project change request: a proposal for managing change in industrialization...
TRANSCRIPT
Project Change Request: a Proposal for Managing Change in
Industrialization ProjectsDeborah Perrotta 1, João Faria 2, Madalena Araújo 1, Anabela Tereso 1, Gabriela Fernandes 1
1 Production and Systems Department / Centre ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal
2 Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal, S.A., Rua Max Grundig, 35 - Lomar, 4705-820 Braga, Portugal
Contents
• Contextualization
• Research Question
• Literature Review
• Background and Research Methods
• Proposed Approach
• Conclusions and Future Work
Context: Industrialization ProjectsIndustrialization Projects: “The set of processes that are required to move from research and studies to a production system which is capable of delivering a product according to the predefined specifications and responds to a business requirement in accordance with the budget, timeline and ethics of the company” Dal Pont (2012).
Collect, analyse and understand product
requirements
Industrialization concept must be matured and approved by customer
Build and test production line prototypes
The Stage-Gate System• The Stage-Gate System applies process-management
methodologies to the product innovation process.
• Settled standard - automotive industry - ensures the required high product and process quality (Ettlie and Elsenbach, 2007).
• There are usually five stages for NPD: preliminary assessment or scoping, business case preparation, development, testing and validation, and launch (Cooper, 2008).
• Gates - points in time where the quality of the product is evaluated according to pre-defined requirements, blocking the process in case they are not fulfilled (Cooper, 2008).
The Stage-Gate System
Fig. 1 – Stage-gate system (extracted from Cooper, 2011)
Project Management Practices
• Increasing competition, with a special focus on the time-to-market, forces companies to adopt Project Management practices to improve their efficiency (Barczak,
Griffin, and Kahn, 2009).
• An adequate project planning at an early project phase can collide with the stage gate approach, making it challenging to combine both practices.
Research Question
• How to integrate PM and the stage gate system for NPD projects in order to cope with the late scope definition, typical in this type of projects?
PM Importance in the Context of NPD
• NPD processes - characterized by several complex activities loaded with uncertainties - lack of knowledge about the full scope of the project in the early stages - how to accommodate changes as the project advances? (Pons, 2008).
• NPD companies may improve cross-functional integration and planning through various PM practices (Thieme, Song and Shin, 2003).
Engineering Change Requests (ECR) in NPD
• ECRs - needed when new product requirements are asked by the customer - or modified manufacturing needs are identified (Nadia, Gregory and Vince, 2006).
• ECRs may affect directly the agility with which the product evolves.
• Number of active ECRs in manufacturing companies - can be so high - their management should be done using computer tools for that purpose (Huang, Yee and Mak, 2001).
Background and Research Methods
• Study Background
– Industrialization projects in a first-tier automotive company.
– Stage-gate system and PM practices in place.
– Synergy among the project team and accomplishment of deadlines are of utmost relevance.
– PM Plan developed too late in the project life cycle, impacting greatly in project performance.
• Research Methods
– Assessment of the PM practices used and understanding of the stage-gate system by performing:
• Structured and unstructured observations.
• Interviews.
• Focus groups.
Proposed ApproachProject Change Request (PCR)
• PCR concept PCRs are used to handle changes in scope that cannot be accommodated in the already established PM Plan
• Can be related to managerial factors, as resource availability or arising risks.
Proposed Approach – PCR Implementation
• Change only implies a better refinement of some project documents
No need to issue a PCR.
• Change having major impact on project milestones
A PCR must be issued.
• Description of change, stating affected plans
• Affected milestones
• Affected processes, activities and tasks
• Risk review, including analysis and responses
• Impacts on the client
• Proposed actions to overcome those impacts
PCR Issue Form
Conclusions and Future Work
• Project Change Request (PCR) is proposed to separate technical and management change types for industrialization projects.
• PCR issue form contents are suggested.
• The detailed PCR process description, flow, inputs and outputs are being now designed, documented and validated.
• PCR concept will then be tested and improved in three pilot projects before being deployed.
ReferencesR. G. Cooper, “Perspective: The Stage-Gate ® Idea-to-Launch Process—Update, What’s New, and NexGenSystems,” J. Prod. Innov. Manag., vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 213–232, 2008.
J. E. Ettlie and J. M. Elsenbach, “Modified Stage-Gate regimes in new product development,” J. Prod. Innov.Manag., vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 20–33, 2007.
M. Gobetto, “From Project to Product,” in Operations Management in Automotive Industries, 2014, pp. 45–65.
G. Barczak, A. Griffin, and K. B. Kahn, “Perspective: Trends and drivers of success in NPD practices: Results ofthe 2003 PDMA best practices study,” J. Prod. Innov. Manag., vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 3–23, 2009.
D. Pons, “Project management for new product development,” Proj. Manag. J., vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 82–97, May2008
R. J. Thieme, X. M. Song, and G.-C. Shin, “Project Management Characteristics and New Product Survival,” J.Prod. Innov. Manag., vol. 20, no. 315, pp. 104–119, 2003.
B. Nadia, G. Gregory, and T. Vince, “Engineering change request management in a new product developmentprocess,” Eur. J. Innov. Manag., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 5–19, 2006.
G. Q. Huang, W. Y. Yee, and K. L. Mak, “Development of a web-based system for engineering changemanagement,” Robot. Comput. Integr. Manuf., vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 255–267, 2001.
Dal Pont, J. P. (Ed.). (2013). Process Engineering and Industrial Management. John Wiley & Sons.
