3/12/2014

Boxes Manufacture
Project Case Study

Planning Engineer Website

HTTP://WWW.PLANNINGENGINEER.NET/

Table of Contents
1)

Table of figures ........................................................................................................................ 3

2)

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4
A)

Project background ............................................................................................................. 4

i)

Requirements Analysis: ................................................................................................... 4

ii)

Design and concept: ........................................................................................................ 4

iii)

Plan the project: .............................................................................................................. 4

iv)

Materials procurements: ................................................................................................. 4

v)

Boxes production:............................................................................................................ 4

vi)

Boxes assembly: .............................................................................................................. 4

B)

3)

Planning concept and software ........................................................................................... 4

i)

Planning concept ............................................................................................................. 4

ii)

External resources and software ..................................................................................... 4

Project scope statement.......................................................................................................... 5

A)

Define project scope............................................................................................................ 5

B)

Project assumptions and constraints .................................................................................. 5

4)

i)

Quality ............................................................................................................................. 5

ii)

Resources ........................................................................................................................ 5

iii)

Scope ............................................................................................................................... 5

iv)

Time ................................................................................................................................. 5

Work Breakdown Structure WBS ............................................................................................ 6

A)

Decomposition .................................................................................................................... 6

B)

WBS ..................................................................................................................................... 6

5)

Project schedule ...................................................................................................................... 7

A)

Define project activities....................................................................................................... 7

B)

Estimate activities duration ................................................................................................. 8

C)

Schedule activities ............................................................................................................... 8

6)

i)

Sequence activities .......................................................................................................... 8

ii)

Project Original Bar chart ................................................................................................ 9

iii)

Project Revised Bar Chart: ............................................................................................. 10

Resource management plan .................................................................................................. 10

A)

Types of resources ............................................................................................................. 10

B)

Quantities of each type of resource .................................................................................. 11

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C)

Project organization chart ................................................................................................. 12

D)

Project resource histogram ............................................................................................... 12

7)

i)

Primavera resource histogram ...................................................................................... 12

ii)

Microsoft Excel resource histogram .............................................................................. 13

iii)

Microsoft Excel revised resource histogram ................................................................. 13

Cost estimates ....................................................................................................................... 14

A)

Determining Project Budget .............................................................................................. 14

i)

Original project budget ................................................................................................. 14

ii)

Revised project budget.................................................................................................. 14

B)

8)

Project cash flow ............................................................................................................... 15

i)

Original Cash Flow ......................................................................................................... 15

ii)

Revised Cash Flow ......................................................................................................... 15

Risk management plan .......................................................................................................... 16

A)

Identify risks ...................................................................................................................... 16

B)

Perform qualitative risk analysis ....................................................................................... 16

C)

Perform quantitative risk analysis ..................................................................................... 17

D)

Plan risk responses ............................................................................................................ 17

E)

Monitor and control risks .................................................................................................. 17

9)

Communications plan ............................................................................................................ 18

A)

Project Stakeholders.......................................................................................................... 18

B)

Communications groups.................................................................................................... 18

C)

Communications Information needs ................................................................................. 18

10)

Quality plan ....................................................................................................................... 19

A)

Plan Quality ....................................................................................................................... 19

B)

Quality Assurance .............................................................................................................. 19

C)

Quality Control .................................................................................................................. 19

11)

Conclusions and recommendations .................................................................................. 19

12)

References ......................................................................................................................... 20

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1) Table of figures
Figure 1(Scope Decomposing) ........................................................................................................ 6
Figure 2(Project WBS) .................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 3(Activity List)..................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 4(Activity Duration) ............................................................................................................. 8
Figure 5(Activity Sequence)............................................................................................................ 9
Figure 6(Bar Chart) ......................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 7(Revised Bar Chart) ......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 8(Type of Resources) ......................................................................................................... 11
Figure 9(Resources Quantities) ..................................................................................................... 11
Figure 10(Organization Chart) ...................................................................................................... 12
Figure 11(Primavera Resource Histogram) ................................................................................... 12
Figure 12(Excel Resource Histogram) .......................................................................................... 13
Figure 13(Excel Revised Resource Histogram) ............................................................................ 13
Figure 14(Project Budget) ............................................................................................................. 14
Figure 15(Revised Project Budget) ............................................................................................... 14
Figure 16(Project Cash Flow) ....................................................................................................... 15
Figure 17(Project Revised Cash Flow).......................................................................................... 15
Figure 18(Qualitative Risk Analysis) ............................................................................................ 16
Figure 19(Quantitative Risk Analysis) .......................................................................................... 17
Figure 20(Communications Information)...................................................................................... 18

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2) Introduction
A) Project background
Our company Flexible Models (FM) awarded a project for the Research and
Development unit of the Property Development Department of the Government
(PDDG). The project is part of Seismic Zone Residential Construction
Improvement Program, and it is to manufacture and deliver boxes, which used on
a foundation of buildings. In order to deliver the final product, the project will pass
through the following stages:
i) Requirements Analysis:
Interview the project stakeholders and Product detail analysis to define the
project scope of work.
ii) Design and concept:
Perform the project design and execution method statement in order to plan the
project.
iii) Plan the project:
Develop the project plan; scope statement, WBS, schedule, resources, cost,
risks, communication, and quality plans as per the following sections.
iv) Materials procurements:
As per the project management plan, and the design, the materials procurement
should start to provide the materials required to manufacture the boxes.
v) Boxes production:
As per the materials delivery schedule and the project plan, the manufacture
should start to deliver the boxes on time.
vi) Boxes assembly:
As per the production schedule, and the project management plan, the boxes
should be delivered and assembled at the client's site as required.

B) Planning concept and software

i) Planning concept
Project planning concept is as per (Project Management Institute 2008) planning
process groups, tools, and techniques. However, the author used his own
experience to select the best techniques fits the project situation.
ii) External resources and software
The author used Microsoft Excel, and Oracle Primavera to perform the required
calculations and diagrams embedded in the final project document as figures.

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3)

Project scope statement

A) Define project scope
The project scope is to design, manufacture, deliver, and assembly cardboard or
metal sheet boxes, which will be used in the foundation of PDDG program.

B) Project assumptions and constraints

This section include the assumptions and the constrains, which considered during
the project planning and execution as per the following:
i) Quality
The size must be 300 x 250 x 200 cm with a slot of 10 x 10 x 25 cm.
The tolerance on outer dimensions must be +/-2 cm.
The tolerance on dimensions of the slot must be 0 to -3 mm in width. In
short, the slot cannot be more than 10 x 10 cm.
It should be made of cardboard or metal sheet.
It should be made of small cubes of dimensions 5 x 5 x 5 cm.
It should be smooth in appearance.
ii) Resources
The following is the Labor rates:

Design department: USD 150 per day

Cutting department: USD 90 per day
Assembly department: USD 150 per day

Note: the given effort of resources is total number of resources to complete the
task not the daily manpower,
The following is the Labor rates:

USD 20 per industrial cardboard sheet

USD 25 per metal sheet
USD 10 per Standard cubes

iii) Scope
The boxes should be delivered and assembled at the client's site
iv) Time
The project completion date was revised because of the risk management.
See section 8-D.
The calendar used on oracle Primavera scheduling tool is standard 5-day
work per week except for task number A1150 Shipment/Delivery the
calendar used is 7-day work per week.

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4)

Work Breakdown Structure WBS

A) Decomposition
Decomposition is a technique for subdividing the project deliverables into
smaller, manageable tasks called work packages (Sanghera 2010, p97). The
project scope of work decomposed into work packages and groups as per the
following figure-1.
Boxes Project Decomposing
1
Requirements Analysis
1.1 Interview client stakeholders
1.2 Product detail analysis
1.3 Refinement of the final draft
2

Design and Concept

2.1 High level design

2.2 Details with operation designs
3
Production
3.1 Set up
3.2 Cutting and parts development
3.3 Sub-assembly 1
3.4 Sub-assembly 2
3.5 Sub-assembly 3
3.6 Assembly integration
4
Material
4.1 Cardboard sheet
4.1 Metal sheets
4.1 Cubes
5
Delivery
5.1 Pre-delivery
5.2 Shipment/Deliverydelivery takes 2 weeks by sea.
5.3 Implementation
Figure 1(Scope Decomposing)

B) WBS
After decomposing the project into work packages, the WBS is created by Oracle
Primavera as per the following figure-2.

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Figure 2(Project WBS)

5)

Project schedule
A) Define project activities
After the creation of the WBS on Oracle Primavera, the activities were populated
under the related WBS as per the following figure-3

Figure 3(Activity List)

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B) Estimate activities duration

In this process, the duration of each activity will be estimated. Since the duration
estimate is progressively elaborated (Project Management Institute., 2013), this
step could be revisited during the schedule activities, resource management, and
risk management to achieve the project deadlines. See figure-4

Figure 4(Activity Duration)

C) Schedule activities
i) Sequence activities
The activities is sequenced in Oracle Primavera by assigning the predecessor and
successor relationships as per figure-5 below.
Note: activity number A1040 Details with operation designs has a start-to-start
+ 2 days lag relationship with activity number A1030 High level design as per
statement The task 'Details with operation designs' starts with a 50% overlap with
'High level design'

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Figure 5(Activity Sequence)

ii) Project Original Bar chart

After sequencing the activities, Oracle Primavera represents the bar chart which
identifying the project critical path by the red bars as per figure-6.

Figure 6(Bar Chart)

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iii) Project Revised Bar Chart:

Because of the risk response in section 8-D, the project duration was changed to
mitigate the risks. Accordingly, the bar chart was revised as per figure-7

Figure 7(Revised Bar Chart)

6)

Resource management plan

A) Types of resources
The following figure-8 defines the type of resources associated with each activity
Task
Duration

Resource
Type

1.1 Interview client stakeholders

4 days

Design

1.2 Product detail analysis

6 days

Design &
Assembly

1.3 Refinement of the final draft

2 days

Design

2
Design and Concept
2.1 High level design

4 days

Design

2.2 Details with operation designs

6 days

Design

3
Production
3.1 Set up

4 days

Assembly

Boxes Project Decomposing

1

Requirements Analysis

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Task
Duration

Resource
Type

3.2 Cutting and parts development

3 days

Cutting

3.3 Sub-assembly 1

6 days

Assembly

3.4 Sub-assembly 2

6 days

Assembly

3.5 Sub-assembly 3

4 days

Assembly

3.6 Assembly integration

3 days

Assembly

Boxes Project Decomposing

4
Material
4.1 Cardboard sheet

sheets

4.1 Metal sheets

sheets

4.1 Cubes

pieces

5
Delivery
5.1 Pre-delivery

2 days

5.2 Shipment/Deliverydelivery takes 2 weeks by sea.

5.3 Implementation

7 days

Design &
Assembly

Figure 8(Type of Resources)

B) Quantities of each type of resource

After defining the type of resources associated with tasks, quantity of each
resource is calculated as per figure-9.

Figure 9(Resources Quantities)

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C) Project organization chart

Figure-10 represent the project organization chart as mentioned in the case study

Figure 10(Organization Chart)

D) Project resource histogram

The author populated the Oracle primavera with the activities resources to
calculate the required work force per week, and then create the resource histogram
using Microsoft Excel for better presentation.
i) Primavera resource histogram

Figure 11(Primavera Resource Histogram)

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ii) Microsoft Excel resource histogram

Figure 12(Excel Resource Histogram)

iii) Microsoft Excel revised resource histogram

Because of the risk response in section 8-D, the project duration was changed to
mitigate the risks. Accordingly, the resource histogram was revised as per figure13

Figure 13(Excel Revised Resource Histogram)

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7)

Cost estimates
A) Determining Project Budget
i) Original project budget
The author estimated the cost of each activity, and accordingly the project budget
using Microsoft Excel. The project budget is 36,960 $ as per figure-14

Figure 14(Project Budget)

ii) Revised project budget

Because of the risk response plan in section 8-D, Project budget was revised to
mitigate the risks associated with the project. The revised budget is 37,815 $ as
per figure-15

Figure 15(Revised Project Budget)

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B) Project cash flow

i) Original Cash Flow
The author populated the Oracle primavera with the budget cost of each activity
to calculate the weekly cash flow, and then create the cash flow using Microsoft
Excel for better presentation as per figure-16

Figure 16(Project Cash Flow)

ii) Revised Cash Flow

Because of the risk response plan in section 8-D, Project cash flow was revised to
mitigate the risks associated with the project. The revised cash flow is as per
figure-17

Figure 17(Project Revised Cash Flow)

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8)

Risk management plan

A) Identify risks
In order to establish the risk management plan, the project team should identify
the risks as the first stage (Wysocki 2012, p77). Accordingly, project team and the
project manager identified the following risks:

Risk Id R1: The Cutting and parts development task id A1060 required a
very skilled resource to meet the quality requirements.
Risk ID R2: Project materials could be damaged during shipment.
Risk ID R3: change in client requirements after the cutting stage.

B) Perform qualitative risk analysis

Risk R1 has a 0.7 probability and will delays the project by 6 days for every
day of delay in this task, which consider high impact assumed by 0.6.
Risk R2 has a 0.3 probability and 0.3 impact on the task cost.
Risk R3 has assumed probability of 0.5 and has impact on tasks (Set up,
and Cutting and parts development) by 1

The following figure-18 represent the qualitative risk analysis.

Figure 18(Qualitative Risk Analysis)

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C) Perform quantitative risk analysis

Reference to (Berman 2007) p167 risk assessment, risks above 0.6 high and from
0.4 to 0.6 medium, and below 0.4 low, the qualitative risk analysis ignored the low
risks. The impact of the high and medium risks are calculated as per figure-19
below

Figure 19(Quantitative Risk Analysis)

From the quantitative risk analysis, the project budget increased by 855$, and the
task duration for tasks (Set up, and Cutting and parts development) increased by
2, and 3 days respectively. These changes reflected on the project management
plan.

D) Plan risk responses

Because of the quantitative and qualitative risk analysis, the project completion
date, bar chart, resources histogram, budget cost, and cash flow plans were
changed and named revised.

E) Monitor and control risks

Monitoring and controlling of risks is required to evaluate the risk response against
planned metrics. This process could result a development on the risk plan and
identify new risks during the progress of the project.(Kerzner 2009) p788
Although, risk R2 is low risk, but it should be monitored to avoid its impact. Other
Risks R1 and R3 should be monitored carefully because they have a big effect on
the project if they occurs. Project team should identify any new risks and keep
monitoring the three risks identified.
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9)

Communications plan
A) Project Stakeholders
In addition to the project team identified on the organization chart in section 6-C,
other external stakeholders is identified. Joseph Bukhmann, the chief editor of
Construction Consortium Journal.

B) Communications groups
The project consist of three main groups:

FM Company group
Client Group
External stakeholders group.

C) Communications Information needs

The following figure-20 represent the communication information between the
stakeholders on the project.
S.N
1
2
3

Stakeholder Name

Roy Benjamin
Michael Gartner
Philip Cloony

Stakeholder
Group

Type of information

Sequence of
Communicat
ion

Information
Delivery
Method
Email

FM Company
group
FM Company
group
FM Company
group

product design

alternate day

detailed drawings
assembly drawings

Weekly

design drawings

Weekly

FM Company
group

vendor management,
market analysis,
contracting, and
procuring required
resources

Weekly

FM Company
group

information on the
progress
project management
processes

Daily

FM Company
group

budget

Weekly

External
stakeholders
group

Progress, photos, and

project status

Monthly

Email & Hard

Copy

Client Group

progress of the
technical design
Progress presentation

Weekly
report
biweekly call

Email
Phone Call

Email & Hard

Copy
Email & Hard
Copy

Email

Jim Stanford

5
John Morris
6
Caroline Smith
7
Joseph Bukhmann
8
Paul Lee

Figure 20(Communications Information)

Page 18 of 20

Web-based
project tracking
system
Reports, and
Memo's
one-on-one
meetings, and
telephone calls

10) Quality plan

A) Plan Quality
The boxes manufacture project has a very tight scope constrains with very limited
tolerances. Therefore, the boxes quality should meet the quality constrains and
tolerances mentioned in section 3-B-i. In addition, a mockup of the boxes to be
manufactured in early stage of the project to perform a quality test, experiment the
manufacture quality procedures and to avoid risks of bad quality in the production
stage.

B) Quality Assurance
During the manufacture process, and before proceeding with the second stage of
the manufacture, the first stage should be checked via inspection request and
verified by the QA engineer. This procedure will reduce the probabilities of quality
defects and if any defects discovered during the manufacture will be fixed in early
stage, rather than waiting the assembly stage to find out that there is a problem in
the boxes.

C) Quality Control
During the manufacture process, the QA engineer should physically check the
quality of the product and sign inspection request for each stage of the
manufacture.

11) Conclusions and recommendations

The boxes manufacture project represent a high value to the FM company
reputation since it is part of well-known program, and followed by the
Construction Consortium Journal chief editor Joseph Bukhmann.
The project quality requirement is very high, and therefore, the quality should be
effectively managed. The risks associated with the project increased the project
budget and duration. Accordingly, all the project management plan components
were revised to accommodate the risk response.
Project communication involves different parties. Therefore, the communication
information log is effective way of informing the stakeholders the required
information, by the time they need to know, and with the preferred communication
method. This communication plan will ensure the information flow, and will keep
all the project stakeholders updated.
The project management plan is a progressively elaborated document. It is
expected to be modified, and updated. Each change or update should be reflected
on the other elements of the project management plan.

Page 19 of 20

12) References
BERMAN, J., 2007. Maximizing project value [electronic book] : defining, managing, and
measuring for optimal return / Jeff Berman. New York : Amacom, American Management
Association, c2007.
KERZNER, H., 2009. Project management [electronic book] : a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling / Harold Kerzner. Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2009; 10th ed.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE, 2008. A guide to the project management body of
knowledge (PMBOK guide). 4th edn. Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE., 2013. A guide to the project management body of
knowledge (PMBOK guide). Newtown Square, Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute, Inc.
SANGHERA, P., 2010. PMP in depth, second edition : project management professional study
guide for the PMP exam / Paul Sanghera. Australia ; Course Technology/Cengage Learning,
2010; 2nd ed.
WYSOCKI, R.K., 2012. Effective project management. 6th edn. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.

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