Ruetgers-Organics Corporation

Ruetgers-Organics Corporation is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals with approx. 160 employees in the State College area, with additional facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Augusta, Georgia (for more, see information sheet handout). The focus of this project is on the warehouse inventory management process in the maintenance shop at the manufacturing plant in State College. This small warehouse, located within the Maintenance Shop, contains spare gaskets, valves, instruments, etc. for maintenance-related operations. The problem is that the managers of the maintenance shop do not currently track the materials going into and out of the warehouse due to limited resources and the existence of other departmental priorities. Unanswered questions include: 1) What should be in the warehouse and how should it be organized?; and 2) Using available resources, how should the maintenance managers track the warehouse inventory?. The company currently maintains a computerized work order system, which may be of some help. The goal of this project is to document and critically evaluate the current informal inventory management process, and to recommend a more formal inventory management process which is streamlined, improved, and works with the current resources of the maintenance department.

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