ELYRIA, Ohio--Invacare Corp. announced its fourth-quarter sales and earnings will be below expectations, citing problems with the implementation of a new $20-million enterprise resource planning system.

The company said last week that it expects a revenue shortfall of $30 million for the quarter due to lost revenue from difficulties in processing orders using the new accounting system and an inability to ship products on time. The disruption also has resulted in additional overtime in manufacturing, distribution centers and customer service and added costs in expediting products to customers, the manufacturing giant said.

Net sales for the quarter will likely range from $370 million to $380 million, 3 to 6 percent lower than sales for the fourth quarter last year. For the full year, the company expects a net sales increase between 9 and 10 percent, compared to a prior guidance of between 11 and 12 percent.

Commenting on the results, Invacare Chairman and CEO Mal Mixon said, "Although we are disappointed with the likely fourth-quarter results and the adjustment to previous guidance, the company continues to execute on its previously announced plans to reduce costs and reconfirms that these cost-reduction initiatives should result in annualized pre-tax savings of at least $25 million as Invacare enters 2006. The fourth-quarter impacts of the ERP are disappointing, but this is a one-time event and does not change our outlook for 2006 and beyond of significantly improved profitability arising from our cost-reduction actions."

The company expects major issues with the new system to be resolved by the end of the year. "Our order intake capability has substantially recovered and, with the addition of added processing capacity and a few remaining application refinements, we are confident we will be in a position to offer our customers significantly enhanced service and support early next year," Mixon said.

According to Reuters, the computer system is the second stage of a three-part Oracle Corp. software implementation to automate Invacare's North American home care business.