Project Management and Supply Chain Optimization

Pure Project Organization

Advantages:

• Labor force is highly flexible.
• Staff are from the company's own pool, preventing extra costs.

Disadvantages:

• Temporary teams often have little commitment.
• Shortage of labor in booming markets.
• Lessons are learned only at a lower level.

Effective Team Management and Meetings

Guidance for good practices in running meetings:

• Working with geographically remote people and groups.
• Addressing general arising problems.
• Establishing general meeting regulations.

Analyzing Risk Management

Key elements include risk symptoms, external sources, TCQ analysis, assumptions, quantification, and response control.

Risk Quantification Techniques

• Expected value
• Sensitivity analysis
• Monte Carlo simulation
• Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
• Response control

The Impact of Cooperation Forcing

Cooperation forcing only works in the short term to solve direct problems. In the long term, this will cause severe problems both individually and within a group. This approach should be minimized and reserved for emergency situations.

Basic Requirements for Control Systems

• Defining system characteristics of importance.
• Defining limits to their variations.
• Measurement of those characteristics.
• Making progress visible.
• Providing feedback to the team regarding performance.
• Instituting corrective action where required.

Modern Supply Chain Management Techniques

Open-Book Accounting

• The principal knows the exact cost-profit situation.
• The principal allows for survival and investments.
• The principal often takes a stake in the supplier company.

Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI)

• Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery.
• The principal pays in advance and is the owner.
• The principal bears the storage costs.
• The supplier is the preferred supplier for the goods.
• Contracts are often based on yearly (flexible) demand.

The Problem Framework and Brainstorming

Brainstorming Rules

• Provide a basic structure to the task of decision-making.
• Provide variation in people and ideas.
• Give attendees time for pre-thinking on the subjects.
• Start with "ice-breaking" activities at the start of the brainstorm meeting.
• Use whiteboards or flip charts for writing down raw ideas.
• Write down original wording and relate ideas to their owners.
• No direct criticism of ideas; reflect on them in the second stage.
• Admit no domination by individuals or groups.
• Summarize and record ideas for after-meeting evaluation.

Further Aspects

• Strategic elements.
• Fundamental and political factors.
• Quantitative modeling.
• Subconscious elements.

Advantages of the Framework

• The principal pays only for the exact materials used.
• The principal pays after the use of materials.
• The number of transactions is reduced to a minimum.
• Elimination of storage costs through small, timely deliveries.
• Increased partnership possibilities.