Page 190 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Writing the Methods Slot 181

◉ determine opportunities for utilizing new equipment technology
◉ specify which products or components, if any, could be made in-house or
purchased from suppliers

The modified, effective base of production resources coupled with the con-
firmed market forecast will enable the engagement team to develop an
accurate and credible projection of future resource requirements. At this
point, the joint ABC/Paramount engagement team will have a sound basis
for identifying, evaluating, and selecting the most viable option or options to
provide these requirements.

Composing the P-Slots for Task 3: Define Manufacturing
Facility Options to Provide Required Resources
Many different facility configurations could provide ABC’s needed additional
resources. ABC’s management team understands this as well: Metzger felt that
the existing facility should be expanded, Gupta thought the same for the satellite
facilities, and Collins argued for a “greenfield” site closer to expanding markets.
You try several times to write P-slots for this task, but each of them sounds forced
and dry. Eventually, you realize why: The fundamental purpose and result of this
task are so obvious that opening and closing P-slots are unnecessary. So you intro-
duce this task with nothing more than a transition from Task 2 and end the task’s
discussion with a transition to Task 4.
Your draft of Task 3 reads as follows:

Task 3: Define Manufacturing Facility Options
to Provide Required Resources
Once we know how much additional space and equipment are required, we
will identify the possible manufacturing options that will provide these addi-
tional resources. Accordingly, we will develop and analyze various options and
determine which configuration of facilities best meets your objectives.

Specifically, we will:

◉ determine expansion potential at the current facility
◉ specify potential factory roles and locations for increasing capacity

As a result of completing this task, we will have narrowed the field from the
possible to the probable, the better to be able to scrutinize the remaining
options and to choose the most appropriate.