Information Technology in Young's Seafood Ltd and QAD Inc - Case Study Example

Introduction The essence of Information Technology has surrounded our spheres of lives from every angle possible. Major Shifts are in the Industrial and Business Segments where things have changed tremendously over the period of times. Each decade has its own dimensions and developments. Over the years, IT has transformed the ways of manufacturing process and its operations as efficient as it could be. Assembly lines working on automatic bases, databases of each and every elements flowing and its recorded information, all are different aspects of IT. Databases are not only information recorders but assets the management in order to maximize their efficiencies and effectives of the collected information. There are many specialized IT firms that developed business solutions for other businesses. MFG/Pro is also a business solution that is traded under the organization “QAD Inc”. QAD Inc QAD Inc is a firm that has expertise in Developing/ providing Enterprise Resource Planning for manufacturing companies around the globe since 1979. QAD Inc has its focused on six different industries: i. Automotive: This is by far the heaviest technology in the list of QAD. This involves two types of automobiles. The commercial automobiles are sold to the public and include cars, wagon, jeeps etc. The industrial automobiles are different and usually specifically made to fulfill industrial demands. The industrial vehicles are not very different from industrial machinery, there are however some differences. The automotive industry produces industrial vehicles that are more for general use such as trucks etc. ii. Consumer Products: The consumer product market is a trillion dollar market, currently being infected by inflation. There are thousands of different types of consumer products. These range from everyday washing products to ready to eat breakfasts. The resource planning is of a very key significance in consumer products. This is because basically most consumer products are seasonal products. This means that they go in and out of fashion, and also may change in demand for different parts of a year. This makes planning very important for a consumer product manufacturer. These manufacturers use resource planning software to maintain a profitable and low inventory state while at the same time planning to cater diverse levels of demand throughout the year. Resource planning helps them give a clear picture of company’s resources at all times of a year and enables effective allocation. iii. High Technology: There are many manufacturers that are involved in technology intensive industries. These range from computer chip manufacturers to complex and sensitive weapon manufacturers such as Lockheed etc. The parts and human resources in a high technology intensive industry are of key significance. This is because the parts being used are usually out sourced from other firms and human resources are limited. This increases the importance of human resources, because there is urgent need to allocate same scientist to different projects. iv. Food and Beverages: The food and beverages industry faces the same issues as the consumer products industry. There is urgent need to cater any shortfalls in resources supply etc. v. Industrial Equipment: The industrial equipment industry as mentioned above usually specializes in making custom machinery for each industry. This increases the significance of affective allocation of resources. This is because there are millions of parts that need to be brought together to make a custom bulldozer for example. Without a proper IT solution it becomes impossible to manufacture a custom product. A product such as QAD enables a manager to monitor and control the supply and manufacturing of machinery. This makes decision making more sophisticated and also increases the pace of manufacturing process. vi. Life Sciences: The life sciences customers are although very small in quantity are an important market. These usually include scientists and organizations which are working for the collection of data etc. The software solution helps them create effective understanding and backups for their observations. It was 1984 when market gets the best product of QAD Inc with the name of MFG/PRO. MFG/Pro is software that follows the theme of MRO/Pro that is Manufacturing Repair and Operations Procurement Process, designed to improve the internal efficiencies of a company and has used Fourth Generation Language in its programming. This program has been updated over the period of time and has been launched with different improved version with the name of .NET UI, QAD Enterprise Application in 2006 and 2007 respectively. MFG/PRO MFG/PRO is among the best solutions for the automation of medium and large organizations and is effectively practical in the fields of Production, Financial Operations, Sales and purchases, Warehousing and Logistics. MFG/PRO is the Best product of world’s leading company in the industry of ERP development QAD, and is in use by world’s leading companies like Siemens, Hitachi, Becton Deckinson, Boston Scientific, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever, Ford, Volvo, Honda, Yamaha and the list goes on. The users of the MFG/PRO have approved its effectiveness in their operations after implementation and experience over a period of time. This software is designed in a why so that it can be Comprehensive, Open, Flexible, Scalable, Interactive and according to the needs of today’s manufacturers. Moreover, the basic software not only considered a number of different currencies but also has taken cared the features that are required for a company operating in different geographic regions/countries. Youngs Seafood Ltd Youngs Seafood Ltd is a British Based distributor of Frozen food items and has established its headquarters in Grimsby. Company is owned by privately-owned venture Capital Lion Capital LLP. For over 200 years, Young’s name is coupled with seafood. Young’s Seafood is the leading players in the frozen fish segment. Heritage is now days joining the hands of technologies to keep the graphs improving to the top in order to make it among the world’s healthiest and most delicious foods. To achieve its goals, Young’s Seafood has defined 10-Principals under following headings: i. Legality ii. Objective Assessment iii. Communication iv. Promotion v. Continuous Improvement vi. Engagement vii. Prohibition viii. Research ix. Traceability x. Ethics and Environment The proposal is to implement QAD Inc’s MFG/PRO software in the business process of Young’s Seafood in order to have more capitalization on more efficiencies and effectiveness by improving the internal management and carving competitive advantage by analysis necessary information. Main advantages that Young’s Seafood is expected to be in the sections of its Distribution, Supply chain and manufacturing where the data processing and analysis will transform into complete “integrated” electronic system MFG/PRO. This software has perfect match with the principals of operations that Young’s Food have. This software, facilitates communication of data and facts, is designed to implement continues improvement in reality, ensuring traceability and transparency in transactions, encouraging research to find better ways of operation by analyzing existing data. By having MFG/PRO software, the company can have all the information required on time on the distance of a click. As there are different locations of operations in its manufacturing process, Young’s Seafood can face difficulties in terms of data duplication as the same data of products spread on different locations. This can also leads to the Data inconsistency and out dated information. a central data process and management system specialized to cater this problem for manufacturing firms and eliminate this problem from the root and increase efficiency many folds that is why the proposal contains the name of MFG/PRO. Duplications and Data inconsistency can be removed by implementation of Database Software. Simply recording its routine numbers facts would not help Young’s in its competitive environment, In order to make this data recording effort fruitful can be done only when this data is analyzed properly. This MFG/PRO is not just a database but a proper business solution designed to help out managers and guiding to manage properly by giving them the analytics that are hidden behind the numbers. Today, a company looks forward to bring new revenue streams but Cutting down the cost in existing revenue streams is helpful in order to improve the profit margins. Having detailed knowledge of manufacturing and its distribution, Young’s Seafood can plan to expand its profit margins by cutting down unnecessary costs and increasing efficiencies in processes. As the software helps the supply chain to be interconnected, the data flow will remain consistent and without lag that can help the company and its supplier to be in a better situation about their inventories and future requirements. Not only operations side of Young’s Food will be in benefit by using MFG/PRO but also financial aspects of a firm can be analyzed. Financial side of this software helped a firm to remained up to date about its existing financial performance and position but also budget the future statements and working capital requirements. Software is equipped with financial instruments that can help the company to keep an eye on the financial health all the time. From the making of General Ledger to the Cash management, MFG/PRO has programming to manage it for its managers. Financial planning, Productions plan, material requirements and managing accounts payable and receivables are also comes under its calculations. These accessories will help manager to concentrate on developing strategies, not wasting time in non value adding services like recording transactions, etc. As this software has the interface for the front line sales managers to record and manage their information about customers and sales, this information can be available for the analysis of customer requirements, purchasing patterns and satisfaction level. This information is of importance for the management of Young’s Seafood to devise strategy based on recent demands and supply parameters. Manufacturing and warehouse management can have this software installed to keep a track record of the products data and different types of inventory. As this software is interconnected, it can trigger the supply chain management when the manufacturing process needs any component without losing any time. Information made available by MFG/PRO is useful in order to improve existing manufacturing processes. It also makes clear where the process of manufacturing costs how much and why to bear those costs. It saves the time, efforts and money that are presently consumed in following traditional forms of reporting and makes the process of reporting far more fast and transparent. In the light of previous experience of implementation of this software internationally, inventory levels are observed to be dropped 25% and save 50% of the time in process of manufacturing by keeping the information up to date and ready to produce. Improve quality in processes and products resulting 60% increase in customer satisfaction. 1 MFG/PRO is not only a data recorder but has powerful analytical tools that are based on strong theoretical back grounds that enable it to help the management of middle and top level to get help from this software. As this is interrelated software, the manufacturing and supply chain management can manage their inventories efficiently similarly production and sales department can get together to analyze future demands. Sales records can tell the trends to the management that can help them to cover their weakness capitalize their strength and look for opportunities in the market. MFG/PRO is also designed to cater the aspect of control and security of the information. It has functionalities that can incorporate corporate laws and the governing bodies’ obligations in to its information management processing. Log-in access, password protection is among the basic features. It also powers the administrator to keep check on the transaction going on in the system and keep complete record of those transactions. Having such sophisticated software in operations, the theft of information or loss will be minimal. Simultaneous storage is possible along with unique authorized access to ever individual to prevent theft and keep a record separately. The initial cost of MFG/PRO is not high to make it expensive choice. Moreover the benefits outweigh the costs easily. Though the employees will be required to get trained in implementation but the benefits in terms of costs cutting, time saving and customer satisfaction is of importance and are the backbone of a company in order to compete in today’s competitive environment. MFG/PRO gathers information like strategic intelligence. It gather all the information about the companies own financial and operational position along with intelligent data gathering of its customers and market makes it perfect tool for the management to get assisted with. By having all the information on the dash board, Young’s Seafood can better know its strengths and what its customer wants. Thus, it is creating customer satisfaction along with defeating the competition and gaining competitive advantage. Read More