The Triangle Brick Company

Triangle Brick

1. At what stages in the brick production process is inventory held?

The Triangle Brick Company has old fashion craftsmanship since 1960, with technical ingenuity to create brick with exceptional purity and quality. The beginning of the brick manufacturing process starts with mining the abundant Triassic shell, or clay that is found on the side. These are then transported to the plant where it is dumped into primary crasher. Since the clay is so hard, dry and in such large pieces, they are crushed into smaller sizes and then transported to the raw materials storage building where there are enough raw materials for two weeks; in this stage the raw materials are held as inventory. After that the raw material goes through various stages. The clay is crashed and converted into flour like texture, and this flour like clay is mixed with water and then the next process is to extract the air from the clay-water mix by vacuum. Finally the clay is forced to performing devices called the dye. The bricks are then produced from the trimmed and textured clay from the dye. Afterwards the brick is colored, the colors range from deep birch red to warm earth tones to cool pastas. Then the bricks are cut into the sizes and thickness that is required or demanded. They also do flashing to obtain a dark brick and create the range of colors that occurs at the last firing stage. The drying, firing and cooling are done which take up to 57 hours. Then when the brick is completed they are automatically indexed into another holding area to wait for packaging; here the process held the inventory before packaging.

2. To what extent does Triangle use information technology in the inventory control process?

Information technology plays a very important role in Triangle Brick Company. Their innovative uses of automated computerized equipment, has brought vast improvements in the way they craft buyer, inspect and deliver their brick. They use computer screens and powerful caramels when loading and scoping the raw materials and dumping it into the hot pot to begin the process of brine in clay. They also use the information technology in cutting the bricks, because after the brick is produced the brick column is then cut into different sizes and pieces according to the requirements and demands. Thus the information technology makes it much easier in cutting the bricks, for adjusting the machines to cut the bricks into different sizes. The information technology also helps in moving the bricks from one location to another within the machine during the process. The stages where the bricks are placed in the kiln follows a process which involves drying, firing and cooling taking approximately 57 hours, are also controlled by information technology to regulate temperature and control in order to produce brick of superior quality.

After the bricks are manufactured completely they are packaged to send where demanded the information technology helps to track those packages.

3. Why do you think triangle needs to keep a 2 week supply of partially ground clay at the plant?

Raw materials that are in the possession of a company during a specific accounting period are a raw material inventory. Most companies keep extra or more than required raw materials in inventory due to several reasons. One of the main reasons is not to run out of raw materials during production process. Supply of raw materials whether from and outside source or by the company bringing raw materials by itself there is always a small chance of running out. If this happens then they can use the extra raw materials they stored before otherwise it will affect the whole production process. The main raw material for Triangle Brick Company is the abundant Triassic shell or the clay that is found on the side, without which the production process is impossible. These materials are sedimentary mudstones and Triangle keeps enough of these raw materials in its raw materials storage building to avoid any delays. Sometimes during unfavorable weathers it becomes more difficult to get enough clay and thus keeping a two week supply in stock is essential.

4. Do you think Triangle would sue a continuous or periodic inventory system?

Continuous and periodic inventory systems are the two kinds of inventory control systems. In a continuous inventory system a constant amount is ordered when inventory declines to a predetermined level. On the other hand a Periodic inventory system is placed for a variable amount after a fixed passage of time. In Triangle Brick Company, the raw materials are required at all times, which mean they do not have a periodic requirement. The demands of the brick comes from customers or other organizations which are random, because the demand for bricks when they want to construct a new homes, building or plants. These demands are not consistent; sometimes it is very high and sometimes very low. Therefore I think Triangle would sue a continuous inventory system.

5. What type of EOQ model do you think Triangle might use for its raw material inventory?

There are two types of EOQ model for raw material inventory: the basic EOQ model and the production quality model. I think Triangle uses the basic EOQ model because; the basic EOQ describes the continuous-inventory order cycle system in the EOQ model. In this model a company places an order and when the quantity of ordered materials decreases to certain point the company places a new order, which is exactly done