Ops 571 Week 4 Supply Chain Design

Week 4 Supply Chain Design

OPS 571

Team ? Week 4 Supply Chain Design

Team ? will analyze the Riordan Manufacturing Company. The team members will describe Riordan’s manufacturing strategy and explain the strategic benefits. The team will illustrate a process flow diagram for Riordan’s electric supply chain and explain two metrics that evaluate performance of the supply chain. Riordan’s supplier relationship and the effects on the supply chain will be discussed.

Additionally, the members of Team ? will speak on the efficiency and effectiveness of the electric fan supply chain process using lean production principles. This description will include a business forecasting technique for Riordan’s electric fans and detail a sales forecast from this technique. Furthermore, Team ? will develop an aggregate production plan, master schedule, and materials requirement plans for electric fans based off the sales forecast.

Manufacturing Strategy

“Riordan Manufacturing’s China plant operates as a decentralized unit of Riordan Manufacturing” (Riordan Manufacturing, 2015, par. 1). The company maintains a level strategy for its electric fan manufacturing process. Riordan continues a constant workforce to meet its production schedule. The company sustains a safety stock of specific materials to meet order requirements. The “employees benefit from stable work hours at the costs of potentially decreased customer service levels and increased inventory costs” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, pg. 534).

Riordan’s manufacturing strategy “is used to absorb demand fluctuations” and “it is termed a pure strategy” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, pg 534). Although Riordan has contracts with its customers, the organization cannot determine an accurate sales schedule because “a small production lot of the fans is usually scheduled, but under a separate contract” (Riordan Manufacturing, 2015, par. 6).

Process Flow Diagram

Diagram 1. Electric Fan Supply Chain Process Flow

Metrics to Evaluate

Productivity and efficiency are the two metrics used to evaluate Riordan’s electric fan supply chain. “Total factor productivity is usually measured in monetary units, dollars” and “efficiency is a ration of the actual