Production Plan for Riordan Manufacturing

Production Plan for Riordan Manufacturing

August 5, 2012

Operations Management OPS/571

Darrell Di Fabio

Production Plan for Riordan Manufacturing

Riordan Manufacturing produces electric fans at the Hangzhou plant in China. The company needs to re-evaluate operations and determine a strategic plan to improve the supply chain process, increase or regulate capacity, and realize a more lean production environment. Creating a plan enables the company to perform on a higher level with lower costs. To achieve this goal, Riordan needs to review current production aspects and forecast new production techniques. Riordan will look at areas of strategic planning, capacity, forecasting, and lean production environments to gain a stronger position of producing custom electric fans, and achieve a stronger profit/loss margin.

Current Supply Chain and Capacity Process

Riordan’s China plant currently experiences inadequate order quantities for customized electric fans. “Estimates of follow-on orders for these new custom fans are not forecasted but are based on the customers indicating what their estimated yearly requirements will be…” (University of Phoenix, 2012, Week Four Supplement). Also, “Periodic orders for quantities of fans against the contract's yearly total however are received from customers randomly throughout the year. This makes it difficult for the China Plant to estimate exact material requirements in the very short term since the orders are received randomly and are for varying quantities” (University of Phoenix, 2012, Week Four Supplement). Riordan will review its capacity planning, forecasting methods, and supply chain management to determine how processes can change to enhance operations, decrease wasteful operations, and increase revenues.

New Strategic Capacity Planning for New Process

The purpose of strategic planning is “to provide an approach for determining the overall capacity level of capital-intensive resources –facilities, equipment, and...