Plant Source Company: Alternative Fuel Sources

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Creating an Effective Project Team
Operation of Project Team
Reference List

Introduction

Due to the finite nature of fossil fuels (limited supply), companies around the world especially car manufacturers and energy producers are attempting to find alternative means of fuel for their products and services.

One such alternative comes in the form of biofuels which are derived from processing agricultural products such as corn, leftover biological matter from farming or jatropha (a type of plant that can has a higher biofuel yield as compared to other species). The end result is the creation of a substance which can accomplish the same purpose as normal fossil fuels however is nonpolluting due to its unique chemical composition.

While such a technology has yet to reach mainstream adaptability due to issues regarding production, shipping, engine compatibility as well as acceptance by the general public, the fact remains that as fossil fuel resources continue to shrink it becomes increasingly necessary to utilize alternative fuel sources and as such biofuels may well become the fuel of choice in the future.

Plant Source is one of the many companies that are attempting to usher in mainstream acceptance of biofuels yet finds itself in a conundrum regarding conflicting data involving potential regions for market expansion. As the company has discovered, one of the main issues it encounters on an almost daily basis is being able to find sufficient supplies from which biofuel can be derived from.

While there are currently numerous processes which can be utilized to change certain plant species into viable fuel sources the fact remains that in order for such a process to enter into mass production a sufficient level of agricultural planting is necessary in order to accomplish such a task.

The company is all too willing to pay farmers for particular crops however there are issues regarding local acceptance regarding crop changes which cannot be sold to other buyers due to their unique nature as primarily being a biofuel crop.

Another factor to consider is that even if sufficient supplies can be created there is still the issue of exporting the synthesized biofuel across regions, borders and countries and penetrating markets where such fuels can make a profit for the company.

It is based on these factors that the following will be a comprehensive guide in creating, operating, and evaluating a project team whose specific purpose is to create sufficient supply lines across different regions for the biofuel crop, manage methods of production and establish sufficient methods of sale and distribution across state and national borders.

The expected end result of this guide is for readers to be able to sufficiently understand the methods, processes and guidelines necessary to create a project for a technology intensive company such as Plant Source in order to create an effective and efficient means of production and distribution for the company.

Creating an Effective Project Team

Framing the Project

One of the first steps necessary in creating a project team for this particular undertaking is to frame the project in terms of its goal, what resources are available, what is the timeline for each step in the process and how will responsibility be delegated to individual team members (Howes, 2001). For this particular project the following can be considered an outline of how the project should look like from inception to outcome:

Creation of effective suppliers and supply lines to facilitate the supply of raw materials for the biofuel conversion process.
Determining where the conversion factory should be located in order to facilitate effective biomaterial conversion.
Organizing appropriate employee systems to facilitate the process of supply and conversion.
Examining potential markets where the converted biofuel will most likely have the highest demand.
Establishing proper client relations.
Exporting the biofuel to clients through regional distribution centers.

Team Composition

Since the basic project outline has now been established, it now becomes necessary to determine the overall composition of the team and how it should be organized.

One method of organization that could be potentially utilized is the vertical approach, more commonly know as the “top down approach”, wherein a strict hierarchy is established with orders coming from the team leader getting passed to the appropriate team member resulting in that individual accomplishing the task given to them (Blackstone, Cox and Schleier, 2009).

Blackstone, Cox and Schleier (2009) indicates that while such an approach in managing a technology intensive company allows greater control over the process of task delegation and compliance to an established plan they state that it limits the ability of a project to effectively respond to changing market forces and actually limits the ability of the project team to effectively respond to changes within a business environment (Blackstone, Cox and Schleier, 2009).

What must be understood is that technology oriented businesses do not operate within a vacuum, rather they operate within a constantly changing and shifting environment where new innovations technologies effectively necessitate the need to change project strategies on an almost yearly basis (Thamhain, 2005).

Taking this into consideration, a more effective approach to be utilized is the horizontal one wherein each member is given the freedom to contribute ideas, process and implement their own unique methods in getting a specific task accomplished (Howes, 2001).

It is due to this that in the case of Plant Source the recommended project team composition should utilize the horizontal approach in order to help facilitate a more effective sharing of idea and the utilization of innovate processes in order to get the job done.

Operation of Project Team

Client Relations

As mentioned earlier creating effective client relations is an important aspect of Plant Source since the company needs a buyer for its products. What must be understood is that at the present biofuel gets blended into with other fuel sources in order to create what is currently in most gas pumps in gas stations around the world.

While utilizing biofuel directly into current engines is possible the fact remains that Plant Source lacks the distribution networks necessary to distribute biofuels to individual consumers. As such it becomes necessary to utilize business to business sales with corporations such as Shell, Exxon Mobile and Petron in order to for the company to actually get its products out there.

It is due to this that one division of the project team for this particular venture needs to deal with establishing business agreements with other corporations in order to facilitate the sale of company’s biofuel product. In fact this particular aspect of operations can be considered the most important since without it the project won’t become viable at all (ALTINKEMER, OZCELIK & OZDEMIR, 2011)

Liaison Group

One aspect of the project team must deal with developing proper agreements with local farmers in regions identified as viable locations for growing crops specifically for biofuel usage.

The reason why a liaison group is necessary is due to the fact that proper agreements need to be created with local farmers in which they agree to change their current method of farming and production to one that is more inclined towards the needs of the company.

Since this at times puts farmers at risk this necessitates the need for constant reassurances, proper guidance as well as local site teams that will initially assist farmers in developing the necessary systems for crop production.

Other aspects that the liaison team will have to deal with involves having to create an appropriate technological system where farming limitations, crop production, transportation systems as well as seed supplies need to be systematized, catalogued and distributed depending on the inherent need per farm.

Furthermore the liaison team will be responsible in determining how much biomaterial crop can be created within a given area and determine how this will impact company production. This can either involve them scaling backing or increasing production within particular regional areas.

Product Development

One of the necessary aspects of proper project management is to ensure that there is an adequate level of product development within the project team (Lenfle & Loch, 2010).

This particular aspect of operations involves the team setting up the necessary refineries and factories where the biomaterial from farms is processed into biofuel however it must also e noted that this aspect of the project team doesn’t just involve setting up the technology and supervising product quality but it also involves having to examine the current technological environment to see if there are any emerging technologies that can be utilized in the production process.

Product development also involves taking the initial product and seeing if it can be improved beyond its original capacities through the use of new technologies (Killough and Sheely, 2011).

This can mean utilized new processing methods to gain more biofuel yields from biomaterial or processing biofuels even more in order to have them attain the capacity to replace petroleum based products all together. The possible applications are potentially limitless and as such are limited by the will and the imagination to put them into effect.

Evaluation

As noted by Thamhain (2005) business environments can change depending on several factors with one of the most obvious being the subsequent creation of new technologies as well as the changing need of consumers (Thamhaim, 2005).

In this particular case it can be seen that the new technology that has been created is the conversion process for plant biomaterial into biofuels while the changed need in the case of consumers is the necessity for alternative fuels sources.

Thamhain (2005) indicates there are numerous forces that drive technology companies today and as seen in the case of Plant Source the driving force in this case is the need to combine the innovative creation of a new product with sufficient supply and consumer consumption.

Taking such factors into consideration this section details the various means of evaluation in which a project team for Plant Source will be evaluated based on their fulfillment of the goals and requirements of this type of project.

Response to Changing Technological Environment

One of the measures of a successful project by a technology intensive company is how the project reacts to sudden changes in the global market (Thamhain, 2005). What must be understood is that a project timeline can last from weeks, to months and even up to several years. Within this span of time numerous changes can and will occur which may affect the viability of a particular project.

One example of this can be seen in the case of the Playstation 3 produced by Sony and the Wii created by Nintendo. While both units were released at roughly the same span of time; sales of the Nintendo Wii eclipsed that of the Playstation 3 due to the innovative concept of a motion controller and the greater degree of person-to-console interactivity that the Wii was able to provide to gamers (Altinkemer, Ozcelik and Ozdemir, 2011).

Sony on the other hand had banked on the performance and graphics that the Playstation 3 could provide however as seen by the initial sales results of the company the unit was considered far too expensive with fewer game titles available as compared to the Wii which was much cheaper and had a plethora of titles to choose from (Altinkemer, Ozcelik and Ozdemir, 2011).

It was only when Sony dropped the price of the Playstation 3 by several hundred dollars a year later that the company was able to gain sufficient traction within the gaming community. Based on this case alone it can be seen that companies need to be able to respond to changing technologies which may affect their market shares

(Baydoun, 2010). Some possible technological developments that may arise which could cause problems for the company in the form of cheaper biofuel processing technologies developed by rival corporations, changing consumer preferences from biofuels to hydrogen power cells or even the current development of electrical cars.

The response of the project team to sudden changes in the technological environment that it finds itself in is a measure of how well the current project they are undertaking will succeed (Altinkemer, Ozcelik and Ozdemir, 2011). A slow response as seen in the case of Sony can result in rivals capturing a greater market share or even completely capturing the market as seen in the case of the Microsoft Zoon and the iPhone.

Thus, when evaluating the project team their response to technological innovations will come in the form of determining how fast they were able to respond to the change, how did they change their business strategy, what processes did they implement to minimize the negative effects on the project and to what extent did they facilitate their own responses to the changes that occurred (Killough & Sheely, 2011).

Project Life Cycle Achievement

All projects are subject to a certain lifecycle as indicated by the inherent limitations of the project itself and as such it becomes important to determine whether the team either contributed towards meeting deadline objectives, going over the deadline or even completing the project earlier than expected (Howes, 2001).

As examined by Thamhain (2005), technology based projects need to conform to set resource and time limits from creation to completion (Thamlain, 2005). Project teams that expend more resources and time than what is legitimately necessary can thus be categorized as inefficient and negligent since it is their responsibility to ensure that projects are able to stay within set limits.

Thus, in evaluating a project team on the basis of life cycle achievement it is important to determine whether they sufficiently utilized project management tools as indicated by Thamlain (2005) which are necessary aspects in ensuring proper project completion.

This can come in the form of financial planning tools, time sheets, completed project milestones, daily reports and logistics software which combines all this data in order to determine the current rate of project completion versus the rate in which the project team should have been working at.

By examining the data from such tools it will be easy to evaluate whether the team was able to properly meet and accomplish specific project milestones within a given time frame and if it was able to meet the project deadline that was created at during the project planning stage

Reference List

Altinkemer K., Ozcelik, Y., & Ozdemir Z. D. (2011). Productivity and performance effects of Business process reengineering: A firm-level analysis. Journal Of Management Information Systems, 27(4), 129-162.

Blackstone, J. H., Cox, J. F., & Schleier, J. G. (2009). A tutorial on project management from a theory of constraints perspective. International Journal Of Production Research, 47(24), 7029-7046.

Baydoun, M. (2010). Risk management of large-scale development projects in developing countries: Cases from MDI’s projects. International Journal Of Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 9(3), 237-249.

Howes, N. R. (2001). Modern project management: Successfully integrating project management knowledge areas and processes. AMACOM Books.

Killough, C., & Sheely, K. B. (2011). Efficient management: From global threats to small projects. Public Manager, 40(3), 45-49.

Lenfle, S., & Loch, C. (2010). Lost roots: How project management came to emphasize control over flexibility and novelty. California Management Review, 53(1), 32-55.

Thamhain, H. (2005). Management of technology in technology intensive organizations. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Page

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