Riordan Manufacturing Team Building Essay Example for Free

Riordan Manufacturing Team Building Essay Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics manufacturer employing 550 people with projected annual earnings of $46 million. The company is wholly owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise with revenues in excess of $1 billion. Its products include plastic beverage containers produced at its plant in Albany, Georgia, custom plastic parts produced at its plant in Pontiac, Michigan, and plastic fan parts produced at its facilities in Hangzhou, China. The companys research and development is done at the corporate headquarters in San Jose. Riordans major customers are automotive parts manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, the Department of Defense, beverage makers and bottlers, and appliance manufacturers. As you can see Riordan is a large company with offices worldwide and communication and travel can be a major expense for the company especially when implementing new lines and technology at one of their facilities. Future statements made by Riordan, We will maintain an innovative and team oriented working environment. By assuring that our employees are well informed and properly supported, we will provide a climate focused on the long term viability of our company. We must be focused in achieving and maintaining reasonable profitability to assure that the financial and human capital is available for sustained growth. As Riordan moves forward with their mission statements the cost of implementing new technology and training employees to operate and manage these new systems costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. The companys most recent expansion took place in 2014 when it opened its operations in China. At that time, the entire fan manufacturing operation was moved from Michigan to China and the Pontiac, MI facility was retooled for the manufacture of custom plastic parts. During the first quarter of the  expansion travel costs alone just for the training of the ongoing systems integration project surpassed one hundred thousand dollars. We know that Riordan will always be on the forefront of applying new technology and systems to keep up with market trends in the future. This is why implementing the creation, deployment, and support of effective interactive distance learning and communication systems to improve business, is crucial to the ongoing success of the company. The CADE system will reduce thousands of dollars of travel expenses directly related to the training required with each new system at all of the company’s facilities. Developing a distance learning system that will allow Riordan to provide effective training through teleconferencing from their headquarters in San Jose CA to facilities all over the world will reduce expenses by millions of dollars over the long term. The Need for Training and Communication The cornerstone of a competitive organization is its highly trained workforce. In today’s market, product life-cycles are shorter, more complex. The available time for training is greatly reduced. Many companies are downsizing and the responsibilities of those that remain are increased, jobs are consolidated. Corporate communication and training needs have never been more important Time becomes one of the most limited resources. Regardless of the industry, many of these issues are very much the same: (Velocedge Inc, 2014). High cost and increased difficulty of travel Inability to reach all employees anywhere, anytime High cost of training, continuing education Lack of qualified instructors or presenters Time it takes to get a message to all employees Expensive to develop effective training and communication programs Loss of productivity when employees take off work for travel, training, or meetings Difficulty in transferring knowledge throughout the organization The CADE System The Communications And Distance Education (CADE) system is designed to  facilitate live, interactive programs over a satellite, Internet, or streaming video network as well as capture those programs for later playback. Interactive Satellite Delivery During an interactive broadcast, the instructor or presenter can ask multiple choice, true/false, yes/no, numeric, and multiple selection questions and participants can respond with either wireless remote controls in a classroom setting or through a personal computer. The PC at each remote location collects participant responses from the wireless remotes and transmits them back to the presenter over an intranet or Internet connection. Participants may also speak with the presenter, using voice over IP, PBX, or standard telephone line, and everyone in the broadcast can listen to that conversation. Interactive Web Delivery With CADE eTutor, interactive training and communication programs can be delivered over the Internet/Intranet. It provides the same capabilities of the satellite delivery system, as well as a few extra features, in a desktop version using highly compressed audio and video over IP. Capture All Interaction Participant responses are captured, time-stamped, and stored in a web-based learning management system. In addition to capturing the satellite based information, the CADE system also supports web based training, classroom, paper based, and is fully SCORM compliant. All data in the CADE system is created, managed, and accessed through this web-based portal to the database. CADE System Components The CADE system is comprised of a number of software applications. These applications include: Studio Control System The instructor or presenters interface Virtual Classroom The remote site control program eTutor The web-based interactive delivery system Learning Management Web The web-based learning management system New System Flow Diagram for CADE System at Riordan Manufacturing The new CADE is a free standing system that has virtually no effect or interaction with any of the present Information systems or processes currently in use by Riordan Manufacturing. The CADE system is designed to facilitate live, interactive programs over a satellite, Internet, or streaming video network as well as capture those programs for later playback. CADE is primarily a software based product but it represents a new paradigm in software development, utilizing an effective integration of world-class software components and Internet technologies in an adaptive architecture. To keep pace with todays rapidly changing world, CADE was designed to incorporate change as quickly as an organization realizes the need for change. Corporate management faces many issues that can keep an organization from being as competitive and profitable as it needs to be CADE wont be one of them. As a new or better technology solution is identified, an idea to improve a feature, or a new function desired, that change can be easily incorporated into the CADE products keeping your system continually up to date, meeting each new requirement, and keeping your investment protected. Satellite -Live -On-demand -Prerecorded Interactive Web Training Audio/Video -Live -Prerecorded Web Courses SCORM Classroom Video On Demand Desktop Classroom CADE Advantages to Riordan Interactive Distance Learning Even though there is a lot of talk about distance education, over 90% of all formal training continues to use classroom delivery. The major cost driver of training is delivery. Satellite or web based, Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) provides the benefits of classroom without the large cost. (Velocedge Inc, 2014). . Faster Deliver to more people in less time, Concept to delivery time in hours or days, Cut classroom delivery time in half, Deliver to entire target population in one broadcast Cheaper Fewer experts needed to deliver message, Deliver to more people with less cost, Low cost to develop and deliver content, Incalculable cost savings: time off work, travel, per diem, etc. Better Over 25% improvement in student retention, Most consistent message delivery, one voice Standardized design , Utilize only the most qualified instructors, Provides detailed tracking and reporting (Velocedge Inc, 2014). Presently Riordan’s first quarter number’s pertaining to the General Administrative line item is over budget one hundred thousand dollars due to travel and per diem expenses related to emergency training of the new systems that have been added. By incorporating the new CADE system to provide long distance training this will eliminate any additional over budget expenses caused by the new systems and also provide low cost long distance training for any future systems that are put in use by the company. The new CADE system will reduce company expenses in many ways: reducing or eliminating travel and per diem costs, reducing course development costs, reducing the number of trainers, reducing the time off work, reducing the time to develop a course, and many other ways. Pricing is based on the number of remote sites you have and the Presentation Studio System that is specified. However, the cost is a fraction of what you are spending now to train your employees. References Velocedge Inc. (2014). velocity and knowledge. Retrieved from http://www.velocedge.com/ Learn.net. (2014). The CADE System. Retrieved from http://www.velocedge.com/CADEnew/Products/index.htm