitalisation project was successful – can you answer that with three concrete metrics?

Phase 2 – Analysis: If You Don’t Know the Current State, You’re Just Digitalising Chaos

“Can you help us digitalise our processes?”

“Sure. Can you draw your processes for me?”

Silence.

Then: “Well… Hans does it this way, Maria does it differently, and in Engineering it’s completely different again.”

This is where the drama begins:

We digitalise processes we don’t understand ourselves.

In one plant engineering project we did a value stream analysis.

The result:

• 12 days lead time for one change

• 8.5 days of that were pure waiting time

• 6 hours of actual work

In another company we found the same data in five different Excel sheets.

Every department had its own “truth”.

Tools I use before any system decision:

Value Stream Mapping

– makes material and information flows visible

– exposes waiting times, loops and rework

Process Mining

– like an X-ray for your processes

– shows how data actually flows through your systems – not how you think it does

If you don’t take a brutally honest look at your current state,

you just rebuild your chaos digitally – with a nicer UI.

👉 Challenge:

Take one week and map your most important business process on a whiteboard. No PowerPoint, no polished Visio.

You’ll be surprised how many “workarounds” you find instead of real processes.

Phase 3 – Design: Bureaucracy Stays Bureaucracy – Even When It’s Digital

A common mistake:

Copying your existing processes 1:1 into the new system.

The result: a feature monster nobody likes to use.

Example from plant engineering:

The product release process had 8 approval steps. From idea to release it took 12 weeks.

In the first workshop we asked:

“What would happen if we removed step 3 and 6?”

First: shock.

Then: discussion.

Finally: insight – those two steps were historical, but no longer needed.

After the clean-up:

4 weeks instead of 12.

Same quality, three times faster.

What has to happen in the design phase:

• ruthlessly remove unnecessary approvals and loops

• run lean workshops with the teams (“greenfield design”)

• create a future-state process that can carry growth – not just copy the status quo into a new tool

A digital process with 15 clicks is not better than an analogue one with 15 signatures. It’s just bad in a different way.

👉 Reflection:

Which of your core processes would look completely different if you designed it again today from scratch – without “we’ve always done it this way”?

Phase 4 – Implementation: Big Bang = Big Fail

“On Monday we’ll switch everything.

All systems, all processes, all 500 employees at once.”

These are the famous last words of many IT projects.

I once saw a mid-sized company trying to switch 47 modules, 12 locations, 300 users over one weekend.

Monday, 8 a.m.:

• production down

• helpdesk overloaded

• management in panic

The project ended up costing three times more and took 18 months longer than planned.

Today, I work differently.

At one machine builder we started only with BOM management. Ten users, one module.

After four weeks adoption was so high that other departments asked:

“When will we get this as well?”

Principle:

• start small

• collect feedback

• adjust

• roll out the next wave

Darwin was right:

It’s not the strongest that survive, but the most adaptable.

That’s just as true for IT and PLM projects.

👉 Thought experiment:

If you had to split your next project into ten small stages – what would you start with?

Phase 5 – Go-Live: Technology Rarely Convince People. People Convince People.

“The new system is running perfectly!”

“So why is everyone still working in Excel?”

In 15 years I’ve seen very few projects fail because of technology.

But many failed because of people.

People are not software modules. They have:

• habits

• fears

• pride

They ask themselves:

• “Will I still be needed?”

• “Can I learn this?”

• “What happens if I make mistakes?”

At one company the new ERP/CRM had already been live for years.

Then they added project management on top.

Two months after go-live: 30% usage rate. Project owners were clinging to their old tools.

Engineers didn’t want to give up their trusted spreadsheets.

What actually helps:

• 100% visible support from management – not just in speeches

• a clear change story: Why are we doing this? What’s in it for me?

• role-based training instead of 200 features for everyone

key users who can honestly say:

“I never want to go back to the old system.”

A system that nobody accepts is a data graveyard from day one.

👉 Reflection:

In your last rollout – how much time and budget did you invest in technology, and how much in people, communication and training?

Phase 6 – Stabilisation: Go-Live Is the Beginning, Not the End

The classic line:

“Project completed. System is live. On to the next initiative!”

Six months later:

“Why is nobody really using this?”

We treat go-live like a finish line.

In reality it’s the starting signal.

One company I worked with did it differently:

First 6 months: only stabilise core processes. Fix issues, offer support.

Then: quick wins – automated reports, small workflows that saved real time.

After 18 months: integrations and intelligent evaluations on top.

What started as a “necessary evil” turned into a business-critical asset.

The difference? They had a roadmap – not just for go-live, but for the next 3 years.

Like any good relationship, a system needs attention, maintenance and growth to thrive.

👉 Strategy question:

Do you have a 3-year roadmap for your key systems – or are they just “running somehow”?

Conclusion: Structure Creates Predictability. Chaos Eats Budgets.

Planned: “12 months, €300k.”

Reality: “24 months, €1.8 million – and nobody is really happy.”

The reason is rarely the “evil software”.

It’s the missing framework.

The most successful projects I’ve seen all followed the same pattern:

• Define clear goals

• Truly understand current processes

• Design lean processes instead of digital bureaucracy

• Implement iteratively, not in a big bang

• Bring people along, don’t just install systems

Stabilise & optimise, instead of disappearing after go-live

Simple? No.

Doable? Yes – if you lead it.

What’s Your Next Move?

If you are:

• planning a PLM/ERP/MES project,

• stuck in an implementation that is going off the rails,

• or have the feeling your systems are working against you, not for you,

then an honest outside perspective is often worth a lot.

I support companies in machinery and plant engineering as an interim project manager exactly in these situations – from clarifying goals through design and implementation to stabilisation.

If you want your next project to be something other than a blind flight:

Send me a message or book a short project check. We’ll look at your situation – and you’ll walk away with clear, concrete next steps.