Concurrent Engineering & Teamwork

 Project management is the planning, scheduling, and controlling of those activities that must be performed to achieve project objectives.

2 Basic Parts of Project Management  Process: Project management requires coordinating a series of processes, which typically include planning, scheduling and controlling.  Objective: Project management manages those processes towards the achievement of the specific goal of the project.

 The goal of the project (what it wants to do) is directly linked to its processes (how it wants to do it), and vice-versa.

Teamwork in Industry  “No more piece-by-piece, step-by-step production. Now it’s teams. Teams of product and manufacturing engineerings, designers, planners, financing and marketing people- together from the start…” USA Today

Why Teams?  Engineers are asked to solve complex problems  More factors must be considered in design than ever before  Many corporations are international, with design and manufacturing engineering operations spread across the globe  Since Time to Market is important to competitive advantage, concurrent engineering is widely used  Corporations are increasingly using project management principles

SURVIVAL A Simulation Game A Simulation Game  Groups of 3

Team Attributes  A common goal or purpose. Team members are individually committed to that purpose  Leadership. One member may be appointed as leader, every member should contribute to the leadership  Each member makes unique contributions to the project  Effective team communication  Creative spark  Harmonious relationships among team members  Effective planning & use of resources

Team Member Attributes  Attendance  Responsible  Abilities  Creative & Energetic  Personality

Team Leadership Structures  Traditional Model  Implies a strong leader who directs actions of the group  Participative Model  Leader is positioned closely to all members & implies accountability of the leader to the members  Flat Model  Emphasizes leader as a working member/as an equal. Leadership may shift with individual’s expertise  Consultant Model  Shows relationship between student team & instructor No one right model. Team needs to choose structure that models how the group wants to perform.

How Teams Make Decisions  Consensus  all members find common ground through creative sharing & solutions  Majority  Option that received most votes winds  Minority  Small subset of the team (subcommittee) makes decision  Expert  Someone with authority (may or may not be part of the team) can give advice  Authority Rule without Discussion  A strong leader makes decisions without seeking team advice  Authority Rule with Discussion  A leader making a decision with input from team members

Project Managers  Plan work requirements  Plan schedules  Direct resource use (people, money, materials, and equipment)  A popular management tool is a Gantt Chart

Making a Gantt chart in Excel  (what is the history of the Gantt chart?)   Google documents – use template