Department - Author 1
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BS in Liberal Studies
Date
6-2011
Primary Advisor
Karen R. Bangs
Abstract/Summary
Successful projects are the backbone of companies that lead their respective fields. Failed projects for one reason or another are more often than not the reason some companies fall further and further behind their counterparts. Projects are becoming more technologically advanced. Projects are more expensive and are receiving less funding than they used to due to a highly competitive economic climate. The projects in the second decade of 2000 have to meet the triple bottom line of cheaper, faster, and better than ever before. Due to these reasons projects have continued to fail at an alarming rate (nearly 70% in 2009 according to the Standish Group) despite the increased awareness and the push to involve some Project Management tools.
The seemingly elusive goal of systematically addressing and excelling at the triple bottom is attainable when a project manager correctly utilizes every tool available including extending their knowledge beyond typical project management tools into the realm of knowledge management and quality management. It is with this newly dubbed Project Quality Plan (PQP) that project managers will utilize the best practices from project management (PM) by ensuring clear leadership and by using scheduling tools, from knowledge management (KM) by implementing a knowledge base and knowledge practices popularized by Toyota, and finally from quality management (QM) by identifying the customer and meeting their needs to requirements documentation. It is with the PQP that project managers can ensure successful projects are no longer rare occurrences but commonplace within their company.
The PQP was first constructed in response to a hard-drive manufacturing company’s (named Company A) struggle to install, qualify and release to manufacturing on time. At the time of writing this report, Company A is currently implementing their own PQP. A possible later investigation could analyze the effectiveness of this PQP implementation and will provide recommendations for next steps.
Project success is possible, but one successful project is not enough. To ensure consistent and continual project success there needs to be a change in the culture of Company A to one that fully embraces and embodies the principles of PQP.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/imesp/77
Abstract
SP_Title_Walker_Philip_6_1_2011.docx (10 kB)
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