Riordan Inventory and Manufacturing Process Improvement Business Requirements
Service Request SR-rm-001 has been requested by COO Hugh McCauley of Riordan
Manufacturing. McCauley has asked that Team D suggest specific systems changes that
would improve their inventory or manufacturing processes. Riordan would like to use
computer system utilization so that they may become more efficient. Our Team has been
asked to create business requirements for system upgrades and improvements for either IT
or IS consultants use.
During review of the Riordan Manufacturing Companies Inventory and manufacturing
processes, we have found areas that are in need of improvement. We will discuss the
present processes and how these can be changed to improve the efficiency.
Riordan Manufacturing currently processes the receiving of raw materials by manually
entering the receipt of the materials, which could cause inaccurate information due to
human error. The receipt of this material is not updated in the system until the next day, or
even within the next week, which causes discrepancies to the inventory or raw material.
This process could cause the unnecessary ordering of products not needed. With this new
system, raw materials will be uploaded with a pre-designated number, which would allow
the loading dock personnel to input the receipt of this material. The receiving dock would
have a thin client/handheld computer with the information loaded on it for all of the raw
material that would be received. When the material is received the employee would input
the receipt and quantity. The invoice would then be scanned into the system for accounting
purposes.
When looking at the inventory manufactured, the raw materials are being used and then
reported to an inventory clerk who inputs this information into a system. Again, this is
being done manually and may not be updated to the system for a day to a week later. This
could cause inventory discrepancies such as having either over stock or having a shortage
of material. Incorporating the use of a thin client or a hand held computer in this area, with
the raw materials information and quantity, would allow for an up-to-date account of the
inventory.
The shipping department, at this time, fills the order for the invoice but does not account
for the inventory on the shelves. We are proposing to utilize RFID tags on all inventories
to simplify accountability. With the use of the RFID tags the shipping personnel will be
able to use a handheld computer to scan the tag and subtract it from the inventory. This
