Riordan Manufacturing

Running Head: Riordan Manufacturing

Riordan Manufacturing

Dr Riordan, a chemistry professor, started Riordan Plastics in 1991 after obtaining several patents related to plastic substrates. Riordan Plastics initially focused on research and development while licensing its patents. Eventually, it expanded out to production and manufactured plastics for fan plants. By 1993, they also produced plastic beverage containers. Eventually, in 2000, the China's factory was opened. Significant cost savings are seen to manufacture in China where shipping costs are much affordable.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, Riordan Manufacturing is a $46 million dollar company, which primarily manufactures plastics. They have factories in Georgia, Michigan and most recently, China. They produced plastics for beverage, fan parts, automotive, aircraft, and other appliances.

Finance and Accounting Software

Riordan Manufacturing operates in three main locations: California, Georgia, and Michigan. Each location has different a software application that control the accounts payable, accounts receivable, order entry, procurement, sales, and purchase history, invoice and shipping, payroll, financial reporting, and general ledger. California's system also provides EDI, Bar Code reading, and Executive Decision Support. Riordan Manufacturing is in need of an IT infrastructure to consolidate the three systems together. Currently, the consolidation is down manually because the data files from each of the division come into corporate headquarters in different formats. Some files are data files and others are in hard copy form. The hard copy format has to be re-entered into the corporate system. The data files are of different types, one type of data file loads directly into the corporate system, but the other data files need conversion into a format for the corporate system to read. The close of the month does not happen until 15-20 days after month end because of the necessary manipulation of the files.

Riordan Manufacturing needs a system that will allow it to be able to combine the different divisions' financial statements into a consolidated financial statement seamlessly. The task is to create a compatible system for each division so files can be electronically sent to corporate for month end reporting in a timely manner. The process of creating or modifying a new system is to make sure that it remains transparent to the customer.

The current modules are as follows:

• General Ledger

• Accounts Payable

• Accounts Receivable

• Order Entry

• Procurement

• Sales and Purchasing History

• Invoicing and Shipping

• Payroll

• Financial Reporting

• EDI*

• Bar Code Reading*

• EDSS (Executive Decision Support System)*

*San Jose Only

Order Entry Module – Accounting Software

IT systems are designed with far more integration to ensure stability and ease of use for the businesses and customers. Finding an order entry solution for Riordan is not regulated specifically to any particular software. Many companies are finding overall solutions that include order entry. Compiere, Inc. is an example of a supplier of software that poses a solution for the challenges facing Riordan. Compiere, Inc. is delivering manufacturing capabilities in their 3.1 product including support for multi-level Bills of Material, work-in-process tracking, completion of final assemblies to shipping, work order costing, the ability to create work orders and select customer specific options at order entry time, and seamless integration with Compiere's existing materials management, purchasing, sales order management, and financial systems (Compiere, 2008).

Another example of revamping the IT system to incorporate order entry into other programs would be Synalloy Corporation. Synalloy Corporation, a manufacturer of piping systems and chemicals, integrated its specialty chemical manufacturing business in one software system through Deacom. Before the company used a combination of software systems to manage its operations depriving the organization of