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Evaluating Financial and Technological Solutions for Enhancing Operational Efficiency at Riordan Manufacturing

Explores financial and tech strategies for improving efficiency.

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    Riordan Ma nufacturing Paper 1 Evaluating Financial and Technological Solutions for Enhancing Operational Efficiency at Riordan Manufacturing Riordan Manufacturing Paper XXXX BSA/500 XXXX Analyze Riordan Manufacturing's financial performance and identify key issues related to its accounting systems. How would implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system address these issues? In your answer, discuss the benefits of ERP integration, potential improvements in efficiency, and the company's financial outlook, including debt management and profitability. Your answer should be between 500 and 700 words .

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    Riordan Ma nufacturing Paper 2 Introduction Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is a leader in plastic injection molding. The organization operates in the United States and China. The company employees 550 people with annual earning $46million. The parent company, Riordan Industries, has revenues in excess of $1billion and is a Fortune 1000 enterprise. The company was founded by Dr. Riordan, a chemistry professor, in 1991. Company’s products include  Plastic bottles (Albany, Georgia plant)  Fans - all sizes (Hangzhou, china plant)  Heart valves  Medical stents  Custom plastic parts (Pontiac, Michigan plant) Major customers  Automotive parts manufacturers  Aircraft manufacturers  Department of defense  Beverage makers and bottlers  Appliance manufacturers In 1992, Riordan used venture capital to acquire a fan manufacturing plant in Pontiac, Michigan. In 1993 Riordan purchased plastic beverage manufacturing plant in Albany, Georgia.

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    Riordan Ma nufacturing Paper 3 The company’s vision for the future is to be ‘focused in achieving and maintaining reasonable profitability to assure that the financial and human capital is available for sustained growth’. The Michigan plant is running software developed by a vendor who is no longer in business. The Georgia plant purchased a software application from a different vendor than the Michigan plant. When Riordan purchased the Michigan and Georgia plants the incompatibilities of the Financial and Accounting (F and A) systems was not addressed. Data from the (F and A) systems is provided to the corporate office by data files and hardcopy. The hardcopies must be re - entered in the system and the data files have to be converted to the proper account codes. Closure of the General Ledger, Income Statement and Balance Sheet is labor intensive and can take up to 15 - 20 days after the end of the month. Riordan has compliance issues with new government required reporting and monthly audits are costly and labor intensive. This situation is unacceptable to Riordan Enterprises and is transparent to its customers and suppliers who receive invoices, payments, etc. from the operating entities in the same manner prior to the acquisitions.

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    Riordan Ma nufacturing Paper 4 Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise resource planning or ERP software is high - end accounting software for large businesses. ERP is complex and expensive, but it provides a platform for seamless integration of the business functions. ERP software can handle the manufacturing, inventory, and shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a firm (ERP Facts, n.d.). The ERP is valuable for global operations because it handles currency conversions, various accounting standards, and foreign languages. The ERP is integrated with Supply Chain Management (SCM) modules e.g. customer order entry, purchasing, and inventory. Account modules include general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and employee hours and attendance. The ERP accounting system should include web integration so that Riordan can manage global operations. This web - based solution will make business information available in real - time. The accounting software that Riordan presently uses is not flexible or able to adapt to the firms changes in its organizations structure. Companies can use capital and resources more effectively if they could monitor and track information that flows from individual business departments and units. Accounting software and ERP are completely different from each other. The accounting software allows synchronizing the accounting details and bills. The enterprise software allows synchronizing from every department into one central location, prevents data redundancy, and it is centrally updated from every department. The use of web - based systems allows employees, external business partners, suppliers, and customers to obtain real time data anytime from any place (ERP Wisdom, n.d.).

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    Riordan Ma nufacturing Paper 5 Web - based ERP systems have modules such as manufacturing, production, accounting, human resources management, and inventory on the Internet. Server - based ERP cannot provide updated information on the Internet. When Riordan needs to make immediate decisions on production with business units around the world, the web - based system is a better choice. The employees can see the pricing, profits, and inventory from anywhere. The employees will be able to hold meetings, sales analysis, and view each unit’s budget over the Internet (ERP Wisdom, n.d.) Accounting Software H undreds of accounting software programs is in circulation and finding the right one for the needs of an organization is a challenge. Finding the right program is about knowing the size of the company and the needs that will benefit the company in the most efficient manner. The right program should be able to fix bugs if necessary and be able to be upgraded in the future if necessary. Pricing also plays a big role in deciding what accounting software to purchase. Riordan Manufacturing has encountered some problems with their current accounting system in that the different divisions of the company use different systems to conduct business. It looks like the Georgia and Michigan plants use a different program than the San Jose plant. Delays in the financial reporting have led to decreased investor confidence and lack of future capital investment. Finance and accounting documentation errors led to inaccurate data and costly retroactive audits (Perry, 2006) . The different departments of accounting such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, and order entry need to be maintained by one system and an individual server with mirroring will suffice for the above needs and , of course, a proper backup solution will be for safekeeping of this data (Perry, 2006).

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