Question

Zoom Vacuum, a family-owned manufacturer of high-end vacuums, has grown exponentially over the last few years. However, the company is having difficulty preparing for future growth. The only information system used at Zoom is an antiquated accounting system. The company has one manufacturing plant located in Iowa; and three warehouses, in Iowa, New Jersey, and Nevada. The Zoom sales force is national, and Zoom purchases about 25 percent of its vacuum parts and materials from a single overseas supplier. You have been hired to recommend the information systems Zoom should implement in order to maintain their competitive edge. However, there is not enough money for a full-blown, cross-functional enterprise application, and you will need to limit the first step to a single functional area or constituency. What will you choose, and why?

Answer 1

The best advice for Zoom Vacuum is to start with a Transaction Processing System(TPS). This system will process all the day to day transactions of the system. It is like a real time system where users engage with the TPS and generate, retrieve and update the data. it would be very helpful in lowering the cost of production and at the same time manufacture and produce standard quality products.

Although, TPS alone would not be sufficient enough. so Management Information System(MIS) would be needed, that can get the data from the TPS and process it to get vital information.

This MIS will bring about information regarding the sales and inventory data about the current and well as previous years.

With the combination of TPS as well as MIS is a minimum requirement for a Zoom Vacuum to become successful in the market.

Step-by-step explanation:

Solution

When we look at the description of the Zoom Vacuum manufacturing company closely, we see that the business is currently a small scale business which is trying to become a small to mid scale business. This claim is supported by the fact that there is only one manufacturing plant and three warehouses. And here, we also need to have the knowledge of the fact that small business major aim is to keep the cost low and satisfy the customers by making good products. So we need to suggest what information system is best suited for small scale business enterprises.

The best recommendation would be to start with a Transaction Processing System(TPS). This system will process all the day to day transactions of the system. It is like a real time system where users interact with the TPS and generate, retrieve and modify the data. This TPS would be very helpful in lowering the cost of production and at the same time manufacture and produce standard quality products . Also TPS can help in communicating with other vendors.

But TPS along would not be sufficient. Also Management Information System(MIS) would be required that can get the data from the TPS and process it to get vital information. This MIS will help in generating information regarding the sales and inventory data about the current and well as previous years. Also MIS can create many types of graphical reports which help in tactical planning of the enterprise.

So a combination of TPS as well as MIS is a minimum requirement for a Zoom Vacuum to become successful in the market.