The Custom Woodworking Company: Project Management

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Table of Contents

Project Planning
Quality
Planning and Scheduling
Cost Estimating
Contracting for Engineering and Construction Services
References

Project Planning

To reconstruct the Custom Woodworking Company, the Chief Executive Officer, Ron Carpenter should think over a consistent and detailed plan that would allow for better adjustment to the competitive environment. The main purpose of the project management involves innovation and advancement of existing facilities through technological advancement and officer’s renovation. Through the plan has strict goals, it should also include other important components, such as effective communication, transparent information exchange, and gap analysis. However, the initial steps of plan accomplishment have failed to be productive because Moneyworth and Cashman have not established efficient communication channels that would ensure successful planning and accomplishment of the project.

Effective planning should be aimed at minimizing costs and equal distributing of resources. On the one hand, the contracting experience and involvement of new human resources is a valuable contribution to the company’s successful management of change and innovation. On the other hand, engaging new people can cause extra costs for the company, particularly when there is a possibility to encourage employees and managers to promote decision-making and creative work (Haughey, 2000-2012). Despite the risk of ineffective cost management, introducing outside experts can provide an objective examination of all contingencies and possible pitfalls that the company can experience while implementing the plan.

High level of adaptability to changes is the core to successful accomplishment of project planning. The task of the managerial team is to define exact aspects and processes that should be involved into the project, as well as sequence of its accomplishment. The consistency and accuracy of planning will help the manager to face changes effectively. In addition, effective principles of dealing with change should “…represent the level at which good planning takes place” (National Initiative for a Network Cultural Heritage, 2002, p. 11). In this respect, Moneyworth and Cashman are not consistent enough in facing challenges because they do not work together to define the staff and consultants, as well as create a powerful framework that would provide a basis for the project.

Quality

While presenting project planning, it is important to follow the existing standards of quality. This is of particular concern to the organization because it seeks to introduce new equipment that should conform to the existing environmental and ecological standards. Therefore, project management is closely associated with total quality control. According to Rose (2005), the concept of quality is confined to three major elements, including customer focus, variation, and continuous improvement that are shaped through constant training. With regard to the above-presented concepts, Leadbetter was inconsistent in installing the mechanical equipment because of absence of timely approval of the documents testifying the equipment quality. He was unable to promote transparent exchange of information with other members of project team. Inefficient communication and failure to follow all the procedures appropriately threatened the successful implementation of the project Woody 2000.

The importance of adhering to the governmental standards of quality is enormous because the company deals with the manufacturing process that has a potent impact on environment. Besides, the level to which the standard is followed identifies the level of customer’s demand (Rose, 2005). Therefore, CEO should be more concerned with the improving the quality of the products introduced to the manufacturing process.

Planning and Scheduling

Effective planning and time schedule are inherent components of successful and consistent project management. The members of the project group should consider it a priority in order to ensure effective accomplishment of each stage of a project plan. Because of a failure to work out effective timeline, Leadbetter and Moneysworth did not manage to succeed in inspection, building, production start-up, and testing and, as a result, they failed to sustain a meaningful planning of the introduced project. The main problem of the project management plan lied in a failure to deliver the production train in time, as well as to receive the building occupation certificate resulted in lateness of production for several weeks. The loss of time led to missed custom delivery dates and, as a result, the company failed to conclude contracts with their orders in millwork. Consequently, inappropriate scheduling and inaccurate planning of phases in terms of time staging have provides a chain of serious problems undermining the company’s reputation. The chart below provide an overview of stages that should be considered carefully.

*An overview of stages that should be considered carefully.*

Because of delays and pitfalls in phases accomplishment, the control stage should also be provided with certain changes. Lack of communication and inability to exchange information on the project has put the baseline plan at risk because the members of the project did not realize the importance of accomplishing each phase consistently and on time (Rose, 2005). Establishing a good critical path, even several variants of it, could have improved the overall course of actions within the project management plan. The presence of critical path creates a full picture of processes, as well as knowledge areas to which these processes are aligned. In addition, in case an action has a parallel activity linked to the overall process, both actions should be carried in congruence with the goals and objectives of the entire management project.

Cost Estimating

Unexpected cost predetermined by excess in project financing often leads to underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting. In order to estimate costs and budgets at a high level, it is imperative to introduce the so-called buffers that imply considering such aspects, as extra money, time, and resources aimed at reducing the project risks (Rad, 2002). In addition to the buffers, there should be a consistent change management process that allows to shifts in the deliverables (Rad, 2002). The high-level estimation, therefore, is possible through guesstimating, which encourages the managers to offer several variants of the phase outcome. Hence, a quick estimate of the schedule plan, therefore, allows for highlighting the major milestone that led to lateness in deliver and inability of managers to face these contingencies. Analysis of one phase provides use with the pitfalls that can influence other deliverables.

From the very beginning, it has been seen that the project budget does not foresee contingencies and is focused on well-planned sequence of activities. There is not attempt of managers to predict possible risks and identify accurately what problem can emerge. In this respect, instead of delivering a rationale for $ 1 billion for contingencies, Cashman did not consider it important to render his estimation to his colleagues. As a result, other estimations and predictions surely differed from those introduced by Cashman. Lack of transparency and absence of a collaborative model of project planning and implementation did not ensure a life cycle of product because of many missing details. Unlike Cashman, I would share my opinion and solutions concerning the project to make sure that my estimations and calculations are correct and are congruent with those made by other team members.

Contracting for Engineering and Construction Services

Before inviting people to the project team from the outside, the project managers should carefully consider the underpinnings and reasons for involving a new person to the project planning. What is more important is that they should pay closer attention to payment structures and contract to define whether their participation is necessary for improving the project (Turner, 2003, p. 19). Specifically, the responsibilities, the risks involved, and the scope of work directly influence the success of the project accomplishment. Because there was no agreement between group members, no accurate recording of costs were included into the initiation phase of the project plan (Turner, 2003, p. 19). In this respect, the success of the project is strongly connected with effective risk management. Therefore, Carpenter should have checked the possibility of risks and losses to consider them in a project plan. This is of particular concern to such process as inspection, terms of delivery, customer expectations, and training programs for the employees.

Apart from reasons for inviting contractors, the owners should rely on conflict while initiating a contract. The main task of the owner is to get the maximum benefit of the contractor and gain a greater share of the relationships (Turner, 2003). In other words, either win-win or lose-lose variations are possible for developing a cooperating relationship. Within these perspectives, the above-presented requirements were not accurately followed by the members of the project team because of a failure to communicate ideas successfully and exchange possible information. Carpenter was not involved directly into the process and, as a result, the project management process was difficult to predict.

References

Haughey (2000-2012). Project Planning a Step by Step Guide. Project Smart. Web.

National Initiative for a Network Cultural Heritage (2002). The NINCH Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation and Management of Cultural Heritage Materials. Web.

Rad, P. F. (2002). Project Estimating and Cost Management. US: Management Concepts.

Rose, K. (2005). Project Quality Management: Why, What and How. US: J. Ross Publishing.

Turner, J. R. (2003). Contracting for Project Management. US: Gower Publishing.

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