Project Concept and Strategy
What were Woody’s real objectives that could and should have been articulated?
The first objective of the company was the expansion of the manufacturing process as well as the manufacturing capacity if the company. This was aimed at achieving and enhancing the production efficiency of the company. The second objective is the embracing of automated controlled production. The company had an aim of using computer technology in its production. Therefore, the real objective of the company was to meet a future demand of furniture and related products to meet this objective Woody’s planned to undertake an expansion of the production capacity of the company.
The expansion was anticipated to take a floor space of 25 per cent of the existing floor space. The production capacity expansion was to be automated whereby numerous automations were to be included: “Equipment would include a semi-automatic woodworking production train, requiring the development and installation of software and hardware to run it” (Case Study 1). The project also included “installation of air-conditioning and a dust-free paint and finishing shop complete with additional compressor capacity” (Case Study 1).
What strategies were there for achieving these objectives? What would you recommend?
To realize the objective of expanding its manufacturing process and company’s infrastructure, the management agreed on an expansion plan which involved adding an additional production capacity. With regards to automation, the company procured a semi automatic woodworking train to facilitate computerized production. To make the automation a reality: “the company installed software and hardware with the ability to run the woodworking production train” (Case Study 1). If I were the manager or a partner in the company, I would sanction the application of the same strategies since all are relevant to the realization of the objectives.
Project Scope
Why do you suppose renovation of the President and Executive Vice President’s offices were included in the project and was that a good idea?
The renovation of the president and executive vive president’s office was a good idea. This was aimed at matching the growth of the company with the available infrastructure. That the company was growing implied that its customer base was also increasing and hence the need for more space in the president’s and vice president’s office so that they may be able to serve the increasing number of customers as well as depicting a better picture for the company.
Write a simple project scope statement
The growth of the company made it necessary for expansion of its infrastructure as the company’s top priority. This was aimed at accommodating the increasing number of staff and to enhance the productivity of the company so that it may achieve its dream of economies of scale. The desire to expand the company was motivated by its technological advancement, which could result to increased productivity. Consequently, there was also a business need to expand the company’s assets due to market demand. The project was estimated to cost $17 million as the maximum figure. It involved the expansion and renovation of the offices, the installation of both software and hardware, which could run the production train, expansion of production capacity, the installation of finishing shop and an air-conditioning device as well as dust free paint.
Develop a work breakdown structure
The project was to cost a maximum of $17 million, and it was to be undertaken for a period of 18 months. According to the company cash flow chart generated by Cashman, one million was meant for contingencies for the first and the last months. It was the duty of Moneysworth to assume responsibility for the entire project on behalf of the Woody’s while the planned expansion was to be undertaken by the Expert Industrial Developers which was contracted by the Woody’s. The design work was to be undertaken by the S&P.
Project Planning
Evaluate Woody’s plans for managing the project, including their approach to contracting for professional services and construction work. What would you have done and would that change for successive phases of the project?
The major plan for Woody’s is the expansion of the company. The exercise of contracting professional services was good since it aimed at minimizing project cost. The management of the project was done in a haphazard manner, and that can be the reason for its failure. How the woody project was managed was doomed to fail since all the procedures were not carefully put into consideration. Due to this, the purpose of the project was to make it a successful one.
Contracting professionals was not a viable option since it never served the intentions of the company of saving costs. The contracted companies came with inflated services and prices, which forced the Woody’s have to squeeze its books of account in order to meet the project expenditure. The contracting of project management consultants is an example that obtaining the services of professionals cannot aid the company in accomplishing the project. The management consultants, for example, found it difficult to get information forms the staff that was unwilling to provide relevant data.
If I were the project manager, I would have taken much of my time in planning the project. I would have requested for quotations from various professional companies so that I can be in a better position to evaluate the quality of their services versus the price. This can be instrumental in having the services of the best company at a cheaper cost as opposed to Woody’s that only approached single professionals who could dictate their prices and ended to have been charging the company exorbitant rates which could be avoided.
Planning and Scheduling
Identify and describe a set of project schedule milestones from project concept to project completion
The first stage in the development of a project is the project concept; this involves mapping down of the project. This stage factors out the capital equipment required, and the money needed to make the project operational. This is followed by project planning; it is at this stage when administrative skills are put into play. This is followed by project design is the mapping down of how the project is to be implemented, how much money should be involved and who are the people involved in accomplishing the project. Project design stage is where actual implementation takes place. This is followed by the launching of the project. The last stage is project appraisal; this involves undertaking a thorough evaluation of the project and identifying the pitfalls or the things that favored the project. This can be instrumental in facilitating improvement of the project.
Illustrate your milestones on a simple bar chart scaled to the information provided in the Case Study
Communicating and People Management
Draw a project organization chart. What were the real relationships?
As shown in the project organizational chart below, the project was headed by Moneysworth. Miles Faster being the vice president of production offered him assistance. Kim Cashman also played a role in the project. Ian Leadbetter was introduced later after the project had started to offer assistance in technical areas of programming of some semi-automatic process. The main contractor was Expert Industrial Developers, who in turn sub contracted some functions to Schemers and Plotters (S&P), Tinknockers associates and Eddie Forgot who was acting in charge of Piecemeal Corporation, who supplied the production train.
Risk Identification and Management
Underutilization of new equipment; this contradicted the plan of the company to expand. Due to this underutilization, the morale of the production staff declined. The actual production could not match the capacity of the available equipment.
Another surprise is the reality of the actual expenditure exceeding the budgeted expenditure. This was not anticipated, and it forced the company to solicit for credit in other places.
Market changes; unlike the expectations by the Woody’s that expansion would lead to economies of scale and an increased market scope of its products. This was not the case, since there were reduced construction activities, which affected the demand for its products.
Risk of sanctions by the environmental authorities; the Company had to comply with the demands, and the standards made by the environmental authorities regarding the disposal of the surplus paint that could pose environmental hazards. Failure to comply with this could place the company at a risk of closure or collision with authorities.
Conclusively, this case study brings out pertinent issues that ought to be observed in the execution of a project management. The issue of engaging experts especially in an area where one has less and insufficient knowledge is vital. Making assumptions about technical issues may at the end turn out to be quite costly. Of equally great significance is the fact that all the members coordinating the project need to communicate their actions and harmonize them into one. Making separate and implementing separate decisions without informing others will likely increase the bottle necks in the process of accomplishing a project. Therefore, communications and coordination is very significant as well as seeking the services of experts.
Work Cited
Case Study. “Case Study: Custom Wood Working Company”. Max Wide Man Papers, 2000. Web.