Riordan Manufacturing Strategic Plan Essay

Riordan’s goals are to reduce costs by 10% and cycle time by 15%. This is increasingly difficult because Riordan has multiple products with varying demands, multiple prices, and capacity requirements. Riordan will use its forecasted sales figures to build a materials and production schedule for 2007 and beyond if needed. This plan must take into consideration existing inventory and resources as well as planned changes. For this plan to be effective, it must be followed closely and clear checkpoints must be defined to provide the flexibility needed to hit cost reduction and cycle time improvement goals.

This proposal has been prepared for Riordan Manufacturing Company by the BSA/375 Learning Team Corporation. We are pleased to provide this proposal and look forward to working closely with members of the Riordan Manufacturing team. After careful analysis and review, we are confident that our recommendations will greatly enhance Riordan Manufacturing and place them firmly in the lead amongst other companies.

Riordan Manufacturing has grown from a small plastics research and development firm to a multinational plastics manufacturing power in the brief span of 14 years. This growth has seen Riordan expand their operation to multiple manufacturing and distribution points across North America and China. Riordan now services over 32 customers of varying size, including automotive parts manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, the Department of Defense, appliance manufacturers, and beverage bottlers. This rapid growth, enabled through a series of acquisitions, an excellent product line, and aggressive sales, has enabled Riordan to increase market share while maintaining excellent customer relations and competitive pricing. However, this growth has

Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastic manufacturing company, employing 550 people. Riordan’s main headquarters in San Jose, California, along with three other plants located at Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan, and Hangzhou China.

Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics producer employing 550 people with projected annual earnings of $46 million. The company is wholly owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise with revenues in excess of $1 billion. Recently, Riordan made several strategic changes in the way it manufactures and markets its products. Because of declining sales and uneven profits over the past two years, Riordan adopted a customer-relationship management (CRM) system. Primarily sales teams instead of single salespeople, with each team focusing on a particular customer segment, now service customers. Teams typically include a sales person, product engineering specialist and customer

Complete Section 3 of the Service Request SR-rm-022 paper for Riordan Manufacturing.. This section incorporates the transition from design to implementation. Consider revising Sections 1 and 2 based on faculty feedback.

Decide which competitive advantages Riordan has in common with the companies researched last week, and estimate which competitive strategies Riordan could use to improve innovation and sustainability of business operations both in the United States and in the global market.

Being a fortune 1000 enterprise and leader in the area of plastic injection molding, Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. has gained international praise on producing new and improved plastic designs with their “state of the art design capabilities.” (Virtual Organization) Riordan Manufacturing’s facilities are located in San Jose, CA; Albany, GA; Pontiac, MI; and Hangzhou, China. Some of their products include: plastic drink containers (GA), tailor-made plastic parts (MI), and plastic fan parts (China). All research and development is done at their corporate office in California. With these resources Riordan Manufacturing can implement most any needs a company may have.

One recommendation is that Riordan should update their information systems to improve on documentation of customer needs assessment. This will help to shape products and solutions that will fit their customer needs. It also can help to improve communication within the supply chain between participants as they are a global operation and perhaps cut costs in the area of carrier costs. Implementation of the JIT can help manufacturers to purchase and receive supplies just before they are needed. Thus it can reduce inventory storage costs for Riordan.

Riordan Manufacturing is a Fortune 1000 enterprise employing 550 individuals and consist of an annual earnings of $46 million along with an excess of $1 billion in revenue. This is being accomplished by the production of plastics in different facilities consisting of: beverages, custom parts, and fan parts. These facilities are located in Albany, Georgia; Pontiac, Michigan; and Hangzhou, China which coordinate with the headquarters that is located in San Jose. The San Jose location is also where the Research and Development of Riordan takes place. These locations create plastic products that are distributed to some manufacturing merchants in the automotive parts, aircraft, beverages and bottlers, and appliances along with providing

Riordan Manufacturing is a worldwide plastics manufacturer that is headquartered in San Jose, California. Their organization has over 500 employees and prides themselves on providing their customers with high quality merchandise to satisfy their plastics needs. They hold an ISO 9000 certification which is an organization that establishes and measures quality control. In order to meet or exceed the level of quality required under ISO standards, Riordan Manufacturing will need to have knowledgeable and skilled

Riordan Manufacturing incorporates the primary characteristics of an organizational culture. Riordan Manufacturing began business in 1992. It has grown into a three location organization. Reviewing financial reports for the last three years, it is both financial efficient and allocates funds to research and development, which aids in keeping a competitive edge. This evidence of stability is also supported by the benefits is offers to employees. Some to the benefits available to employees include 401(k) Saving Plan, Educational Financial Assistance and Flexible Spending Accounts. Offering competitive wages along with these benefits promotes stability in the organization.

Riordan Manufacturing roots and core competency stem from Dr. Riordan’s research and development (R&D) focused business model. The focus on R&D has forged a reputation as a partner of any organization with a need for plastic, polymer, and fan component products. Due to the wide variety of applications of these products Riordan has developed long term relationships in several industries including beverage, medical, and manufacturing. The special focus on research allows Riordan to maintain a strategic advantage over competitors due to the scarcity of knowledge related to the creation of materials that support customer requirements. Riordan’s strategic goals are to:

Riordan Manufacturing has discovered a disturbing trend that has indicated that many of the employees are dissatisfied with immediate supervisors, department managers and local executive managers, who have failed to communicate and supervise in a professional manner. Employee low morale has begun to affect the productivity of the manufacturing company. Many experienced and talented workers have left the company voicing various reasons in exit interviews. Some of these workers have left without giving the company any type notice to quit employment with Riordan Manufacturing. Many of these workers have been discovered working for many of our competitors. This is a risk that must be addressed immediately. Riodan has invested time, training and money to develop many of the workers skill sets that had made them valuable to the company. Riordan manufacturing has been directly impacted by this risk because many of the products that they have produced recently are of low quality and our production levels are extremely low beyond the standard manufacturing levels. A new project has been initiated to address the risk issues involved low employee morale and product quality and quantity.

Unfortunately, a disconnection exists between our executive leadership’s business goals and the current operational structure and manufacturing systems, causing product variability and waste and underutilization of resources and equipment which will only become more acute as the company continues to grow and our product offerings expand. The operations team’s main focus is to increase capacity while reducing costs, but cycle time can never come at the expense of producing high quality products and services. Creating efficiency calls for directed operations and manufacturing that reduces production variability in cycle time, enforces best practices, and insists on error proofing. Processes must be imposed and monitored to guarantee execution against best practices.