Tracking Raw Material and Work in Process

Business requirements

Tracking Raw Material and Work in Process:

To maintain a maximum, efficient level of raw material as well as lowest costs for production is essential for the production department.

o A system which can estimate and track the optimum level of raw material reduces the cost for production procedure,

o It must be able to monitor the storage level of raw material and communicate with the public demand for drugs as well.

o The system should also provide a shared database between ECOLI and its suppliers, to shorten the time of ordering and delivery raw material.

o Since some of the raw materials are intermediate goods buy from suppliers, the system must have a capacity which can monitor the production procedures and materials suppliers use, to avoid suppliers to charge a higher price.

o The system should have a historical disease database. Since lots of important chemical materials are extracted from fossil fuel, the company needs to store extra fuel in order to handle disastrous diseases (SARS, bird flu, etc.) base on past historical trends. This storage strategy can also get rid of the risk of price increasing.

o Chemical raw material has very strict requirements on surrounding environment. Thus, the system must be able to sort chemical raw material by their characters (temperature, smell, chemical property), to reduce the probability of chemical inter-pollution since they have very strict requirements on surrounding environment.

o The system should records all information of raw material, including the name, purchase date, opened date and expire date, to lower the turn over rate and the unnecessary waste of raw material.

o The system should have a function to monitor water quality. Drugs produced with non-sterile water is defective, and must be destroyed because they may already been polluted.

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers should be carefully selected based on the qualities and prices of the raw material as well as their reputation.

o An information system should list all contracted suppliers and their business scopes. If one of supplier couldnÐŽ¦t deliver the raw material on time due to unexpected reasons, the company can contact alternative supplier quickly, and the whole production process wonÐŽ¦t be delayed.

o The system should records all business transactions between ECOLI and its suppliers. Suppliers who had unethical records (using expensive materials to earn profit) cannot be used again.

Quality Control

o In order to shorten the inspection time on outputs, the system should be able to instantly summarize the inspection results of the testing sample and keep the quality controllers informed of the most updated quality of outputs.

o In order to achieve the drug regulation compliances, the system should be very flexible to add or delete some check-points whenever new legislations on drug manufacturing have released.

o The system should also build up a platform for drug developer and front-line producing workers to communication by means of particular messaging areas in the system. Based on the real production process, developer can improve the production efficiency and ingredients in the future.

Warehousing

o Soon after the production, products should also be well kept before delivery. Assuming ECOLI stores all the final products in one single big warehouse, on which shelf to locate in such an overwhelmed warehouse is very important. If the designated areas are full, the newly produced goods should be placed in some spare areas, which however will bring inconvenience to the pick-up staff that are looking for the extra amount urgently. Thus, the system should be efficient enough to keep track of the available areas of the designated shelves as well as the spare areas such that workers are able to make the correct placement at the first attempt.

Data Requirements

Inventory information:

Raw material:

o Information includes quantities, prices, storage level, chemical characters, purchase date, expiration date

o The information is needed mainly for the procurement department, production department and warehouse department. Those data are needed to avoid excess shortage of material or excess in storage.

o Use the data to lower the turnover rate causing by inter-pollution.

Product:

o Quantities, price, storage level and location are requirements for product inventory.

o Production department and sales personnel are those who need the data. Production employees have to control