Riordan Manufacturing - Computers and Information Processing

Riordan Manufacturing has manufacturing plants in San Jose, California, Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan and Hangzhou, China. The plants have a working procedure for inventory management and control designed for the receiving of raw materials, tracking products during manufacturing, and accounting for the finished good inventories. The Albany plant is responsible for the manufacturer of plastic bottle containers. The Pontiac facility is responsible for the custom plastic parts and Hangzhou manufacturers plastic fan parts. The San Jose facility is the corporate headquarters and houses the Research and Development department and requires minimal improvement to its inventory management.

Riordan Manufacturing can better achieve its goal of $50 million in sales revenue by implementing a computer system aiming to make inventory management run at 96-99% effectiveness. The goal can be achieved by lowering the operating cost and incorporating an automated inventory process to ensure consistency and quality control at all Riordan's manufacturing plants. An efficient inventory management process will allow the manufacturing departments to operate without any delay of the needed material needed for manufacturing. By eliminating shortages or surpluses from the supply chains, the process will accurately be fulfilled for forecasted sales and/or normal operations.

A meeting with Vice President of Operations, Mark Neitzel and Vice President of International Operations, Charles Williamson has been arranged to begin the preliminary analysis of the existing inventory management process at all manufacturing plants. Along with both VP's respective Directors and their teams, a collaborative effort from all divisions involved will allow the goals to be met.

Riordan Manufacturing can better achieve its goal of $50 million in sales revenue by implementing a more efficient computer system. The use of an automated inventory computer system will aim to make inventory management run at 96-99%. In order for the implementation to meet expectations there are several business requirements that will need to be met. These requirements include updated and increased hardware, updated and/or new inventory focused software and training/education of employees.

In order for the warehouses to run more efficiently there needs to be an increase in the quality and sophistication of the computer systems. Inventory scanners will be needed in order to implement a quick, error proof inventory tracking system when new products arrive or leave the warehouses. These scanners will need to work in conjunction with modern computers of reasonable speed so that there is not lag time between scanning the items. This scanning system will reduce the amount of inventory over-accounted or unaccounted for due to human error. It will also reduce the number of employees needed to check in items and will eliminate the need of dock workers to report back to the data entry clerk every time there is a change in inventory status.

The next business requirement for a more efficient inventory system is a good, all-inclusive inventory software system. The system should automate the process so that with every scan the inventory is accounted for and human interaction is not necessary. The software should be intelligent and have customizable features that cater to the industry needs of Riordan manufacturing. The software will track inventory in and out of the warehouse, alert users when more inventory or supplies are needed and track cost and profitability. The use of intelligent software will eliminate the need to rely on employee accuracy and will improve tracking and revenue.

The last requirement that is very crucial is training and education of employees. Warehouse employees will need to be trained on the new process of scanning inventory. They will need to be sure that all inventory is scanned properly and learn to recognize scanner clues that it is reading the inventory barcodes correctly. Data entry