Riordan Manufacturing Critical Essay

Running Head: Process Design for Riordan Manufacturing Process Design for Riordan Manufacturing: Inception to Production Planning Writer’s Name Course Name, Semester No, Class Level Supervisor Name September 23, 2009 Introduction The present paper discusses the proposal package for Riordan which handles each step of electric fans from inception to production. It includes the material requirement planning phase of fans being manufactured at the China Plant. There is further analysis of existing process for the production of the Riordan electric fans.

It provides the basic outline for designing the new process to remove the bottleneck in the process to optimize it for meeting the demands of customer by supply-chain concepts. Production forecast for the Riordan electric fans is discussed along with implementation plan of Lean Production using Gantt Charts. Finally, cover letter describes the coordination of aggregate operations planning and suggested TQM process to define the strategic objective of the company. The MRP for the Manufacturing of the Riordan Electric Fans

The China plant of Riordan Manufacturing is the production unit which applies material requirement planning to meet the time-phased requirement of material for assembled units or fan production operations. Raw materials are collected at receiving departments. These are processed to make it suitable for molding departments. The molded unit acts as input for trimming department which can be selectively used for creating further parts. Sometimes, it can become waste by-products. The trimmed parts are assembled at the assembly department to create higher components.

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These components are handled at packaging department. The shipping department supplies the packaged units of electric fans for distribution unit. (University of Phoenix, 2009). There are scrap materials from each department which is creating a concern for the firm. There is need of minimizing the waste products from each operational unit to reduce the cost of fan production. The manufacturing unit in Hangzhou, China uses these spare parts to create customized products. There are issues in achieving the periodic orders to supply the number of fans as the production plan is based on yearly demand of electric fans.

The lack of definite pattern in order leaves the gap in assessing the exact material requirement on the short notice. The management team of company is concentrating on the optimization strategy to improve the process of MRP based on process variability involved in the supply, demand and production of Riordian electric fans. A New Process Design for the Production of the Riordan Electric Fans The current process of Riordian Manufacturing's China plant operation is based on the quantity of fans to be produced.

The local company is supposed to provide the required stock of motors based on the production forecast. But this method of operation is able to deliver only 93% of the stock on time. The company can opt for alternative manufacturers along with existing unit to meet the forecasted production of motors. This will increase the competitiveness among the manufacturing unit and delivery schedule will not have slippages. There are other options of keeping the readymade supplies of motors as inventory unit in Riordian inventory itself. But it will increase the inventory cost.

Since plastic polymer used in electric fans has plenty of supplies, the lower stock of plastic polymer can balance the cost to reduce the financial burden due to extra stock of motors. Flow Chart for Existing Production Process of Riordian Electric Fans In above paragraph, few options have been considered for improving the existing production process of Riordian Electric fans. The key processes involved in the material plan requirements and the supply chain process in China manufacturing unit can improve the efficiency of production plan in cost effective manner.

Lean production using just-in-time system can be very effective in operation processes along with better strategic planning for meeting the demand of customer. A supply chain for the electric fans The Supply Chain Management process is at the very center of all the core operational processes of a company. It plays the role of a central nervous system regulating the product flow by managing the associated information flow that runs through a company. It has very strong linkages with major core processes like product development management, purchasing management and customer relationship management.

For instance, the linkage between the Riordian Electric fan development management process and the Supply Chain Management process is bi-directional: on one side, the product development process feeds the Supply Chain Management process with the electric fans introduction plans and engineering change notices on bill of materials and routings, while in return the Supply Chain Management process provides the product development process with the supply chain constraints that need to be considered when scheduling the development of fans, in order to make sure that these products will hit the market at the right time.

It will provide the Riordan Manufacturing an edge in the market over other rival companies. (Chase, 2006). Outsourcing is one of the approach to offshoot the responsibility and decision criteria to other companies which can take care of the several components of the supply-chain. The inventory management process can reduce the cost of operating firm’s own distribution center from remote location which is huge relief in handling the logistics (Polakoff, 2009).

Global product sourcing and mass customization is also one of the feasible options which provides the procurement process with the future purchasing requirements that have been derived from the demand and production plans, while the procurement process provides in return visibility on supply constraints - in other words quotas imposed by suppliers - that need to be considered to generate valid supply chain plans. It also reduces the cost of procurement which is available at lower price in other countries. “Companies must turn a resilient supply chain into a competitive advantage” (Industrial Week, p. 0, 2009). The supply chain process can concentrate on inventory management process in the system to fulfill the order requested (Chase, 2006). Riordan focuses on management of inventory from raw material to completion of finished product. It is necessary for tracking the quality and need of inventory in timely manner to extract optimum performance from supply-chain process. The network topology of supply-chain should be well-connected in identifying the adequate supply of materials for production of electric fans as well as forecasting the future production sales (Chase, 2006).

The categorization of product helps in ordering the right amount of parts from the concerned supplier. The improvement in measurement process is deciding factor in raising the customer satisfaction index with sufficient cost reduction which is the primary objective of the Riordian business strategy. A production forecast for the Riordan electric fans The plant’s production forecast is based on the theory of moving averages. China’s manufacturing unit takes care of electric motors and plastic polymers required for production of fans.

The demands for next year production are calculated on the basis of average sales for the last three years which is projected for the coming year (Riordan, 2006). This plant also takes care of customized version of electric fans for individual customer on small scale. The estimation of cost for planning, scheduling, production and delivery is based on order requirement of yearly production rather than forecasted early to meet the demands in effective manner. (Riordan, 2006). These products are supplied to US customers.

Adoption of lean production process is supposed to be the best business strategy to respond to the market needs to introduce the right product at right time in right place with right quantity to follow perfect workflow of execution by reducing waste and flexibility to respond to the changes (Shields, 1999). An Implementation Plan for the Riordan Electric Fans [pic] Plan for Lean Production can be implemented in two phases. First phase will be called Project A which is duration of implementation for pilot project. It has been divided into four tasks.

Task A1 will consist of team formation and top management approval with basic outline for project and definition of roles and responsibilities for the implementation of project. Task A2 consists of selection of tool for implementation for pilot project which will be used in Phase 2 also for Project B. Training on tools and requirement gathering for the lean production in China plant will happen between 19th February, 2010 and 18th March, 2010. Task A3 consists of actual implementation of Lean production applying JIT from 26th March, 2010 to 24th April 2010. Total quality management process is under Task A4.

It will be the duration of quality control and troubleshooting in production support. Project B will be the actual implementation of Lean Production in the China Manufacturing plant on the holistic basis. It will follow similar process to pilot project A. Task B1 will be the extension of pilot project in real production environment which will require gathering of requirement for workshop between 19th March, 2010 to 14th April, 2010. Task B2 consists of implementation of functionality using JIT system from 16th April, 2010 to 12th June, 2010. Task B3 of TQM and maintenance will happen between 16th May, 2010 and 14th July, 2010.

A Cover Letter detailing how you will coordinate aggregate operations planning and TQM for the Riordan electric fans Date:- Sender’s Address:- Recipient’s Address:- Dear CEO, We are pleased to introduce the proposal for implementation of Lean production and TQM for improving the Process Design of Riordan Manufacturing. There are various options to track the current operational process in the firm. The selection of right tools for Lean Production and quality can provide insight regarding the material requirement planning and strategy to meet the demands of periodic order besides the current forecasting based on yearly demand.

There will be two phase of implementation. Pilot project will identify all the bottlenecks in the process of forecast demand and production plan to achieve the balance to satisfy the quantity of Riordian electric fans ordered by the customer. The final implementation will extrapolate the results of pilot project to forecast the demand of next year in optimal way. Defect prevention, quality issues, enhancement in production process, cost reduction and other project parameters will be captured by applying the concepts of six sigma using pareto charts and other relevant statistical measurement analysis.

Please let me know your feedback on the proposal. If there are any changes required or suggestions for altering the structure, please e-mail me XXXX@XXXX. com or call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Sincerely, ------------------- References Chase, Richard B. , Jacobs, F. R. , & Aquilano, Nichlas J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed. ). New York: McGraw-Hill. Krajewski, Lee J. , & Ritzman, Larry P. (2005), Operations Management: Processes and Value Chains. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Shields, T. (1999). Tutorials - lean production / lean manufacturing.

Defense Aquisition University. Retrieved September 23, 2009, from http://www. dau. mil/educdept/mm_dept_resources/navbar/lean/01rdg-lean. asp University of Phoenix (2009). Riordan manufacturing virtual organization. Retrieved September 23, 2009, from Apollo Group, Inc. , Week Four, OPS571- Operations Management. ----------------------- Order for plastic polymer from local supplier N END Produce the Riordan Electric Fan Is plastic polymer available? Use the motors for manufacturing Order the no of motors required for meeting the supply Is supply of Motors enough? Manufacturing of Electric Fans at Riordan START Y Y N

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