Module 06 Course Project - Prepare a Final Project Report: USE ATTACHMENT TO COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT!!!

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 0

Finalize Project Schedule and Mitigate Any Delays

Name: Rodney Wheeler

Institution: Rasmussen College

Course: B362/GEB3422 Section 02 Business Project Management

Date: 02/05/17

Finalizing Project Schedule and Mitigate Any Delays

Miller (2013) explains that ongoing projects are susceptible to risks which pose a great threat to their completion. The risks may arise from the production of the units, where the units do not meet the set standards. Rodney Wheeler, a contractor is faced by a serious threat where the units he is supposed to design for a client, the U.S. Army Ground and Special Forces, do not meet the client's specifications. It is discovered that the refrigerated module is too large to fit in the designed refrigerated backpack as ordered by the client. The operations management team should formulate procedures and highlight the way forward to address this issue. Necessary action can be undertaken but will have a significant impact on the budget by causing additional expenses. The suppliers of the raw materials for designing the refrigerated module backpack are also affected.

A set of practices and interrelated set of controls should be incorporated into the design process. This move involves input requirements assessment and application where necessary. The discrepancies should be dealt with at an earlier stage to avoid piling of deficiencies in the design process and further delays (Miller, 2013). Design control should be conducted throughout the production process and ensure that they are within the set instructions as well as input requirements. Design control also involves corrective actions done after an evaluation of the products (Yau & Yang, 2012). In this case, corrective measures should be undertaken by redesigning the size of the refrigerated backpack and make it larger for the refrigerated module to fit. The design review and the production for the first delivery are scheduled from 1st Sep 2015 to 1st Sep 2016. Therefore, redesigning the refrigerated module will cause too much delay. It is, therefore, advised that strategies such as working overtime be implemented to amply use the limited available time. If the design and production team work for extra hours, the work can be done before the stipulated deadline, and therefore, Rodney Wheeler can make a timely delivery.

A subcontractor's shortcoming is an issue affecting many project and operations managers. When a subcontractor fails in their line of work, the effects can go beyond the production level (Yau & Yang, 2012). The whole project is delayed since it is destined to be put on hold if not terminated depending on the stipulated deadline. In our case, the subcontractor responsible for building radio module for the backpack has shut down. Shutting down of the subcontractor significantly affects human capital, budget and time schedule. Time waits for no man and therefore, rational decisions should be made to ensure the project is conducted smoothly. All dependencies should be double checked based on the critical path. All time-constrained tasks should be analyzed. Allocation of resources and factors of production is then conducted on the affected task (Miller, 2013).

In this case, allocation of resource activities from other tasks should be focused on building the radio modules. Hiring another subcontractor is the next step to replace the previous one. The hiring of a new subcontractor will add up to the cost and cause changes to the budget. It will, however, have a positive impact on human capital. A strong executive commitment should, therefore, be encouraged among the current and new employees. This is effectively done through avoiding conflicts of interest at all times. As mentioned earlier, the schedule will be significantly impacted and may affect the ability to meet the deadline. To address this issue, the employees should be encouraged to work overtime and allocate more resources. This move will subsequently increase the budget but it is necessary for meeting the current deadline of delivering the backpacks with an inbuilt refrigerated pouch with the radio module (Yau &Yang, 2012).

References

Miller, M. (2013). State and federal BRT project development procedures: Managing differences and project implementation delays. Journal of Public Transportation, 16(1), 67–82. doi:10.5038/2375-0901.16.1.4

Yau, N.-J., & Yang, J.-B. (2012). Factors causing design schedule delays in turnkey projects in Taiwan: An empirical study of power distribution Substation projects. Project Management Journal, 43(3), 50–61. doi:10.1002/pmj.21265