Riordan

Abstract

Riordan Manufacturing Industries a Fortune 1000 enterprise is a global manufacturer for plastics which employs 550 people. Riordan has three manufacturing sites. Albany, Georgia produces plastic beverage containers; Pontiac, Michigan makes customer plastic parts; and Hangzhou, China produces plastic fan parts. Riordan's corporate offices are based in San Jose, California where the research and development also take place. Riordan Manufacturing Industries revenues are in excess of $1 Billion with annual projected earnings in excess of $46 million. Riordan does not have an integrated system implemented that ties these plants together. This paper will discuss Riordan Manufacturing's existing systems and proposed systems.

Riordan Business Analysis

Riordan's mission is to go above and beyond the Six Sigma philosophy, to maintain the leading edge in R&D and to exceed the ISO 9000 standards defining the goals of the company. Riordan is the leading industry using polymer materials to provide solutions for their customer's needs. Its R&D is at the forefront of identifying industry trends. To achieve long-term relationships with its customers, Riordan will continue to up hold an open business attitude, reasonable pricing, meticulous quality controls and innovative solutions. Maintaining innovation and a team oriented environment, employees will be well informed and supported to achieve company goals. Riordan will continue to focus on ways to ensure a growing future of its profitability and workforce.

Finance and Accounting

Description of Request

Riordan Manufacturing now has three different Finance and Accounting systems located at the three operating entities in Georgia, Michigan, and California. The data from these three systems are combined at the corporate site in California. The Finance and Accounting systems at each location contain the following 12 subsystems:

1. General Ledger is the central accounting record. It lists all the credits and debits for Riordan Manufacturing. These consist of revenue, expenses, assets, and liabilities. This system should interact with the Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Sales and Purchasing History, and Payroll systems since it contains data found in these systems. The Financial Reporting system will need to talk to this system to generate reports.

2. Accounts Payable system has the records of the amounts paid out (to suppliers). It should inter-relate with the Procurement system and the General Ledger.

3. Accounts Receivable system has the records of the amounts paid in (from customers). This system should interact with the Invoicing and Shipping system and the General Ledger.

4. Order Entry system is used to input orders from customers. The order information should download to the Invoicing and Shipping system.

5. Procurement system is used to purchase needed supplies such as raw materials and parts. This system must give data to the Accounts Payable system and to the Sales and Purchasing History system.

6. Sales and Purchasing History system stores a record of past sales and purchases. It will get this data from the Procurement system and the Invoicing and Shipping system. It will share the history data with the General Ledger.

7. Invoicing and Shipping system is used to bill customers and includes shipping information. To generate billing, it should download data from the Order system. It also needs to upload data to the Accounts Receivable system and the Sales and Purchasing History system.

8. Payroll system has the records of wages and salaries for all employees. The General Ledger will need this information.

9. Financial Reporting system generates official financial reports (such as the Balance Sheet and Income Statement). It will need to interact with the General Ledger to pull the necessary data.

10. EDI (San Jose location only): The Electronic Data Interchange system allows data to be shared between systems by standardizing structures and formats. This makes it possible to not only share information within the company but allows B2B (Business-to-Business) through inter-relationships with other company's systems that also employ EDI. "Firms use EDI to plan production, adjust inventory levels, or stock up on raw materials using data from another company's information system" (Shelly, Cashman, & Rosenblatt, 2004, pp. 12-13).

11. Bar Code Reading (San Jose location only): This system simplifies tracking of inventory and shipping data. It can download data directly to the Invoice and Shipping system. It could also be used with the Procurement system to ensure inventory levels are maintained.

12. EDSS, Executive Decision Support System (San Jose location only), assists executives in decision making by collecting data, summarizing data, and analyzing trends. It does not have to be limited to interfacing with only internal systems to collect the data such as the General Ledger and the Sales and Purchasing History system, but it could also gather data from other systems and networks such as the Internet.

Background of Request

The three locations at San Jose, Michigan, and Georgia each have its own separate Finance and Accounting systems. The data from the three systems is combined at the San Jose corporate site. These three systems are incompatible with each other making it very difficult, time consuming, and costly to consolidate.

San Jose. San Jose has an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that interfaces and communicates between manufacturing, distribution and financial applications. It is specifically designed for plastics processors and process and assembly manufacturers. Riordan Manufacturing does not own the source code.

Michigan. The system in Michigan is proprietary and the vendor for the system is no longer in business.

Georgia. Georgia also has a proprietary system. Riordan Manufacturing owns the source code for the system in Georgia.

Recommendations and Expected Results

Implementing the ERP system that is currently at the San Jose corporate site into Michigan and Georgia locations will provide the following benefits:

1. Generate consolidated financial reports promptly at the end of month instead of the current 15-20 day delay.

2. Reduce labor and associated