Task 2:

The Concrete Masonry Corporation has designed and manufactured pre-stressed concrete for the building Industry for years; the company enjoyed a stable marketplace and a relatively predictable business environment. Although there had been a boom in residential construction recently, commercial work was on the decline. As a result, all the pre-stressed concrete manufacturers were going further afield to big jobs. To survive, Concrete Masonry Corporation was forced to bid on jobs previously thought to be out of their geographical area. Therefore, survival depended upon staying competitive. However, with the declining conditions of the market and the evolution that had drastically changed the character of the marketplace, the Concrete Masonry Corporation's previously successful approach was now in question.

With the removal of trade barriers and other Globalised international trade agreements, the Concrete Masonry Corporation competed with other pre-stressed manufacturers headquartered worldwide. A decision was then made to transfer several manufacturing machines to a new site in Eastern Europe to allow more agility and efficiency within their manufacturing supply.

The Project

The Project included transferring eight pre-stressed concrete assembly machines and ancillary equipment into Eastern Europe. Scheduling the Project had to take six months from September before production must start to supply potential customers. A site had been selected, although the appointed Project Manager and potential team members had not visited the area, nor did they understand the weather conditions of wind, rain and snow that prevailed in it. The assembly machines were to be transported by sea and then by road haulage before arriving at the new site. Road infrastructure was again an area that required attention.

Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis has been appointed as the Project manager for this installation transfer. He is a

The 29-year-old graduate of a well-known University in the UK with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, he worked for five years in Engineering Design Industries. Although he took a significant pay cut, he jumped at the opportunity to return to his home location with Concrete Masonry Corporation. His job in Engineering Industries had been very demanding. In addition, the long hours and extensive travelling had created tension in his marriage. He was looking forward to a normal job with reasonable hours, or so he thought. While working in Engineering Design Industries, Lewis worked on projects and installed new Engineering designs. He was confident that he had the requisite technical expertise to excel at his new job with the Concrete Masonry Corporation.

The Team

Lewis had a part-time team of five assistants on placement from the departments within Concrete Masonry Corporation. At first, he was not sure how freely he could delegate work to the assistants bearing in mind they also reported to other managers within the organisation. However, he quickly realised they were all very bright, competent workers who were anxious to leverage this project experience into a lucrative career.

The project transfer has an investment of 900,000 and is scheduled to take six months to complete, considering that the Project would be completed during the winter, which would be difficult. However, Lewis and his team would first need to visit the new location and consider the project activities.

You are required to prepare a report concerning the main issues to be addressed by Kevin Lewis from a project management perspective (2,500 words +/- 10%).

From a project management perspective base on the Project life cycle outline the activities required to be completed by Kevin Lewis to implement this new initiative successfully, e.g. Project Scope Statement, Project Priorities (with a balanced trade-off and justification), Work Breakdown Structure (with brief details of work packages) and Cost Estimation (with time-phased budget) ensuring that it can operate on-time and within budget. Kevin Lewis is only Project managing equipment transfer, not the actual facility building project. (Assume the building has already been completed.)

Your report should be based on the four stages of the Project life cycle and include examples of the concerns, Project Life cycle stages associated with managing the lifecycle of this major ProjectProject.

Remember to provide a Network diagram, Gantt chart, cost appraisal methods and any other relevant table or information as an Appendix; also, any practical examples concerning pertinent theories of Task 2 should be derived from the case study.