Allen Flavors,Inc

Team 3 Joy Merkel, Donald Stralkus, Teresita Rojas, Donte Whitehead, Zanyang chen
July 9, 2009
Exercise 2- Inventory Control, Allen Flavors, Inc.

Allen Flavors, Inc. is a beverage developer and manufacturer in Edison, New Jersey. It houses production sites in four buildings where teas, energy drinks, coffee flavors and other flavors are blended for bottling and packaging. Many of these products are mainstream drinks and seen every day at the local convenience store and supermarket.
The areas maintained by the operations departments are separated into two main areas, laboratory operation and plant operation. Lab production and development and their inventory are managed separately from the plant production. Inventory of incoming and outgoing material in the plant is more closely monitored since it is on a much larger scale than the lab. Truckloads of material are constantly being delivered, used in production and picked up.
Allen Flavors uses the program Batch Masters to help manage inventory control. Batch Masters is used by the lab, production, purchasing department and inventory control to keep a better grasp on the raw material flow. The lab enters an item number for the product developed. As the ‘batches’ are pulled when orders come in, the materials is automatically deducted from the program. The purchasing agent pulls a critical report from batch masters each day to determine the new material that needs to be ordered to fulfill the outgoing orders. In the meantime, inventory control managers are adding and deducting raw materials and finished goods from the program. The company has hit a few snags along the way, but this format has generally been successful. It takes a lot of work for the plant to run smoothly on a daily basis and inventory managers in each building to monitor materials.
Allen Flavors continues to grow at a steady pace; although much of the market has suffered due to the failing economy. One of the largest beverage companies that Allen Flavors provides drinks for is expanding to the European market before the end of the year. The company’s inventory control and production have had to adjust many times to expand with the increase in size, and it will continue to grow with the changing market.