What Factors Should Gillian Consider When Deciding to Increase the Number of Flavors - Case Study Example

Name of the Student Name of the Tutor Name of the Institution Date of Submission ABSTRACT This paper analyses two case studies of project management. The first part is about Gillian proposal analysis on the farm investment which he undertook to increase the demand of the firm visitors. The farm analysis is composed of various projects including Car park and rental Coach Spaces. Production like ice-cream, the paper gives details explanation on how the demand can be increased and maintains the expanding market. The second section of this report gives explanation of project planning by project manager. The construction firm which has been awarded contract to be completed within one year, the Gannt chart and tree diagram of the project Table of Contents ABSTRACT 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1 Proposal Assessment 4 1.2 Explore capacity plans for the ice-cream production in the business 7 1.3 What factors should Gillian consider when deciding to increase the number of flavors from 4 to 10? Identify advantages and disadvantages of this proposal 9 1.4 Make recommendations to Gillian for her to manage capacity/demand more smoothly 10 2.0 Introduction 11 2.1 Project planning 12 2.2 Validity of the project in terms of duration 13 Reference 16 1.0 Introduction This paper presents the Gillian proposal analysis on the farm investment which he undertook to increase the demand of the firm visitors. The farm analysis is composed of various projects including Car park and rental Coach Spaces. Production like ice-cream, the paper gives details explanation on how the demand can be increased and maintains the expanding market. 1.1 Proposal Assessment The farm currently is doing well through diversification of the activities to boost the overall revenues levels. Nevertheless, the farm has reached a point at which visitors levels are comparatively stable and, therefore, the ranch is failing to produce its income. Businesses should be in a position to generate income since this is the only way through which organization can remain in business. The current position is given in Table 1 below Table 1: in the current proposal, Current Proposal Parking Capacity Car Park 45 Coached 6 Annual number of visitors 20000 With 35% increase across all days among the number of visitors that visits the farm, in twenty fifteen. The analysis of the visitors per month starting from the month of April is explained in the table 2 below. It gives the figures and various details. Months Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Total 2014 1748 2576 3690 3995 4258 2577 922 19766 2015 2359.8 3477.6 4981.5 5393.25 5748.3 3478.95 1244.7 26684.1 In the calculation and analysis of the current situation, it was based on the following assumption; The number of visitors increases with the same percentage across all months starting from April The same number in 2014 each months increases by 35% in the year 2015 From the analysis, it shows that the farm is currently very close to its maximum visitor capacity in the month of June, July and August with close to 96.8% and 98.9% capacity utilization in the car park. With 35% increase in the customer demand, the farm will be able to meet this target. It should be noted that the total visitors in 2015 will higher than the target of 20,000 visitors by 33.42% hence the target will be reached. It must be ignored for this reason that some visitors that would have liked to have visited the milking sheds were unable to do so due to the capacity constraints. 1.2 Explore capacity plans for the ice-cream production in the business Year of 2014 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total Retail shops 2780 2904 5702 3658 4734 6131 5917 5380 5272 3442 2473 5380 53773 Farm shop total 501 834 669 1331 1954 3281 3522 3879 1934 1307 835 1230 21277 Total 3281 3738 6371 4989 6688 9412 9439 9259 7206 4749 3308 6610 75050 Year of 2015 2015 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total Retail shops 2557.6 2671.68 5245.84 3365.36 4355.28 5640.52 5443.64 4949.6 4850.24 3166.64 2275.16 4949.6 49471.16 Farm shop total 501 834 669 1636.9 2404.8 3926.75 4221.125 4624.15 2384.975 1468.35 835 1230 21277 Total 3058.6 3505.68 5914.84 5002.26 6760.08 9567.27 9664.765 9573.75 7235.215 4634.99 3110.16 6179.6 70748.16 With the current strategy, the demand for Ice-cream will increase by 33.41% compared with the sales in 2014. That is the estimated demand of 20,000 and if the demand expected demand of 35% increase gives 26,682. Total sales in 2014 are 75050 liters, in 2014, it is estimated that it will be 70748.16 litters. Sales forecast as per the report, farm shop sales will increase by 50% while retail store will decline by 13.3%. In the production, although it is clear that the farm has significant capacity constraints on its production process. The production of the ice cream final goods has higher storage capacity compared to the raw materials. The production rate Total demand, = 750750 Capacity = 11,000 Rate of production = 750750/11000 = 6.83 Since the production rate and capacity is constant, the company should start increasing the number of production rate from 4 days a week to 5 days a week to meet the increasing demand of people both the retail and farm shop (Walker, 2015). Schwaber (2004) states that this should mostly happen during the busy periods, while holly farm groped about the probability of producing distinct volumes of packages of ice cream for responding to individual orders for the local catering trade. I would emphasize that the farm stop attempting to do this rather stick with the initial production plans. Wasting more ice cream, taking 2 to 3 hours to set the dispenser up and being demanded low justify the opinion (Grady, 1992). Milking parlour according to the case, the number of the visitors who wants to see the milking parlour on a busy day in 2014, the capacity however, of the gallery for watching milking parlour is over 200 visitors per day. Shtub, Bard, & Globerson, (1994) states that, higher production can lead to higher suppliers which can result to lower prices, hence need to regulate production level. 1.3 What factors should Gillian consider when deciding to increase the number of flavors from 4 to 10? Identify advantages and disadvantages of this proposal Before increasing the number of flavors, there is a need for the farm to carry out thorough market research on the customer taste and preference (Meredith, & Mantel, 2011).The factors to be considered include the target market where age will play a critical factor. People of different age sets have different wants and needs, and this can influence the sale of the product. Cost of adding the six more flavors' and the impact it will have on the selling price (Turner, 1993). Income of the target market should also be considered as it will assist in grading and labeling the marketplace price. Atkinson, (1999) states that the quality of the product and health factors needs to be considered before producing the new ice cream brands in the market. 1.4 Make recommendations to Gillian for her to manage capacity/demand more smoothly The results from the findings show two major issues with the Gillian's project to boost the number of visitors to their farm. The increasing of the demand level will cause capacity problems in the car park during the busy months. This will create problems to the farm as it may result in the visitors arriving and having to be turned away, and this would result in a negative image of the farm. In addition, boosting the number of visitors during the peak periods would lead to the milking sheds becoming very congested with long queues and potentially large numbers of people unable to visit the sheds. In terms of the actual impact on visitor's number, the 35% increase in demand across the board would boost visitor's numbers by around 40%. In contrast, the 50% increase during weekdays would raise the number of visitors by 18% per annum. The process of increase ice cream production by additional flavor without prior market research and proper planning would also prove futile as it might lead to over production that might result in losses in the company. The plan is superb since it is very ambitious and competitive enough to counter the rivals in the market. The efforts that would improve utilization in the car park and boost the overall visitors numbers, however efforts will still be needed to address the issue of queuing for the milking shed and ensuring capacity is smoothed in this are and in the production process (Turner, 1993). Part II 2.0 Introduction The second section of this report gives explanation of project planning by project manager. The construction firm which has been awarded contract to be completed within one year, the Gannt chart and tree diagram of the project is shown below. 2.1 Project planning Activities/Month Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 A Clearing Site                         B Surface Drainage                         C Filling of playing grounds                         D Installation of Artificial playing ground                         E Excavation                         F Pouring of concrete footing                         G Pouring support for a seat                         H Pre-casting Gallery                         I Pouring of seat                         J Erecting of roofs                         K Fixing of lights and Scoreboards                         L Installing steel structure                         According to the project timeline and the time frame given in the project completion time, it is not practical to complete the project within one year (Burke, 2013). The overall time frame from the instruction is 84 weeks, yet the project duration is 48 weeks. The explanation is given in the above Gantt chart giving the proposed deadline for completing the project. The project manager should reconsider the viability of the project since as it is constituted currently; it is not valid and needs further adjustment. Project that can be done concurrently should be done while the manager should consider overtime as the initial proposal to complete the project within the shortest time possible, otherwise the punishment would be so high and the company could make losses instead (Boud, et al., 2014). From the tree diagram, the critical path is the same hence need to reconsider the whole project process in order to meet the set target and avoid fines in the contract clause. 2.2 Validity of the project in terms of duration The first proposal proposes the reduction of the project with six weeks, first pouring of the concrete footing takes four weeks, therefore even if the whole process is fastened enough, it will reduce the cost, but the overall time frame, it will have very minimal period hence, it is not one of the most valid proposal (Chapman, & Ward, 1996). On the second proposal, it is the same as plan 1, but in addition, put a double shift on the filling of the field, this sounds more convincing, though the cost reduction will be very minimal, it will have greater impact in terms of cost and overall time the project will take before it ends up. This will also help in terms of the excellent reduction. The third proposal suggests that the roof is crucial since it precedes several activities. The use of three shifts and some overtime could cut six weeks off the roofing at an additional cost of only £80,000. This activity takes a whole 8 weeks; this is one more way that the scheme manager can use to reduce the project lifetime, however in terms of cost the second proposal is much better compared to the third project. The last project suggests that do not anything particular until November 20th, 2015. Then, if December is indeed colder than normal and no workers strike occurs, postpone the torrential of the seats until the cold wave breaks if the schedule permits; otherwise heat whenever necessary. If a strike occurs, wait until it is over (no other choice) and then expedite all remaining activities. In that case, a two-third of the normal duration of any activity could be cut in the maximum. The additional cost per activity for any week which is cut would be £30,000. This is not valid, as it will cause the project to delay in case of any other inconveniences hence not recommended. In terms of the project costing, the first and second project is the most viable and are the once which can be recommended if the company wants to reduce cost and achieve maximum profit in the contract that they have been awarded. For this reason, I recommend the second proposal for the company (Cleland, & Ireland, 1999). Factors to be considered in the success of the project include; Planning: a time spent planning is a time well spent. All projects must have a proper plan with enough details so that everyone that involves in the project development knows where the project is going (Duncan, 1996). A good plan should have the following benefits; Clear documented project milestones and project deliverables A valid and realistic timescale Accurate costs estimates to be produced A well-detailed resource requirements The plan should act as an early warning system, providing visibility of task slippage Keeps the project team focused and aware of progress. The project manager should also consider team motivation. A motivated team will go an extra mile to deliver a project on time and to budget in time. The team leader should keep the team motivated by involving the throughout the project and by planning continuous milestones to help them fee; they do make progress (Turner, 2014). Communication is a key factor to be considered. There should be proper communication both from the team leader and among the group themselves hence things will be done in line with the project requirement (Munns, & Bjeirmi, 1996). The project manager should try as much as possible to avoid scope and creep. Scope creep is one of the most common reasons projects run over budget and deliver late. The customer sometimes may forget the extra work and effort that the team is putting on the project in order for it to succeed. The team leader needs to set the expectation right, such that the completion time and the immediate benefits that the client will derive from the project itself (Braglia, & Frosolini, 2014). The team leader needs to consider the risk that comes with the project. Nobody likes to think about risks, more especially early in the project development. Avoid risk management at your disadvantage. It is important for the project manager to produce risk log with an action plan to reduce each risk and then publish it to all the key stakeholders in the project. Knowing what action one will take, should the risk happen, it will be easier to handle the risk as it comes (Braglia, & Frosolini, 2014). One should remember that for every project, it has beginning and the end. Any project that is not closed down will continue to consume resources, for this reason, project managers should try as much as possible to close project immediately they are finished. Reference Atkinson, R. (1999). Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria. International journal of project management, 17(6), 337-342. Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (Eds.). (2014). peer learning in higher education: Learning from and with each other. Routledge. Braglia, M., & Frosolini, M. (2014). An integrated approach to implement project management information systems within the extended enterprise. International Journal of Project Management, 32(1), 18-29. Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. Chapman, C., & Ward, S. (1996). Project risk management: processes, techniques and insights. John Wiley Cleland, D. I., & Ireland, L. R. (1999). Project management: strategic design and implementation (Vol. 4). Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Duncan, W. R. (1996). A guide to the project management body of knowledge. Grady, R. B. (1992). Practical software metrics for project management and process improvement. Prentice-Hall, Inc.. Meredith, J. R., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2011). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons. Munns, A. K., & Bjeirmi, B. F. (1996). The role of project management in achieving project success. International journal of project management, 14(2), 81-87. Schwaber, K. (2004). Agile project management with Scrum. Microsoft Press. Shtub, A., Bard, J. F., & Globerson, S. (1994). Project management: engineering, technology, and implementation. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Turner, J. R. (1993). The handbook of project-based management: improving the processes for achieving strategic objectives. McGraw-Hill. Turner, J. R. (2014). The handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92). McGraw-hill. Turner, J.(Ed.). (2014). Gower handbook of project management. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Walker, A. (2015). Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons. Read More