The Nuts and Bolts of Manufacturing Project Planning

Any project plan begins with an analysis. Who is your customer? Are you focusing on one department and one production line, or is the project something that could apply to other departments and divisions? Make sure you have a clear idea of your scope and who will fund the project, as well as who must provide input into your final project plan. Early on, identify your points of contact and establish your customer's communication requirements for updates. Of course, don't be surprised if the scope expands once you get started. If you provide something your customer likes, others may want it too.

In manufacturing we have a variety of departments, systems, and processes driven by the people we are employed to help develop and improve. Make sure you have a clear idea of the process flow and a list of all of the support functions within the organization. It is our job to understand the relationship between departments and integrate our products and services into those systems and processes. Although you may be developing a training solution for the production line, for instance, list all of all of the departments that support production. Failure to do so can limit your ability to create value for your organization.

Let's work through an example so you can see what I mean.

You have been contacted by a department leader to help him prepare his employees for a new piece of equipment. It creates the same product as the old piece of machinery but it is more automated, has a computer, and runs much faster.

Safety and environmental

Touch base with your safety and environmental representatives involved with this department to make sure you build in all of the appropriate precautions into any training deliverables. Find out their concerns about the old piece of machinery, as well as with the new machinery coming in. Engage them to review your deliverables to make sure you have covered all the appropriate bases.

Quality control and regulatory compliance

Are there changes to existing regulatory requirements for either the product or the new equipment? What, if anything, will the operators need to do differently to maintain a finished product that meets product standards? In many food and non-food product lines alike, your quality assurance person could be the subject matter expert who can provide information on product standards and how the new process might affect them.

Subject matter experts

The operators on the existing line will probably have a list of questions about the new piece of equipment. Facilities often send your SMEs to another facility to learn about the new equipment or send an already-trained SME to your facility. In either case, engage them throughout all stages of your project from design and development through implementation.

Maintenance and engineering

One of the next people to talk to is the project manager or engineer. Ask what is different about this new piece of equipment from an operator's perspective. Isolate what additional knowledge or skills an operator needs. Does the equipment have new fail safes or safety features, automated controls, or a touch screen computer console? Are the transfer processes entering or exiting this piece of equipment going to affect the upstream or downstream processes? Will there be any changes to the materials fed into the machine, or will any special tools be required? Also touch base with the maintenance leader over this product line. Are there any new mechanical or electrical components or programmable logic controller upgrades that existing maintenance staff must learn?

Purchasing

Find out what resources are available from the equipment manufacturer. Do they have an operator's guide or training manuals available? Was manufacturer training negotiated as part of the purchase price?

Keep manufacturer training in mind any time you are included in discussions about new equipment purchases, and ask that the vendor include training and support materials in the purchase price. In fact, I recommend maintaining an ongoing relationship with your purchasing representative. He can help you make sure you get what you need from the vendor up front, and help you see where you can leverage other purchasing power throughout your organization in other departments and divisions. Large organizations have an incredible opportunity to combine their bargaining power when they work together.

Keep your purchasing department on your list of resources for your project needs as well. They can help you find the right vendors with company discounts for supplies and materials. Should you determine you need outside resources for the training, they can help you prepare an RFP that specifies exactly what you want from a vendor. This is a much more efficient way to get exactly what you want, and your purchasing department can add in the standard language your company requires to protect its interests around confidentiality and proprietary information.

Sales and customer service

In this particular scenario you might not need any input from sales or customer service unless there is product data about returns or claims from the existing product line. Depending upon your organization, you may also get customer complaint information from your quality assurance representative. The department leader may be able to help you understand the relevant sales information, such as the proposed increased production and product demand if there are no sales representatives at your facility.

Legal

Let's say you decide to hire a contractor to help create custom training materials of the new equipment consisting of photographs and drawings. Before the first photo is taken, you need agreements in place to protect any proprietary information concerning the new production line and how your company operates. This may be standard language your purchasing department has in place, but be sure to ask what legal resources you have available to you. The last thing you want is for a contractor to take the materials they develop specific for your facility and sell them to another company.

Documentation and management of change processes

Although the projects we manage are focused on human performance, we also have the potential to act as change agents. Our deliverables are intended to improve the performance of people, but if we have done our job right, their improved performance will ultimately improve our company's bottom line through reduced downtime, improved cycle times, reduced waste, reduced overtime, and improved finished product quality. Make sure you know how your organization manages change or if there is a management of change (MOC) process or procedure you must follow.

What documents are currently in place? Is there a need to change any policies, procedures, or work instructions for this line? If changes are necessary, what is the process for making them? You might not be responsible for writing those documents, but they will be an important part of your training resources. Find out if current documents are paper based or electronic and if you will be able to make copies for training. If so, what document control procedure exists to prevent uncontrolled copies? Find out who maintains any files or documents you need.

In addition to document control, MOC means following a systematic approach to making change to minimize risk. However, if you have touched base with all of the functional areas listed above, you will undoubtedly have made contact with all of the individuals who facilitate your company's MOC processes.