Page 307 - Orlicky's Material Requirements Planning

286 PART 3 Managing with the MRP System

PROJECT LIFE CYCLES

Too many project managers believe that the phases of a project are
1. Wild enthusiasm.
2. Mass disillusionment.
3. Search for the guilty.
4. Punish the innocent.
5. Promote the non-involved.
This belief has evolved from the personal experience of many project managers as
they have been striving to do a good job managing the project. Effective project manage-
ment requires effective management skills and techniques supported by appropriate
technological tools. Unlike some projects, where the overall statement of work can be
descoped to bring the project in on schedule and on budget and declare accomplishment,
the project manager for a manufacturing company usually cannot descope the final prod-
uct to be shipped and still declare victory. The product still must meet all the require-
ments set by the customer. This is a very difficult industry for a project manager.
According to David I. Cleland and William Richard King, the phases of effective
project management include
1. Conceptual phase
2. Definition phase
3. Production phase
4. Operational phase
5. Divestment phase

Conceptual Phase
The conceptual phase occurs when the design team is working with the customer to deter-
mine the overall requirements for the product and potential deficiencies of the existing
processes and products. The initial feasibility of the technical, environmental, and eco-
nomic reality is also examined during this phase. One example would be the recent
development of superfast MRP systems. These systems were conceived many years ago,
but only recently have they become a reality. The reason is that the available technology
could not support them. Now that computers have multiple-gigabyte memory available,
these calculations can be completed directly in the active memory core without incurring
the slowdown of reading and writing to the hard drive.
In the conceptual phase, the project team provides the answers to
■ What will the product cost?
■ When will the product be available?
■ What will the product do?
■ How can the product be integrated into the existing systems?