Almost all of us know Henry Ford. Even if we don't know him personally, we've at least heard his name once.

Although he didn’t invent the car, he invented a great method for producing many cars.

The "Moving assembly line" – a moving assembly line. The unique element of this assembly line was the moving component.

Henry Ford stated that the advantage of using the assembly line was that workers didn’t have to follow the work; the work itself came to them.

Initially, the assembly line was moved with a rope, but later it was replaced with a moving chain mechanism.

This change sped up the process so much that the Model T could be completed in just 90 minutes.

Despite the ease of assembling the cars, workers started leaving Ford Motor Company to work for rival companies.

The reason was that this job forced them to work systematically.

They didn’t like the strict time regime that the assembly line required.

They had to make sure all tasks were completed before the car moved to the next station, and this was difficult for them.

I must note that, in my opinion, Henry Ford was demonstrating the "Agile" approach at that time. Although discussions about the "Agile" approach started sprouting in the 1990s. In short, seeing that his employees were leaving for other companies, Ford offered them a daily salary of up to $5 (at that time, employees were paid $2.25 a day). Everyone thought this would lead the company to bankruptcy, but quite the opposite happened. Ford even reduced each shift's working hours by one hour, creating a third shift. By hiring more workers, he established a 24-hour working regime. As a result, the Model T, which cost $825 in 1908, was sold for only $260 in 1925. In short, the coachmen didn't like Henry Ford because his innovations significantly impacted their industry. The application of mass production techniques revolutionized the automobile manufacturing process, making cars more affordable and accessible to the wider public. As a result, demand for horse-drawn carriages and related services quickly declined. The profession of coachmanship began to lose its significance.

Once an ERP system is implemented in a business, it brings a number of benefits:

• ERP systems automate and simplify business processes between departments.
• It eliminates unnecessary tasks.
• This leads to increased efficiency, reduced errors, and improved productivity.
• It reduces data duplication and inconsistencies.
• It facilitates decision-making.
• Although ERP implementation may initially be expensive, it often results in long-term cost savings.

These were some of the many advantages. There’s much more to discuss about this topic. But now, let me share with you a real experience of the "Coachman Syndrome."

One day, we had a meeting with a company that wanted to implement an ERP system. We met with the operations team. After providing information about our company and discussing our experiences, we decided to learn more about the company's operational principles. We entered the room where three employees were sitting. One was working on operations in Excel, one was issuing paper invoices, and one was handling the accounting part in another program. To summarize, three people were working on the same operation repeatedly. After presenting the ERP system we had implemented and explaining how the work would change, their concerns began to surface. The reason being that at least one of these three people could potentially lose their job. They asked several questions to check how reliable the solution was. Every answer showed how smooth and reliable the process would be.

Why did I share this story?

I call it the "Coachman Syndrome." Here, there’s a fear of losing one's job. In Azerbaijan, sometimes business owners entrust the choice of ERP system to their employees (most often the accountant) to protect their comfort. On the other hand, even if the ERP system is chosen by the business owner, employees may oppose it if their skills are insufficient to work with the system. They hinder the successful implementation of ERP. We’ve probably experienced this syndrome ourselves in schools, universities, or in various work environments. The solution is not to impede ongoing processes, but to improve ourselves.

“Either find a way, or make one, or get out of the way!” - Confucius

This is the point we need to be aware of. If our ultimate goal is to build a system in the business, and if this syndrome is experienced during the process, it must either be treated or replaced. In short, building a system brings discipline. To cope with this, strong immunity is required. The company, as a team, must be ready for every change!