http://hdl.handle.net/1808/593 Search the Channel search http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/simple-search http://hdl.handle.net/1808/5414 Title: Developing Standard Logic for a Detailed Engineering Project Schedule in the Process Industry<br/><br/>Authors: Miller-Karns, Kara A.<br/><br/>Abstract: A good schedule is critical to the successful execution of any project. This is especially true in the process industry, where construction schedule overruns can be costly to the client due to lost production capability. Developing a standard schedule to be used as template on detail engineering projects, not only increases the quality of the project schedules, but provides a standardized method of executing projects, which allows means to measure and track performance to improve efficiency on projects.The process of developing a project schedule can be broken down into two steps; project planning and project scheduling. The focus of this report is on the project planning phase of schedule development. The results from an Interactive Project Planning Meeting (IPPM) for a standard detailed engineering project in the process industry will be used to develop scheduling logic for use in developing detail engineering project schedules. However, because the IPPM does not clearly distinguish relationships between tasks, precedence diagrams will be used to outline these relationships, while the IPPM results will be used to fill in activity durations and lag times. Once the scheduling logic is developed, it will be input into a scheduling software program, so that it may be used as a template for preparing new detail engineering project schedules. In addition, recommendations will be made on the formats required for standard report templates for the various stakeholders of a project. http://hdl.handle.net/1808/5280 Title: Sporting Good Manufacturing Company: Optimal Manufacturing and Shipping Cost Through Linear Programming Models<br/><br/>Authors: Malik, Ejaz<br/><br/>Abstract: Sporting Good Manufacturing Company (SGMC) needs assistance in defining a linear programming model to find out the minimal cost to manufacture and ship their products to their nationwide distributors. These specialty products are cricket bats, cricket stumps and cricket bails, all products manufactured with the finest quality of wood. SGMC currently has distributors located in Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Northern and Azad Kashmir. The company currently has two factories located in Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan. Warehouses located in Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi are utilized to store manufactured products. From initial engagement with the company, multiple meetings with company officers were conducted for information gathering. The information provided by these officers mainly focused on the price of manufacturing and shipping of the company’s products. The end goal for the company was to meet their distributor’s demands at a minimal cost. A key understanding was that products could be shipped either from factories to warehouses to distributors or directly from factories to distributors. Currently the company does not have any defined way to find the optimal cost of manufacturing and shipping products. However, the ability to meet distributor’s demands is critical. Other relevant information SGMC provided was the company warehouse storage capacity, product manufacturing cost, shipping cost (factories to warehouses, warehouses to distributors & factories to distributors), and factories total manufacturing capacity. Data regarding the factory workers, machines, warehouse staff, and scheduling were not relevant and, therefore, were not considered in the creation of the linear programming model. All of the basic steps of generating a linear programming model were followed and information was well documented during each step to ensure that the model functioned properly and that enhancements could be easily made for all future requirements. As this project is international, it was difficult and expensive to communicate back and forth. Hurdles due to lack of manufacturing expertise, limited knowledge of supply chain networking, time zone differences from subject matter experts, and geographically dispersed information were all overcome to successfully develop and execute the models.The products analyzed in developing the linear programming model represent 65 percent of SGMC’s annual production volume. The model that was developed indicated that the company did not need to use any of its warehouses and instead needed a simple transportation model from the factories to the distributors. With the initial manufacturing and shipping cost, the total optimal cost indicated by our model for the company was PKR 29,607,400. As the company changed their requirements by adding an additional constraint of manufacturing limit per factory with no change to the shipping cost, the total cost went up to PKR 31,222,500. This change still mimicked our first model outcome indicating the company did not need its warehouses for storage and it is optimal to ship products directly from the factories to distributors. After SGMC negotiated a new fixed-price shipping cost schedule with the new shipping vendor, the new cost structure was used to successfully execute a new model. This model considered the revised shipping cost and included the factories manufacturing capacity constraint. The total optimal cost with this new model came out to be PKR 30,525,600. This model showed that the company needed to use both transportation and transshipment models to meet their distributors demand at the optimal cost. During the process of developing these models, important information was revealed, namely that the company ships products 15 days in advance to their warehouses. This piece of information significantly changed the model. This model appeared to be a simple transshipment model due to the fact that all products were shipped to the warehouses before they were shipped to the distributors, but when the model was executed, a feasible solution could not be found and the investigation through manual verification indicated that the company’s warehouses capacities are less than their distributor’s demands. One option that the company researched was to expand their Karachi and Lahore warehouses to double their capacity. If the company expands these warehouses and includes the revised shipping price in the model, the optimal cost was found to be PKR 30,606,250 and it will be still a transshipment model.From the report it’s clear this project took some time to lock the requirements for the model, but the end result in the form of the model developed will be a very useful and powerful tool for the company. Even with weekly information changes and situation, this project was an excellent opportunity to exercise and polish linear programming modeling skills. It provided the author with the opportunity to apply skills developed in coursework to practical, real world scenarios. http://hdl.handle.net/1808/5279 Title: Business Plan for a New Engineering Consulting Firm in the Electrical Utility Market<br/><br/>Authors: Gois, Roberto Cavalcanti<br/><br/>Abstract: Author’s note: The set forth business plan presented was developed as a hypothetical start-up firm. Despite being a hypothetical business plan, the data and facts are accurate. Due to sensitive and confidential information, some companies’ and persons’ names and data have been altered.The thought of starting a business crosses the mind of every engineer at some point in his/her career. Starting ones own business, specifically in the engineering field, is not an easy task. It requires a set of entrepreneurial skills, which not many engineers naturally possess. That is why it is essential to carefully create a business plan before starting a business. The goal of a business plan is setting up business goals along with the strategies needed to make the business goals successful, creating a business structure, forecasting issues that may arise and planning how to resolve them, and, ultimately, determining how much capital funding will be required to start-up the business. The United States energy industry has been experiencing steady growth for more than ten years. Along with energy market regulatory agencies such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP), electrical utilities must ensure that the electricity provided to customers is 1) reliable, and 2) cost-effective. Due to such regulations, utilities are required to maintain, upgrade, and build new infrastructure to support the current and future power grid. It is in this growth state that start-up firm so called “GCS” plans to penetrate the energy market. ObjectivesThe following are GCS main objectives for the business plan set forth:1.Obtain a long term business loan for start up expenses and operations for the first six months of the business, and a short-term loan for the third year of operations.2.Achieve break-even by fiscal year (FY) 2011.3.Establish a general service agreement with at least one of the potential feasible clients within the first two years of operations. 4.Exceed the sales forecast for the first three years of operations.5.Establish a strong relationship with clients and achieve a solid customer base. MissionGCS’s mission is to provide better and more reliable power solutions to clients through strong, dependable, and quality engineering and project management consulting services for power substations and transmission lines. Keys to Success•Be indispensable to clients through comprehensive consulting service in the conceptual and detailed electrical and civil design of power substations and transmission lines.•Keep on-going communication with clients through monthly status reports of current projects.•Control cost through close monitoring of current projects. Keep invoicing and cash flow under control at all times.•Follow up to clients and solicit their feed back on successful and unsuccessful proposals. •Deliver projects under budget and ahead of schedule. http://hdl.handle.net/1808/5278 Title: The Use of Standard Forms by a Small to Mid-Size Consulting Company<br/><br/>Authors: Cotter, Erik<br/><br/>Abstract: The benefits of standards forms are widely promoted and acknowledged by project owners, design professionals and contractors. But, are they being used as intended? The documents seem particularly beneficial to small and mid-size companies, who may not have the capability to employ legal counsel extensively to draft, review and negotiate the many forms used for projects. This paper researches Consulting Company A’s, a relatively small consulting firm, use of standard documents to determine if they are used as intended by the producers of the forms and industry experts. The research concludes that Consulting Company A‘s project managers and legal counsel do have a basic understanding of industry standardized documents. Some employees also understand the prescribed methods for modifying standard forms, and the differences among forms produced by organizations representing specific industry disciples. However, despite having a general familiarity of standard documents they are rarely used by Consulting Company A as intended by their producers, and apparently are not considered an important aspect of conducting business. The primary reason for not promoting the use of standard forms within Consulting Company A is a misunderstanding of the role legal counsel provides in reviewing project forms. Project managers expect legal counsel to make recommendations such as using standard forms, however legal counsel does not consider it appropriate to recommend any forms or language other than Consulting Company A’s internally developed agreement form even when it believes their use may be beneficial.