Rejuvenating communication and information within a SME.

Abstract

The North Cape group manufactures a range of high quality outdoor garments and accessories. These are sold to retail outlets and on a contract basis. All these garments need to be scheduled through production as required and therefore there is a requirement to improve/update the current production planning and control systems. North Cape is a fairly typical Small to Medium Sized Enterprise (SME).

Within the group, the production planning process has been carried out manually with the emphasis on meeting the requirements of the Sales Department. With the potential adoption of computerised systems and the rationalisation of production at the two factories, this paper reviews the approach taken . This includes a review of current practices, the need of a new focus of meeting customer requirements and the elimination of the current ‘bad’ practice. These practices will be outlined with the intention of being constructive and providing ways forward for the company.

The approach taken is to map the information requirements of the different functions within the group in order to ascertain the roles and software requirements of the new system. This will identify where information is lost, misused or not processed efficiently / effectively. One of the areas of interest is the idea of moving away from the current sales led approach to a more highly organised production based approach. The company has a common failing when it comes to production, the well known: sales vs. production & retail vs. contract conflict. The company now sees that moving from a sales orientated environment to a stance where production will always meet the customers requirements whether this be retail or contract is of the greatest importance. This entails changing the objectives of existing staff.

This paper also assesses the difficulties found in a small company which are growing rapidly and the implications this has on the roles involved and needs of managing production.

The paper concludes by identifying the actual improvements within the group which will be seen once the new systems are in place. These will include information flows to and from sales, production and management. There will also be a reduction in time spent preparing reports, schedules and the current expediting relevant information from other people.