For a practicum in I/O psychology, I have been working on a real cool project for a lumber company in Virginia.  This company manufactures hardwood lumber and hardwood flooring products.  The flooring products are sold in units of boxes on partial pallet loads.  This breaking down of pallets has caused inaccurate balances of finished goods inventory.  

 

My job is to analyze the physical workflow of production orders from the start of the pre-finish line to entry into the finished goods inventory system and its interaction with the current information systems to identify data collection points, transfers of data to/from the existing information systems, and on-site technology.  The flow process of customer orders from placing an order to having the order shipped will be examined.  Additionally, I have been interviewing stakeholders in the work flow process to identify specific individual and departmental needs, wants, and wishes.  From my discovery, I will publish a Needs Assessment Document which will include a flow chart of the processes, objectives and desires of stakeholders, and recommendations to improve/correct the current flow of activities in the flooring products division in order to restore employee faith in the finished good inventory.

 

This internship is quite interesting.  While I am scrutinizing the process for discoveries, I am gaining valuable experience watching the multilingual interaction of employees.  This company has a large work force of Spanish speaking employees in the production area while having limited bilingual capability not only in the factory facility but also in the office area.    

 

This project is a test bed for the lumber company.  They have selected this specific line of product to see how well I will resolve this lingering problem of inaccurate finished goods inventory report.  If I do well, there may be more project opportunities down the road.
 
I welcome anyone who may want to talk about this project.  
 
Mary Poulin