Assessing the effects of manufacturing infrastructure preparation prior to enterprise information-systems implementation

Reports on the success or failure of enterprise information system (EIS) implementation have been decidedly mixed. In this study, we focus on manufacturing infrastructure preparation prior to EIS implementation and report the results of a survey of 152 US manufacturing companies that have implemented EIS. We have provided four major findings in this study: (1) the requirements from customers and trading partners are more powerful drivers motivating US manufacturing firms to implementing enterprise systems than internal business planning needs; (2) one manufacturing infrastructural issue often has implications for other infrastructural items in implementing technology, so various manufacturing infrastructural issues should be prepared simultaneously; (3) manufacturing infrastructure preparation prior to EIS implementation has significant positive effects on customer-focused performance, production/operations performance, and financial performance; and (4) better customer-focused performance contributes to better financial performance.