Riordian_Manufacturing_Process_Design

Riordan Manufacturing Process Design Yineida Colón Vázquez University of Phoenix OPS/571 Gerald D. Blayne Riordan Manufacturing Process Design Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is an industry leader in the field of plastic injection molding that creates innovative plastics designs with international reputation. The company’s main goal is to fulfill customer’s unique needs with a variety of quality products as plastics bottles, all sizes fans, heart valves, medical stents and custom plastics parts. Being a worldwide recognizes company, Riordan have gain reputation around the world. This paper is going to discuss areas of opportunity particularly for the plant located in china with recommendations of a whole new process design that will help the organization perform better. We are going to discuss organizations Material production requirement (MRP) involving the supply chain for the creation of the fans and production forecasts. The main purpose is to create a new process design that will help overcome areas where the organization is not performing well including poor supplier performance and poor methods of distribution. Material Production Requirement Riordan System and Benefits One of the biggest challenges that Riordan manufacturing have with the China plant is its location. The China plant is the only one located overseas even though it serves the United States as well. The challenge of location is affecting the organization performance in supply and distribution. However, the best decision will not be relocate the plant because Riordan is taking advantage of lower labor cost in China. This global opportunity of locating this plant overseas helps Riordan to save in labor cost. For instance in order to fix the problem of supply and distribution of the fans, Riordan needs to implement a system that will help them to get the right materials to the right place at the right time. This system is what we called the Material Production Requirement or MRP and for Riordan we are going to call it AVANICO. “The main purposes of a basic MRP system are to control inventory levels, assign operating priorities for items, and plan capacity to load the production system” (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano, p. 635) By having a system that will keep track orders, determine how much needs to be produce, when it needs to be delivered to arrive on time but most of all plan for capacity, Riordan will overcome the challenge of poor supply and distribution. AVANICO will work together with a master production schedule. “The master production schedule (MPS) is the time-phased plan specifying how many and when the firm plans to build each end item” (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano, p. 634). Base on contract received the MPS will calculated and determine when the plan needs to build and have the finish product. Since the MRP will control inventory and number of parts needed to produce the final good and MPS will control the time, Riordan will have the two components needed to have enough inventory and to finish the product on time. New Process Design To avoid overstock of inventory and to develop fans that aren’t needed, makes to order process will be implemented in the China’s plant. The make to order process focus on orders placed. In Riordan’s China plant for instance the make to order process will be determine by contracts received or orders placed by customers. The MRP together with a Just in time type of inventory control will avoid lacks of supply because what is needed is being manufactured. In addition, the organization in order for the process to be efficient needs to measure quality, variations in performance and metrics involved in the supply chain to arrive to the finished product. Since the process is any set of activities performed by an organization that that takes inputs and transform them into outputs, Riordan’s China plant will perform base on process and the creation of the fans will follow to be more effective the make to order type. Make to order and supply chain for electric fans In Riordan’s China plant the supply chain starts when the contract is being negotiated with the customer for the custom order of the fan wanted. After the contract is signed the process continues with the selection of the parts needed to create the particular goods needed. One the parts are selected the manufacturing of the fan begins and quality of the product is monitored in order to develop it at higher standards to fulfill customers’ needs. The whole process will take an average of 21 days to be completed and delivered to the customer. Once the delivery is made, the organization will request feedback from the customers to determine levels of satisfaction and evaluate if process used is working. In this supply chain the main purpose is to satisfy the customer by providing a quality product that fulfills their needs and their particular requests. With the MRP system, Riordan will have control on their specific parts to be used for the order and the right materials will be used to produce the right product to the right place at the right time. Gantt chart The Gantt chart will illustrate the amount of time involved and the sequence in which activities can be performed (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano, p. 77) For Riordan’s electric fan the Gantt chart is below. From the negotiation of the contract until the start up of the manufacturing process takes an average of 6 days. However certain process can be started even though one is not decided yet like for example parts selecting and manufacturing plan. Forecast in Riordan Manufacturing Forecast is essential for every organization and the main purpose is to plan for the future, plan for budget and control costs. Since make to order process will be used in Riordan’s ‘ China plant to produce the electric fans, forecast for production will not be used because goods to be manufactured will be base on orders received. However, the organization must used forecasting in other areas like marketing, accounting and operations personnel. Every organization will determine in which area will be best to use forecasting. The China plant used to forecast production base on past production, however was not the best practices because demand change overtime. For instance, forecasting for Riordan Manufacturing will not focus on goods made but demand to determine pricing, personnel, incentives/salaries and sales forecasts/revenues. Forecasts made will be compare periodically with organizations performance to determine if the trade lines are matching what it was predicted and if in some way the organization is being impacted positively or negatively. Conclusion Process selection in an organization is crucial for the supply chain to flow effectively and the organization to perform effectively. Riordan’s China Plant had many challenges that with the right selection of methods can be changed and improved. Supply, delivery and location where some of the challenges and bottlenecks involved in the company’s current process. For instance the best way to eliminate them where to implement an MRP, a make to order process and a define supply chain that will meet customers’ demands meet customer expectations.. References Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano. (2005). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, 11e. Available from http://ecampus.phoenix.edu. University of Phoenix. (2010). Riordan Manufacturing Simulation. Retrieved June 20, 2010, from University of Phoenix, Week Four, OPS/571—Operations Management Web site.