A full description of the new system, a description of its components, and the benefit it will provide to Riordan

The Apriso flex net and flexNet warehouse is the new system that will be introduced in Riordan manufacturing company. This system is aimed at improving the day to day activities of the company including flexibility, mobility, efficiency, time management and cut costs in the inventory system. This system mounted on computers will make this company be among the top performing firms and will amicably compete in global markets since FlexNet is one of the first class technologies. Other departments that will benefit from this technology will include the receiving, shipping and manufacturing departments. It will make use of the bar codes which will help in the automation of these processes. It will also be used to track the receiving process, shipping and rack down the final product location. When using FlexNet, the employees will reduce their chances of physical errors, cut down on unnecessary expenses, and improve productivity by installing devices which will aid in amicable communication with potential business partners and encourage inventory. In the inventory the system will be expected to improve production that will satisfy all customer needs, and reduce paper work where errors are likely to occur. It will also give the management team and supervisors more control over internal processes and movements (APRISO Success story, 2010).

Description of the system

FlexNet is a global solution for manufacturing companies which has been designed to manage all operations in the process of manufacture including production, the level of quality, warehousing, maintenance, time used and the amount of labor. It is designed with immense consideration of the ever evolving ISA-95 standards. The FlexNet complies with the standards which have been stipulated by the OPC foundation and it has stood the tests of time. Mobile devices like Android and iOS have been incorporated in the FlexNet system. These additions help employees to check the inventory, the pricing pattern the availability of the products and delivery right on their mobile devices. It will be connected to a Wi-Fi which will be using a WPA2. These devices are very affordable.

A discussion of the business requirements driving the need for the system

Riordan needs this new system because most of its current systems are manual and batch oriented. The company’s shipping, manufacturing and receiving procedures are very demanding. Manual systems mostly end up in making error and they require a lot of labor to keep the day to day running on activities in the company. In batch oriented processes, the workers experience accuracy challenges which in turn affects the amount of materials used and ordered. This batch and manual systems are also costing the company a lot of money and time. So as to solve these problems, it will be better if the company embarked on making all the processes automatic including receiving of orders, manufacturing and shipping. Accuracy will be improved in the inventory since there will be an inventory auditing procedure which will mainly be based on a generally acceptable cycle of counting methodology. The company also needs to increase production, satisfy its customer needs, and stay competitive in the global market where competition is getting tighter every other day. Conclusively, the system is aimed at removing all manual procedures in the management process and in turn automates them (APRISO Success story, 2010).

A discussion of the information used in the system

The current system at the company is manual, challenging to use, expensive, and requires a lot of time and labor. This has overtime created room for error and it has led to immense disappoint for customers and even affected the business profits. With the FlexNet system, the company is set to enjoy competition at a global level which uses the world first class technologies. This is because it uses a high technology inventory system. This system will enable the company to automate all the manual procedures which could have negatively affected the company returns. With components like FlexNet Mobile, this system will give real time visualizations to day to day operations (APRISO Success story, 2010).

Security and ethics

FlexNet systems are designed to perform beyond the expectations of global industries. The FlexNet meets the regulatory and government standards. With its main focus of producing the best software which could serve all platforms Apriso complies with all standards of the software industry. One of its major successes was the introduction of the FlexNet systems.

A specific discussion on any Internet and mobile access components of the system

According to APRISO Success story (2010) the flexNet system has internet and mobile applications which will enhance activities within the company and its environs. This is one of the reasons this system will place the firm into one of the most advanced companies in terms of technology in the 21st century. With the FlexNet mobile, all the employees in this firm will stay at their desks or areas of production as they respond to various inquiries or communicate. The employees can also access pertinent information through their tablets and smart phones regarding various aspects of production including production, shipping and pricing. Through the inclusion of mobile devices in this system, employees will be able to enjoy more freedom on the floor area.

The following is a chart showing the Information flow and access control (Choi, 2014)

FlexNet Production

FlexNet warehouse

Apriso’s FlexNet suite

Manufacturing resource planning

Supply chain management

Finance resource management

Customer relationship management

Human resource management

Enterprise resource planning

Riordan core business functions

Shipping

Packaging

Sales

Production

Inventory

Ware house

Receiving

Suppliers

References

APRISO Success story. (2010). Retrieved August 23, 2015, from http://www.apriso.com/library/success_stories/Apriso-SIFLEXSS.pdf.

Choi, T. M. (2014). Fashion retail supply cahin management(A systems optimization approach). NewYork: CRC Press.