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Running head: RIORDAN MANUFACTURING Riordan Manufacturing BSA/310 BSA/310 Week Four Assignment Riordan Manufacturing Summary Riordan Manufacturing was founded by Dr. Riordan, a professor of chemistry who started Riordan Plastic Incorporated in the year 1991. At first, the company’s main focus was on research and development along with licensing any and all Riordan Manufacturing’s current patents. In 1992 Dr. Riordan bought a fan manufacturing plant in Pontiac, MI. and had the plants name changed to “Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. ” In 1993, Dr.
Riordan bought another manufacturing plant in Albany, GA and the company expanded into the production of plastic beverage containers. In the year 2000 is when the company took its most recent expansion to China, moving the fan facility from Michigan to China. At which time all parts and tools were switched out to accommodate the custom plastic parts company. Riordan Manufacturing currently employs 550 workers in four different locations and earns approximately $46 million yearly. Some of its products include but are not limited to: ? Plastic Bottles ? Fans – All sizes ? Heart Valves Medical Stints ? Custom Plastic Parts Though Riordan Manufacturing has seen success since beginning operations, there are still important improvements needed. This analysis is written to identify necessary changes needed to make Riordan Manufacturing a more efficient operating company. Human Resources The Human Resources Department (HR) is a very important department. In this a team of employees manages the day-to-day operation. The HR Department has responsibilities for but not limited to: ? Employee Relations ? Training and Development ? Benefits ? Compensation ? Organizational development
Human resources are a multifaceted part of any company, an integral process of a path for success. By hiring a strong staff Riordan Manufacturing will succeed. The same goes with software programs; companies need a good and reliable business system that is made for companies like Riordan Manufacturing, to have a successful company. A review of the intranet site for Riordan Manufacturing revealed that the site is in need of company-related information. The company uses a system called Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), which was installed in 1992 as a part of the financial systems package.
Tracking information has been somewhat successful for Riordan Manufacturing. Personnel information has been limited by the programs acceptance of data, due to the limitations of the program; only essential information is used. The HRIS system keeps track of employee information such as: • Personal information (such as name, address, marital status, birth date, etc. ) • Pay rate • Personal exemptions for tax purposes • Hire date • Seniority date (which is sometimes different than the hire date) • Organizational information (department for budget purposes, manager’s name, etc. • Vacation hours (for non-exempt employees) All important employee information is separated into classifications; the training and development specialist department keep employee-training records, while individual managers keep employee files. Prospective employee information such as resumes is filed in a central storage area and an Excel spreadsheet is used to track the status of applicants. Riordan uses an outsourced third party for all insurance needs including the need for Worker’s compensation. Suggestions
Riordan Manufacturing needs to update the Human Resource Department; personnel within the department need to be given classes on basic computer usage. The department will have a business system installed that will track all the information of the employees and compile the data, and send alerts to HR of important relevant changes in the personnel’s file. The system will need to handle legal issues that may arise from time to time, a system that will keep track of new laws affecting the hiring and firing and the each day operations of the company.
In an era that has long gone bye, machines have taken over the process of tracking an employee’s information. Thus HR will create an information specialist position(s) to input the information of an employee when he or she is first hired, then the computer will use that number to route information to the necessary programs for data storage. This business system will need to do all the tasks that once were done by the HR personnel. Some basic hardware will be needed for each of the personnel in the HR office; this will include but is not limited to, systems upgrade, data removal, transfer and storage.
All the hardware will work on a supervisor network that will link all equipment to the supervising computer of that department. This computer will be where all levels of access to the network by personnel of HR will be assigned. Keeping the department on an independent network from other departments in the company is a security feature that is needed to control the access points of personnel information. Though the network will be isolated, the isolation will be only on information that is outsourced.
The information that is not personal, Example would be the companies shared drive, will be where the network is accessible by all departments of the company. This will allow managers the ability to add information in personnel files such as employee reviews, training completed, and any incidents involving personnel. Though a supervisor computer is in control of the department desktops a main cache will be used to house the information of the H. R. Department and all personnel’s computers on the network will report all information to that computer.
This task will be done at a predetermined time by the company and not by the H. R. Department. All control over the H. R. network is done through the I. T. department and from company headquarters. The same system that operates the H. R. Department will have software installed in each independent desktop. The software will be designed to handle the task of each person within the H. R. office, this process will allow for a step-by-step order of actions that can be tracked through each personnel’s desktop by using an identification code assigned to the desktop.
Software will be added for updating current software that is not up-o-date- Along with that Microsoft Office Applications, Ad-Aware, Roxio, Adobe and other software programs as well. Legal In charge of the company’s patent applications at Riordan Manufacturing are Mr. Bradford and Rick Ethridge. Lowell Bradford, Chief Legal Counsel, has many legal ties with Riordan Manufacturing. Mr. Bradford reviews all maters for Riordan Manufacturing. All contracts have to pass by him for his approval before they can be signed. Mr.
Bradford receives all legal questions from Department Heads because of his background or waits till he talks it over with the attorneys at Litteral & Finkel, the law firm retained by Riordan Manufacturing. Litteral & Finkel is a large international law firm that practices all over the world. The firm also deals with tax issues and real estate matters, with the approval from Mr. Bradford. Litteral & Finkel has the advantage of getting a team of attorneys, paralegals and clerks to any legal issues that may arise. Sales and Marketing
Riordan Manufacturing has several business systems in place, which regard to its Sales and Marketing department. The company keeps track of historical sales, past marketing research, past marketing plans, past design awards, sales, production records, profit and loss statements by item and group, marketing budget, marketing communications activities, and marketing research expenditures. To remain competitive, efficient, and profitable Riordan Manufacturing has identified areas that require improvement. Suggestions The sales and marketing division of Riordan Manufacturing has critical business systems issues to address.
The main issue is that the company has historical records saved in numerous databases as well as on paper. The company is wasting time and money not updating these systems. The company also needs to implement a new financial software programs for all locations. Doing so will decrease the amount of money the company is spending on the financial systems and according to the last Income Statement put out by the company they need to reduce the company’s costs. Riordan plans on reaching $50,000,000 in revenue over the next two years, to do this implementing a system would be required.
The new system would need all of the historical data to be entered into the database. This would allow corporate to see a more accurate picture of sales and to would enhance the customer experience. This new system could predict future needs, and create an approach for entering the sales data into a central system by the sales team members. Adding this new system will give the information needed by management to make improvements in a shorter time. Current Riordan’s sales plan offers incentives to sales team members for reaching or exceeding sales quotas.
With the existing customer that account for up to 60% of the total amount for the company to reach the $50 million dollar mark the company realize that a consultative sales approach is needed. Information Technology The first area that will be addressed is the move that the company is planning in China. Riordan Manufacturing has come to a cross road where a foreign operations center has become to expensive to operate the facility in the current location and will now have to address the situation and make corrections. This will help to eliminate the unnecessary costs and improve rofit. The I. T. department will build a business system that will have a main operations center that can provide the production facility the ability to operate free of the main business system in the continental United States. The business system will have access to the operating programs via the Internet, intranet, and through operational programs in the corporate headquarters. The facility in China has an isolated type of existence due to location and political influence; the business system will need to address those two very key points during the architecture part of the design.
An Enterprise Resource Planning system will be idyllic for the production facility. The system will connect all aspects of operation resources; the resources included are the human resources, financial, supply chain, projects department, customer service, marketing, and manufacturing departments. The China division will be allowed to continue the same processes that have been incorporated into the duties of the personnel daily operating procedures. Accounting software modules needed to build the programming in the business system will include but not limited to a general ledger, inventory, time, accounts payable, expense, and payroll.
The programs are limited to the facilities operational needs. An ERP will be utilized in each business system at each of the other production facilities. The programs will be the same as that of China; this is to alleviate expenditure resulting from separate offices in the same department handling the same task. The facilities operating systems are self-contained with all facilities sending and receiving data at set periods to and from the main frame of the business system that is located in the company headquarters.
The headquarters ERP will include additional accounting software beyond that of the satellite production facilities. The additional programs are, but not limited to, expense, collections, billing, accounts receivable, and payroll. Corporate business system has the additional accounting programs due to the ability that this location possesses to make decisions as the executive managers and executive officers occupy the location. Training and support of the I. T. will come from the corporate headquarters information technology department personnel.
Training modules, video supported data, and I. T. personnel in each of the satellite offices will do follow up procedures in accordance to the individual systems operating procedures (ISOP). Conclusion Since opening the doors for business at Riordan Manufacturing Incorporated back in the year of 1992 Riordan Manufacturing has grown exponentially. The company has since opened three satellite facilities in the continental US and has moved operations of one of the facilities to an over seas facility in a politically challenged country.
While Riordan has been able to operate all facility’s on an outdated accounting program in a limited business system, the growth of the company has brought concerns that an update of all operating systems is necessary. This is due to the operations of Riordan Manufacturing growing into a larger corporation with many different types of products and many different human resource issues since venturing overseas. References University of Phoenix, Initials. (2006). Riordan manufacturing. from Website: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Riordan/RioMfgHome002. htm