Stephen W.T.
Industrial Engineering, December 1994, pp. 15-17
Chrysler needed to change the way it was bringing products to the market.
Facing tight deadlines, myriad variables, and working with finite resources re- quired the use of project management. The case describes how Chrysler was able to achieve its goal successfully and stresses the role of the use of project management software (Arternis Prestige) in the process.
After the discussion of this case, the students will gain a further understand- ing of:
project management software the project life-cycle
the wide applicability of project management project's schedule.
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NSWERS1. Chrysler had to shorten its product introduction cycles in order to be com- petitive in the automotive industry. What are the general characteristics of a project life-cycle?
a. Guide, Section 2.1.2, Characteristics of the Project Life Cycle, states: "Most project life-cycle descriptions share a number of common characteristics:
Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, higher toward the end, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a conclusion.
The probability of successful completion of the project is lowest, and hence risk and uncertainty are highest, at the start of the project. The probability of successful completion generally gets progressively higher as the project continues.
The ability of the stakeholders to influence the final characteristics of the project product and the final cost of the project is highest at the start and gets progressively lower as the project continues. A major contribu- tor to this phenomenon is that the cost of changes and error correction generally increases as the project continues.
Controlling
Although many project life-cycles have similar phase names with similar work products required, few are identical."
2. Discuss the competitive advantages of reducing product development times in the automobile industry and other industries.
a. This discussion should focus on the importance of "speed to market" in today's global, competitive markets. There is no question that product development times have been shortened in many industries and that in order to remain competitive, companies must keep up with the pace.
Typically, the company that gets to market first may gain the largest market share and enhance product profitability-but if the product is successful, competitors will move in!
b. The instructor might continue the discussion by having students relate personal experiences with being first or not being first to the market with a particular product. Other discussion points on this issue might include the kinds of products involved when it may not be advantageous to be first in the market.
3. The management of the project was able to analyze various scenarios through the use of the "what if" feature of the software. What are the key elements to take into account in developing a project's schedule?
a. Guide, Section 6.4.1, Inputs to Schedule Development, identi- fies the following elements:
"Project Network Diagram is a schematic display of the project's ac- tivities and the logical relationships (dependencies) among them.
Activity Duration Estimating involves assessing the number of work periods likely to be needed to complete each identified activity.
Resource Requirements is a description of what type of resources are required and in what quantities for each element of the work break- down structure. The resources will be obtained either through staff acquisition or procurement.
Resource Pool Description. Knowledge of what resources will be avail- able at what times and in what patterns is necessary for schedule de- velopment.
Calendars. Project and resource calendars identify periods when work is allowed.
Constraints are factors that will limit the project management team options.
Assumptions are factors that, for planning purposes, will be consider to be true, real, or certain. Assumptions generally involve a degree of risk and will normally be an output of risk identification.
Leads and Lags. Any of the dependencies may require specification of a lead or a lag in order to accurately define the relationship."
4. Explain the advantages that (the project management software) brought to the Viper project. How did these advantages contribute to a shorter product development time for
a. The tool allowed management to "see the big picture and to gauge the impact of each operation on that panoramic view." It also gave the team the opportunity to perform "what ifs" and do effective risk management.
This let them "recognize those processes that most needed attention, and to identify where resource redistribution could have the greatest
Project Management
pact on net The software aided in the ability to reduce both time and cost elements of the project. This case illustrates that one of the pri- mary keys to the success of the project was effective time and cost management through the use of a project management software tool.
chose Prestige (Lucas Management Systems) as its project management software. The instructor may wish to ask students to research on other packages available in the market, their main features, applications and costs.
A.B. Badiru and S. Pulat in Comprehensive Project Management, Ap- pendix E: Project Management Software, give a general description of the soft- ware available.