Reference no: EM133239620 , Length: 5 pages

Question: Plastic Molds Industries (PI) operates three (3) machine shops across the United States, and one location that serves as their headquarters in Westbrook, Maine that is being leased. PM has also been an ISO 9001 organization since 2006. There is no manufacturing occurring at their headquarters as this is only a 2,700 sq. foot facility that provides the customer service team, sales, and some basic IT support. PMI owns the three machine shops located in Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis. While PMI operates across multiple industries, its core clients are General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. There were discussions in the late 90s of expanding the Detroit facility and an additional 2,000 sq. feet of office space was built in 2000; however, this one floor area has remained vacant. Upon completing the shell of the expanded building, the economic downturn after 9/11 occurred, which led to the decision to suspend finishing the inside of the new building. Due to smaller than expected growth, PM has not upgraded their IT department in several years and currently runs Windows Server 2008, with basic file storage for the customer service, engineers, and managers in Westbrook. All sales employees currently scan and email all orders into the Westbrook office, where these are then faxed to the needed plant.

The Detroit plant has three secretaries that manage all orders. The secretaries print and copy the faxed orders, then send a copy into a smaller office within the plant via an air tube for the foreman to begin processing the orders by creating a new work order. You have been tasked with proposing a new IT infrastructure. Please provide a recommendation that will bring PI up to date in regard to its server infrastructure and desktop operating systems. Also provide a recommendation and justification to the hardware that will be needed when upgrading this outdated network.

All work should be in 7th Edition, APA-format, which includes a separate cover and reference page along with no less than three (3) pages of researched findings. The total proposal must be at a minimum of five (5) pages. You must provide a minimum of two (2) industry-related, academic, or peer-reviewed references.