On January 28, 2008, American LaFrance, an American emergency and vocational vehicle manufacturer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, blaming an ERP implementation project failure as a main factor leading to the bankruptcy.
American LaFrance was one of the oldest fire apparatus manufacturers in the United States founded in 1873 but with roots going back to approximately 1832. In 2005, the company was the fifth largest manufacturer of emergency vehicles in North America. The company was bought by Freightliner LLC in 1995 and in 2005 it was sold to investment firm, Patriarch Partners, LLC.
American LaFrance, for a number of years up until the sale in 2005, had relied on the use of its parent company Freightliner. For a period of time after the disposition, the company continued to use Freightliner systems on an outsourced basis for its accounting, inventory, payroll and manufacturing process services. To replace the Freightliner based systems, American LaFrance commenced the development of a new standalone ERP system contracting with IBM Corp. and IBM Global Services for the development and implementation of the new system.
The bankruptcy filings listed a number of problems with the new system and the system conversion that American LaFrance cited as critically impacting its ability to operate which in turn led to its bankruptcy.