Businesses deal with projects all the time they come in all shapes and sizes large and small, complex and simple but they share common elements in that they have a defined start and end point, and a set deliverable.
In recent years, businesses are becoming more aware of the formal project methodologies that are available (such as PRINCE 2 etc) with more and more senior executives attracted to this form of rigour and control that formal project methods can deliver. Many large organizations may utilize a standard method for all projects.
What benefits does Project Management provide?
Despite what you might think project management is not simply a copy of Microsoft Project! A disappointing number of organizations think that a copy of Microsoft project coupled with minimal training makes a project manager – that is not the case. The key role for a project manager is the responsibility for planning, co-ordinating, controlling and executing a given task (the project) while juggling resources, risk management, and internal/external stakeholders. Becoming a successful project manager requires training and experience which can itself act as a facilitator of leadership skills.
What does a project manager do?
The project manager is responsible for the success or failure of their project. While not an exhaustive list – expect the project manager to manage:
• Activity Planning
• Resource Planning
• Risk Management
• Monitoring and controlling against plan
• Scope Management
• Communications
• Budget control
Can good project management discipline aid procurement?
Absolutely! – consider the myriad of projects that a procurement department might tackle eg.
• Outsourcing
• Competitions/Tenders
• Purchasing for NPI (New product Introduction)
• Supply chain rationalization
• Performance improvement
Each of the above could be considered a project and would benefit from the rigours and controls that robust project management can provide.
A significant number of business initiatives fail to deliver on their initial promise. Poorly defined requirements, poor time management/planning, scope creep, unclear deliverables all have their part to play and can be improved upon with the right skills and approach. Procurement and Supply chain projects are no different with initiatives suffering from the same issues.
Next steps for business
So what should businesses do to facilitate competent project management? Clearly not everyone needs to be a project manager so selecting the right candidates is key; coupled with a suitable development program ideally grounded in on of the formal ‘off the shelf’ methodologies.
Perhaps the key task that businesses face is to ensure that any initiative is managed in an appropriate way instilling robust project management discipline from the start whilst providing suitable training and support for its staff.
How the seven wastes apply to supply chain
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The seven wastes are a well established tool often used in Lean Manufacturing which help identify areas within a business which can be improved.
The seven wastes are a lean tool and are aligned to the principles of value a within process. In lean, processes are configured so that they include only activities that add value to the item and ultimately to the customer – with everything else seen as waste.
There are two forms of waste – firstly there is necessary waste – whereby the activity does not add value to the end product but is necessary for the process to function – secondly there is waste which can be irradiated (which can improve either cost or lead time as a result)
The key thing to remember about the seven wastes is that they do not just apply to manufacturing in fact they are very much relevant to supply chain or any process for that matter.
What are the seven wastes and how do they apply to Supply Chain?
1 – Overproduction
Over production refers to making too many of something – more than is required to satisfy the end customer at that point in time.
2 – Waiting
Waiting is queue time – how often does one activity stop with the process owner having to wait to commence the next step – think of a pile of requisitions that a buyer might be reviewing – you will take your requisition but will have to wait until they have reviewed the ones ahead of you in the work queue.
3 – Transporting
Moving products from location to location does not add value – it requires the use of resources and results in cost and lead time increases. This can equally apply to documents being moved around a building during their process as it does relating to the physical shipment of goods and materials.
4 – Inappropriate processing
Doing more work than in necessary – for example – do you really need to go out to quote to 20 different suppliers or will just 2 suppliers do? What about the 10 different approval signatories required on a simple purchase order?
5 – Unnecessary inventory
Excess inventory can be a substantial costs to many organizations tying up valuable resources and creating wasteful extra processing.
6 – Excess motion
Lean attempts to simply processes by providing everything that the worker needs situated within or close by their workstation – consider the office worker where the printer is all the way over the other side of the office and time is wasted in walking to and from the device during the day.
7 – Defects
Lean aims to make the perfect product every time – defects are considered waste – this is easy to envisage in a manufacturing environment where an assembly line is churning out product but perhaps less so were services are provided. However many examples abound – consider a report that is produced with errors on it that has to be reworked.