A Production Plan For Riordan Manufacturing
OPS/571 Operations Management
A Production Plan For Riordan
Riordan Manufacturing has a reputation for precision and innovation. As a Fortune 1000
enterprise, Riordan cannot afford to have the issues of bottlenecking affecting their
production. As a result, a detailed analysis of the bottlenecks, the effects, and appropriate
strategic planning were examined. Lean production planning was examined as was new
processes. The details of the new processes also outlined the benefits to the company.
Bottleneck Issues: The Effects
A bottleneck in a process is a specific part which falls short of meeting the demand. The
capacity, which is necessary for that portion of the process does not have the capability of
meeting that demand, has the most lag, or uses the most time or resources. Bottlenecks
lessen the output of a process because the flow of the process is halted or slowed (Chase,
Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006).
Strategic Capacity Planning
Strategic capacity planning involves keeping the system balanced so the output of one
level is the required input of another level. A bottleneck anywhere in this process would
limit the thoroughput time within this system. This is evident in the example of the
Riordan manufacturing of the electric fans. The manufacturing process requires specialized
piece parts and a specialized labor supply with proper knowledge to create the product.
Supply Chain and Lean Production
Supply chain efficiency is measured by how quickly inventory turns over and weeks of
supply. If a bottleneck exists in the supply chain, such as the packaging and shipping of the
inventory, the company could not handle the demand of inventory coming in. Thus, the
capacity of shipping resources would be less than the demand of inventory and a
bottleneck is created (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006). This is true for Riordan. The
plant in Hanghzou, China experienced problems with shipping the inventory out of the
Shanghai port in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Similarly, in lean production a
bottleneck could be a machine, which cannot handle the demand at the proper costs and
resources; subsequently, the process flow diminishes.
Capacity Planning
The ability of an organization to determine its production capacity to meet changes for the
demand of its product is a process known as Capacity planning. Capacity, in this context,
is defined as the maximum output of work that an organization has completed within a
specified time frame. The possibility of inefficiency is inevitable, especially when
resources are under- utilized, or when there is a discrepancy between the organizations
