Project Management Essay Example

Figure 1. Activity Network Diagram

Figure 2. ESD and LFD

Figure 3. Gantt Chart

Figure 4. Critical Path

Customer Influence

Often, businesses view production as a cost center that aims to minimize prices and to operate productively. Simultaneously, the promotion is evaluated as a demand regulated sales center and other promotion elements. It's not always a successful technique, though (Palaka & Kropp, 1998). Dividing an organization into separate divisions for calculating accounting results will result in misaligned rewards and poor system performance. Production and marketing incentives need to be aligned with the company goals and objectives. When manufacturing and marketing work together to achieve objectives according to customers, business performance is improved.

Both departments' decisions and actions involve the two prominent aspects of customer service, price and lead-time. Leadtimes and cost controls are two "necessary cooperation but a potential conflict" areas for marketing/manufacturing (Palaka & Kropp, 1998). All too often, the various divisions of large companies fail to report on important business decisions.

John C. Wu discusses the strategic value of organized promotions and activities. Former Kozmo.com President Kozmo.com was a web dealer promising in one hour to deliver every order. Despite the high cost of delivery arising from their service dedication, competitive rates were provided to consumers. Kozmo.com went out of service. Not surprisingly. According to AMR Report, price management firms are leading the way by centralizing their pricing role and changing sales opportunities to provide profit and not just quantity.

Lead-times and Price Decisions

Although shorter lead times can attract more customers and generate more demand; its production resources are under pressure. On the other hand, if cheaper rates are given, consumers might be able to wait longer. Hence, the company can find it more desirable to sell consumers shorter lead times at the cost of higher pricing ranges and vice versa, based on business dynamics and their present workload. To capture price-time trade, demand can be modeled by customer pricing and customer lead time sensitivity (Palaka & Kropp, 1998). Depending upon their rewards (objective functions), the decentralized environment makes the output a lead-time subject to a service-level restriction, whereas marketing opts for a profit.

The model in which development and commercialization/sales agree on lead time and quality, particularly for proven production processes with fixed capacities, is applicable in a variety of sectors. In practice, the primary input (or decision) for the lead-time quote usually comes from production, even if it is notified via sales/marketing to customers and the price quota (Palaka & Kropp, 1998). On the other hand, as the chief, before transmitting the allowance to the consumer, the marketing will influence the first time deciding on the production through its price determination based on potential demand produced.

Project Management Essay: Conclusion

In summary, this paper examined project design, activity network diagram, and customer influence on the project design. It also discussed the earliest start dates, latest finish dates, critical paths with illustrations and lead time price relationship in detail. Throughout the article, it is evident that project design plays a vital role in the success of a product, and while designing necessary tools and methods should be used. Customer demand should be taken into consideration.

References

Gray, R. M., Cook, M. B., Natera, M. T., Inglis, M. M., & Dodge, M. L. (2008). Project Management: The. In Managerial Process”, McGraw-Hill.

Lynam, J. R. (2011). U.S. Patent No. 8,063,904. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Palaka, K., Erlebacher, S., & Kropp, D. H. (1998). The lead-time setting, capacity utilization, and pricing decisions under lead-time dependent demand. IIE transactions.