Case Studies

Picture: Nestlé Australia

In 2005, Nestlé began the rollout of a global business excellence program which included a transition to the SAP enterprise set of procurement, distribution and sales management systems to its markets – the largest infrastructure project it had undertaken to date, affecting nearly 6,000 employees at 20 separate sites across Australia and New Zealand.

Successful implementation would mean no interruption to Nestlé customers at the same time as delivering all projected revenue, sales and growth targets for the year. Implementing and going live carried with it the risk of major disruption to the business if employees did not embrace change actively in all areas.

Impact worked with Nestlé to combat resistance to change, developing and implementing a collaborative, creative and a phased engagement solution, quickly building employee support. Tailored engagement sessions at each site leading to real communication ownership at site level and the use of former Australian cricket captain, Steve Waugh, as a celebrity ambassador to front the campaign, were vital in ensuring a successful launch across the business.

The campaign achieved its over-riding objective of generating a positive environment and fostering a winning attitude, with Australia and New Zealand being Nestlé’s fastest, most successful implementation globally. Productivity was maintained throughout, notably also ensuring the company’s 11 factories and five distribution centres were back to full production levels in only seven days from ‘go live’, substantially less than the average. The company’s head office in Switzerland described it as ‘the best it had seen’.