Management Information System (MIS)

MIS
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Business problems at Nypro Inc. that could be solved using Management Information System
In this paper, a problem/business process that could be solved or improved by a management information system (MIS) is identified and then analyzed comprehensively. The problem identified in this paper exists is described in a business publication – Nypro Inc. This paper is a consulting report prepared to the company’s top management recommending how to get to a solution on the problem or else make use of the opportunity. MIS is basically understood as a computer-based system which offers business managers with tools that they can use in organizing, evaluating, and efficiently managing various sections within a company (Byrd & Turner, 2009). To provide past, current as well as prediction information, an MIS can comprise software which aids in decision making; the hardware resources of a system; data resources for instance databases; project management and people management applications; decision support systems; as well as any computerized processes which allow the department to run in an efficient manner (Byrd & Turner, 2009).
Analysis of the business
Nypro is the chief international solutions provider in the area of manufactured plastic solutions. The company offers a wide range of global solutions in product design, production, tooling as well as distribution for the Packaging and Healthcare industries. The clients of Nypro include the largest corporations in the world (Nypro, 2014). Key business processes are those business processes that, in the view of the organization’s management, are vital to competitive advantage, or customer satisfaction and service. They have a maximum impact on the company’s success. The key business processes for Nypro include purchasing, ordering, product design and development, precision injection molding, mold making and design, contract manufacturing for full-finished and shipped products, assembly, as well as advanced decoration (Nypro 2014).
The company has a culture of making products that make peoples’ daily lives better. As a result of this culture, several clients have stories of the company’s staff members who go beyond and above to surpass their anticipations (Nypro, 2014). The company’s very motivated workers are trusted by their clients. Nypro’s business strategy is to achieve the highest quality levels and using the most advanced technology, and to be the first company to offer these services. The company has lately been re-organized into market focused international business units which create direct interface between the company’s managers and clients (Nypro, 2014).
Strategic information system (SIS) is understood as a system which assists businesses to change their business structure or strategy. SIS is often utilized in hastening the reaction time to environmental alters and assist the business to realize a competitive advantage over the competition. In addition, they assist the company to fabricate low-cost quality products (Shade, 2008). Currently, Nypro lacks a system to use in exploiting the available company information for marketing and other activities. Moreover, the company lacks an approach to align IS with its business strategy. As such, the SISs appropriate for this particular business are decision support systems (DSSs) and database systems with data mining. Nypro needs DSSs that will help it in developing a strategic approach to align IT or IS with its business strategies. The company also needs database systems that have data mining capabilities in order to make the best use of the available company information for production, promotion and marketing activities, as well as innovation.
Business problems facing the Nypro Inc. and the solution
The problems that the company faces include the lack of a formal system for doing the following tasks: handling voluminous data; complex processing of data, as well as do multi-dimensional analysis; verification of the validity of data and transaction; to fulfill the altering needs of the information; for mass storage; and to perform search and retrieval. At Nypro Inc, a much time is wasted by the employees while collecting, processing and documenting data. Every worker at some point in time is always searching for some information that the employee requires in order to do his or her duty. As such, employees usually spend a lot of time to search for information which is not centralized in the current, existing system (Nypro, 2014). The organization currently uses a system that is outdated and does not perform many crucial functions required to help the company operate smoothly. For instance, the company’s top management cannot rely on the existing system for strategic planning or goal setting. The company lacks a system that plays the essential role of information generation and communication, and which can be used in problem identification as well as in the decision-making process (Nypro, 2014).
In addition, the existing system cannot be used by Nypro’s middle management in controlling the business functions, target setting and in making short-term plans. The company’s clerical personnel have raised concerns that the existing system is not very effective in transaction processing when they are handling customers, and does not properly answer their queries regarding data that pertains to the transaction, the status of a specific record, as well as references on various documents (Carroll, 2013). Moreover, Nypro’s junior management have raised issues in regards to the existing system and claimed that it does not offer them the operational data they can use for planning, scheduling as well as control. They asserted that the existing system cannot be relied upon in decision making at the operations level, for instance in controlling an out of control situation (Nypro, 2014).
As aforementioned, the company’s workers and the top management alike face a number of problems with the existing system. These problems certainly have the potential to be solved with an MIS, and therefore the solution is to implement/adopt a management information system. In this solution, the role of Nypro’s MIS manager would be to concentrate on the information and technology systems of the company. This manager would usually analyze business problems and then design and maintain computer applications to solve the problems of the company (Bae, Lee & Moon, 2014). This MIS will play an essential role in the company since it will create a substantial impact on the performance, functions, as well as productivity of Nypro.
Nypro’s market situation using Porters competitive forces model
Porter’s competitive forces model comprises 5 forces which shape industry competition. These include: Threat of New Entrants, Bargaining power of Suppliers, Bargaining power of Buyers, Threat of Substitute Products/Services, and Rivalry among Existing Competitors (Dobbs, 2014). Using Porter’s competitive forces model, the company’s market situation can be described as follows: (1) Threat of New Entrants: Weak – Nypro operates in the field of manufactured precision plastic products. This industry calls for substantial financial resources to establish manufacturing plants, purchase the costly equipment, and employ highly-skilled personnel. This industry of plastics manufacturing also requires sophisticated and exceptional technology for every aspect of the plastics production processes (Bregar, 2013). A new entrant may lack the substantial financial resources and the technological knowhow to enter this market; hence the threat of new entrants is weak.
(2) Bargaining power of Suppliers: High – the plastics manufacturing industry has few suppliers and this makes the supplier power to be high. Taking into account the switching costs for independent retailers, the few number of suppliers, as well the large size of suppliers, supplier power in this industry is high (Dobbs, 2014). (3) Bargaining power of Buyers – Moderate: the buyer bargaining power is moderate. Companies operating in the plastic manufacturing industry that produce precision plastic products are not few, and they are not very many either. Buyers have some bargaining power since the product is not very rare. (4) Threat of Substitute Products – Weak: the threat of substitutes is weak since there are no substitute products for precision plastic products (Ormanidhi & Stringa, 2008).
(5) Rivalry among Existing Competitors – Medium: rivalry amongst corporations in this industry is moderate largely because of the size of the rivals, resemblance of those corporations, as well as switching costs. Rivalry is not strong since production costs for precision plastic products are high and the technology being utilized is costly. Undercutting prices is of no interest for the companies due to the costly technology employed (Carroll, 2013). The use of technology helps Nypro compete in its market in that it enables the company to manufacture exceptional precision plastic products. In essence, technology allows Nypro to maintain its global plastics leadership and serve its clients with environmentally sound, innovative and integrated manufacturing solutions (Nypro, 2014).
Business ecosystem is understood as a strategic planning model where a network of clie...