Case Study 3

Since the late 1990, the rapid launching new products and prototyping have been a constant growing and evolving field. As technology upgraded, so did the opportunities in new markets. The idea quickly evolved from its grassroots beginning to many small companies competing for a bigger share of the growing market.

Ahmed Waleed was just another name in what was at that time a niche market. As a student in engineering school, he followed the development of the new prototyping techniques and realized their potential in the marketplace. His dream job was to work for a rapid prototype equipment manufacturer. There were only a few start - up companies in rapid prototype machine development, however, and none could pay the average engineer wage.

Like most engineering school graduates overloaded with school loans, he couldnt wait for his dream job to come along, so he went for a job at Wacable Company. Wacable designed and manufactured specialty cable and cable related products. It had nothing to do with rapid prototyping, but it paid well.

He worked hard at Wacable and earned enough to pay down his debts. He proved to be an excellent engineer, earning a great reputation at Wacable and making many contacts along the way. In those three years at Wacable, however, he never stopped thinking about rapid prototype machines. He spent his free time coming up with a rapid prototype machine design, always dreaming of having his own company. Three years in, he was ready. He quit Wacable and started his own rapid prototype (RP) design business. He perfected his own RP machine design and was ready to prove himself in the growing field.

BUSINESS BOOM:

Like every start - up business in a new field, finding customers is tough. In the RP field, there are two types of work. The first includes owning an RP machine and doing prototypes per order. The second is selling RP machines to businesses that want the machine to do in - house RP. The latter option is far more profitable since the machines are more expensive than each prototype they produce. Waleed would have been happy with either type of business, since at the time, he wasn t doing much business at all.

All those years making contacts at Wacable Company proved to be worth the time and effort. He had stayed in touch with these contacts and through them was happy to learn that Wacable had just been hired by GE to design and manufacture cable installations on their newest jet engine. Part of the wiring installation that Wacable had been hired to design included junction boxes and switch covers.

The installation would be no simple task as these boxes are made of specialty materials with complex shapes and multiple designs, all needed for application. They had to be perfect from the start since airplane engines have no room for error. This was a huge job and the timeline was tight. Rapid prototypes were an absolute necessity for this job. Waleed s knowledge of Wacable s needs made him perfect for the RP job. Wacable wanted full access to rapid prototyping so they decided to contract Waleed to custom build four RP machines to their specifications. Waleed could not be happier. The RP machine specs were given to Waleed and he went to work.

WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR THE CHANGES?

After three months of all - night work sessions, the machines were built to specification and ready for delivery to Wacable. Waleeds daring steps into a new field were fully rewarded, he thought. Everyone was ready for a test run, after the first machine was delivered to Wacable. The CAD model was loaded and it was time to hit the Start button.

Beep, beep, beep.

Thats not good, said Waleed.

He felt embarrassed that the machine failed in front of everyone. He was sure the machine ran fine before it was delivered. He couldnt allow his first major deal to fail in any way.

The machine was checked over for shipping damages. The connections were double - checked. Everything appeared intact.

Waleed sat down to review the CAD model and discovered the problem. The model was 62 inches long. This was an issue, considering the RP machines were designed for a maximum of 55 inches.

The original Wacable specs for Waleeds RP machines were for a maximum length of 48 inches. Waleed optimized his machines for a length of 48 inches, but to be on the safe side, the machines were capable of 55 - inch designs. Sixty two inches went outside that range. A machine that could make prototypes that long would require completely different processors, actuators, and adhesion processes. This would be a major redesign of the RP machines. This would take time and a lot of money.

Wacable claims that the original specs for a maximum of 48 inches came from GE. GE claims that it never gave Wacable a maximum length. The first design that GE requested from Wacable was 62 inches long and that had been weeks before. Wacable should have double - checked their RP specs.

Nobody wants to take the blame for specifying the prototype design sizes and Waleeds first major product is now going nowhere. Everyone is dissatisfied and two things are for sure: (1) The entire project is running late, and (2) it will be way over budget.

Questions

1. What have you learned about the issue in the case?
2. What could have been done to make sure that the project scope was correct?
3. . What do you think which kind of obstacles are facing the Wacable, and if youre the project manager of Wacable, what will be your strategy to overcome these obstacles and challenges.