Materials and Capacity Requirement Planning - Essay Example

?Global Operations Management Contents Global Operations Management Contents 2 Part 3 Introduction 3 Materials Requirement Planning 3 Capa Requirement Planning 3 Enterprise Resource Planning 4 Pros and cons of the Software Systems 4 Conclusion and Recommendation 9 Part 2: 10 ISO 9000 10 Employees task to comply with ISO 10 Handle a manager refusing to enforce the standardize process 11 References: 12 Part 1 Introduction In this modern era an efficient software package is needed for every business. From the 1990s the companies have started the extensive use of software for increase the efficiency of the business. For a manufacturing company a software package is very much needed for maintaining the supply chain effectively. A supply chain management is needed for handling the customers and suppliers, for forecasting the demand, maintaining the inventory level efficiently (El-Haik and Roy, 2005, p.379), and doing this with the help of software makes the process much efficient. For a manufacturing company like PPQ Parts Manufacturing Company software enabled supply chain management is the most needed for sustainability in the industry. Materials Requirement Planning For managing the inventory which is needed for the producing the end product materials requirement planning is needed, which is mainly software based in the companies in these days. It is required to maintain the right level of inventory; company should make sure that there is no shortage of raw materials or no excessive materials (Chase et al, 2006, p.675-676). A manufacturing company should be more focused in this area to increase efficiency of business. Capacity Requirement Planning Capacity requirements planning is the process of evaluating that the company can meet the current need and projected need of production with the installed capacity or not. If there is need for additional capacity then the concerned authority takes the remedies (Heim and Compton, p.209). For a manufacturing company like PPQ Parts periodical analysis is necessary and this would be more effective if software tool is used for assistance. Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise Resource Planning is a system which integrates the departments of an organization to make the management system more effective. For a manufacturing company it is needed to improve the efficiency of the work process which includes management of production, sales management and the financial affairs of the company (Leon, 2007, p.14). Pros and cons of the Software Systems To effectively manage the process of the organization the management of the company should take help of a software system instead of doing it manually. The management should take care that the software product is best for their organization which depends on many factors like the size of the organization, the cost of the software product, the user-friendliness of the product and the compatibility of the product with the current systems. PPQ parts manufacturing company wants a software package to make efficient their overall process. To suggest efficient software package the factors which are necessary for an analyst are the size of the firm, the employees working in the company, how many users would use the software directly, which information are not given. The six software systems selected by the analyst and their pros and cons are as follows: Software Cost Compatibility with Current Systems Functionality User-Friendliness Other Factors Remarks Intuitive (Consona) Average. The system used is Microsoft .Net and database is SQL server 2003 Administration and installation much easier (as .Net used). Simple process in the ERP package. Easy to use. Efficient Business Intelligence. 10% MS Access used. Internet compatibility outside the server environment requires MS terminal Server and Advanced Configurator Efficient but cost may be higher for some companies SAP Business One (SAP) Per User Licensing Model ($20000 for 5 users). Depend upon customization Compatible with basic systems Provide accurate information, help to take decisions with impact analysis, reduce cost. Easy to use. Customized products. Support of certified SAP personals. The leader in this industry, effective for established business which have healthy revenue DBA Manufacturing Next Generation (DBA Software Inc) $2995 for 5 user pack. $495 for 6 month support subscription Firebird SQL database needed. Other requirement is basic in this era. Import data from current excel. The core functions are manufacturing oriented like purchasing of items, sales orders, management of inventory. The software is mainly for Material Requirement planning (MRP) User friendly, service of DBA is fine. If the client is not satisfied may return the software within 180 days and DBA refund money Certain Limitations are there as DBA can’t handle multiple companies. MRP Plus(Horizon Software) 1-4 users $675/ user. 10-49 users $525/user. Annual maintenance is free for first year, 15% of license fee after that Microsoft Access and Visual Basic used. Needed operating system is used widely; no additional up gradation is required. Inventory management, efficient customer service and work orders also User friendly, Training is provided also after sales support is there (Including telephonic service). If the company is less than 50 users then MRP plus small business Edition may be employed. Effective for small & medium companies MIE Trak Pro (MIE Solutions) Average in industry Needed MS SQL server. Other system requirement is basic. Covers full Supply Chain Management Process; used for doing demand forecasts, planning, customer and vendor management. User friendly. Provide customer support through NETSUITE (the online portal) also effective customer support through Team viewer software. MIE Trak Pro includes several features which make it one of the best, and it is easy to install, learn and implement. Effective software package in moderate cost. E-Z-MRP (E-Z-MRP) $9800 for unlimited version. Support price is free for 1st year. After that the support price is 10% of purchase price Any windows based PC is needed. Microsoft Access 2000 is needed. Complete MRP solution. The software assists the concerned authority to take decisions by providing information Simplest among all the MRP solutions The software is mainly for the small businesses. Effective for growing business. Source: (Consona, 2011, SAP, 2011, DBA Software Inc, 2011, Horizon Software, 2011, MIE Solutions, 2011, E-Z-MRP, 2011). When an analyst would suggest a company that which software would be suitable for the company then he should analyzing the factors like cost, current system compatibility, user friendliness of the product. The current system compatibility factor is also associated with cost. If any change is required for the current system for implementing the new software then the up gradation cost of the requirements also is the factor. Analyzing the six software systems it can be said that every software package has some special features. If the business is a growing one, they don’t have enough money to afford software like SAP, they can go for E-Z MRP or MRP plus. The customer review of DBA manufacturing is not so well when Intuitive is effective but there may be some extra cost associated with the installation as the system requirement cost is much for the company. It is found by the analyst that the MIE Trak Pro software is the most effective software for a medium size (assumed) company like PPQ parts manufacturing company as the cost of the software, after sales service, user friendliness are optimal. Conclusion and Recommendation As software is needed in this modern era it is also needed for a manufacturing company like PPQ parts for sustaining in the industry and increase their profitability in the future. An effective software system can improve the work process of the company. The materials requirement planning (MRP), Capacity Requirement Planning (CRP) and enterprise requirement planning (MRP) can be improved by an efficient software system, which will integrate the whole process and help the concerned management to take the decisions. Therefore the analyst has chosen 6 software packages from the current market and then analyzes which is the optimal one for the company. As there is no information about the size of the company so the size of the firm is assumed as medium. After analyzing the pros and cons of the software packages it can be suggested that a software company like PPQ parts should purchase the product MIE Trak Pro from MIE solutions. The cost of the product is like the industry average and there is no requirement to change the existing system, so no additional cost is required there also. Moreover the service of MIE solutions is level best in the industry. The most important fact is MIE offers overall supply chain management application tool, which is not available from other companies in a lower cost which is optimal for a company like PPQ parts. Part 2: ISO 9000 ISO 9000 standards ensure that the company has maintained the quality standards of the products which they are offering their customers. The certified companies should focus on customer requirements. The employees of the company should be committed towards the company; they should understand fully the customer needs. The business units of the organization should be integrated and the miscommunication should be at the minimum level. The top management should focus on the key processes (International Organization for Standardization, 2011). Employees task to comply with ISO The employees of an organization should be committed when they are working as a part of an ISO 9000 company. The employees should be eager to contribute in the continuous improvement process of the company. The communication between the employees should be effective so they can share their knowledge and experience and thereby improve the company’s effectiveness. If an employee in the organization is not doing his job properly then the job’s connected with the concerned people’s job would get hampered and in turn the company’s performance get hampered, so it is necessary to every employee to perform his job effectively. Handle a manager refusing to enforce the standardize process A manager level employee of a certified ISO 9000 company should be maintained the standardize process as the company’s performance get hampered if the department of the concerned manager is not working according to the company’s standard. The problem will arise as there would be a communication gap between the departments. So for handling a manager who is not performing as per the company standard it is needed to make understand how the process of the company is going and how the performance of the company get hampered if the manager don’t work according to the process. References: Chase, R. et al. (2006). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. 11th ed. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Consona. (2011). Intuitive: Building Flexibility, Control and Improved Visibility. Retrieved on: November 26, 2011 from http://intuitive.consona.com/. DBA Software Inc. (2011). Product Features. Retrieved on: November 26, 2011 from http://www.dbamanufacturing.com/features/ El-Haik, B. and Roy, D. (2005). Service Design for Six Sigma. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons. E-Z-MRP. (2011). E-Z-MRP FAQs. Retrieved on: November 26, 2011 from http://www.e-z-mrp.com/faqs.htm. Heim, J. and Compton, W. (1992). Manufacturing Systems: Foundations of World-class Practice. United States of America: National Academies Press. Horizon Software. (2011). MRP Plus-Customer, Sales and Marketing Support Features. Retrieved on: November 26, 2011 from http://www.mrpplus.com/mrpplus_custserv.htm. International Organization for Standardization. (2011). Quality Management Principles. Retrieved on November 26, 2011 from http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_and_leadership_standards/quality_management/qmp.htm. Leon, A. (2007). Enterprise Resource Planning. 2nd ed. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. MIE Solutions. (2011). Mie Trak. Retrieved in: November 26, 2011 from http://www.mie-solutions.com/mie/index.php/ERP-Software-Quoting-Tracking-Job-Costing/mietrak.html. SAP. (2011). SAP Business Objects Data Services. Retrieved on: November 26, 2011 from http://www.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/large/eim/data-services/index.epx. Read More