Dive Transient:
- Lamb Weston named IT veteran Benjamin Heselton its CIO to guide the corporate’s world know-how technique, based on a Wednesday press release.
- Heselton involves the frozen potato merchandise provider after serving in a collection of IT roles at Würth Group for greater than 17 years, together with as CIO. He replaces Sukshma Rajagopalan, who departed the corporate in October to change into head of go-to-market merchandise and know-how at ServiceNow.
- The brand new rent joins Lamb Weston, which counts McDonald’s and Yum! Manufacturers as prospects, at a time of complexity. A multiyear ERP migration created surprising challenges that affected its backside line. It additionally faces market and company shifts, which embrace COO Michael J. Smith stepping in as CEO and president in December after Q2 2025 net sales fell 8% and earnings from operations fell 94% 12 months over 12 months.
Dive Perception:
Heselton brings a deep IT background to the position, with many years of expertise in enterprise intelligence, analytics and utility growth previous to turning into a CIO. Most not too long ago, Heselton served as CTO at Würth IT USA, a newly fashioned IT services subsidiary for Würth Group’s North American operations specializing in SAP tasks.
Lamb Weston has had its own experience with SAP. In 2023, it started transferring its North American operations from a legacy ERP system to SAP S/4HANA however experienced a series of issues, reminiscent of decreased stock visibility at distribution facilities, delayed shipments and order cancellations. In an April 2024 earnings bulletin, the corporate estimated the difficulties affected web earnings by roughly $72 million for its Q3 fiscal 12 months 2024.
Lamb Weston has since surmounted its ERP migration hurdles. Throughout Q3 of its 2025 fiscal 12 months, web gross sales elevated 4% and quantity develop 9% 12 months over 12 months as the corporate “totally changed the mixed regional, small, and retail buyer quantity misplaced within the prior 12 months throughout its transition to a brand new ERP system,” based on an April earnings report. Lamb Weston expects to finish the North American phase of its ERP project in 2026.
The corporate additionally faces challenges past ERP. In October, it announced a restructuring plan to drive operational and price efficiencies that included closing a manufacturing facility and shedding 4% of its world workforce.
