ABI: The Stanhope Project Case Analysis
Automotive Builders, Inc. (ABI) is a company that consistently changed its production lines and strategic goals relative to the needs of the times, starting out producing diesel engine parts for tractors in the 1940’s, switching over to the production of parts for military vehicles during World War II, and then, after the war, settling into its current placement in both the automobile and tractor industry. Due to the downturn in the economy and stiff and superior competition in both quality and price rising up from the Japanese who had recently entered into the industry, ABI is trying to find productive and innovative ways to improve sales and guarantee placement as the number one company in its
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ABI is using a top-down process in this project, meaning that determination of the final budget comes almost strictly from a compilation of experiences and judgments of the top and mid-level managers in the company. The higher-level managers break down costs into major categories, pass down their cost estimates to the next lowest level, lower-level managers break the major categories down into subcategories and so on until the estimation process reaches the lowest level of the company. By the end, each level knows the specific amount of money that it is allotted to complete the project tasks required at that level. Because the project is so extensive in price and risk, it would have been smarter for them use a bottom-up process which would have involved the employees who would actually be part of the work team so that management could get a more accurate estimate of the time and money that would be required to complete the project.
Ultimately, I believe that though the Stanhope project is an expensive and risky one for ABI to take on, that the predicted return on it would pay off in the long run. Almost every part of the project proposal stayed in line with the company’s strategic goals which the main requirement for it to be passed. However, even though I believe ABI to have done a decent job in forecasting the risk and
592 Week 1 DQ 1 WBS Construction PROJ 592 Week 1 DQ 2 Project Cost Estimates and Assumptions PROJ 592 Week 2 DQ 1 Cost Components PROJ 592 Week 2 DQ 2 Estimating Processes PROJ 592 Week 3 DQ 1 Project Schedules PROJ 592 Week 3 DQ 2 Sensitivity Analysis PROJ 592 Week 4 DQ 1 Resource Allocation and Leveling PROJ 592 Week 4 DQ 2 Advanced Schedule Techniques PROJ 592 Week 5 DQ 1 Earned Value Calculation PROJ 592 Week 5 DQ 2 Project Monitoring and Control & EV PROJ 592 Week 6 DQ 1 Forecasting Project Completion Cost PROJ 592 Week 6 DQ 2 Project Control PROJ 592
The earned value analysis has led to see the project will control the actual budget, which is $18,000. The actual cost at the period 4 totaled to be $7,050, and total of earned value at period 4 is $7,750. The estimate at completion for typical is $22,550. These variances show that this project will exceed the original budget of $18,000, so we are still exceeding the project’s original budgets. The SPI is less than a value of 1, which means that the project will also over schedule and activity plans. The requests immediate actions from the third-party company.
The automotive component & Fabrication Plant, ACF, was the original plant site for Bridgeton Industries, a major supplier of components for the domestic automotive industry. All of the ACF’s production was sold to the Big-Three domestic automobile manufactures. Its main competitors were local suppliers and other Bridgeton plants. This company did very well but recently it became less effective when foreign competition and scarce, expensive gasoline caused domestic loss of market share. For boost its selling, it made four criteria, quality, customer service, technical capability, and competitive cost position to evaluate three classifications of products.
General Motors is faced with a dilemma. In the face of economic depression, competition from foreign players was driving down profits and the market’s preference was changing to efficient cars due to
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This would not only provide opportunities to Pininfarina (a niche manufacturer) for further modernizing the production facilities but will also provide learning in productivity improvement, increased quality, better inventory control and space utilization, reduce waste – and all in Japanese way (considered to be the best and meticulous in automobile industry).
Selection of outside suppliers at the initial stage was crucial. Three advantages would benefit from authorized supplier involvement in design and production process. Firstly, they could foresee major problems in the design cycle by pulling their expertise and methodologies. Secondly, this model embedded quality into BMW’s production system up and down the supply chain. Thirdly, supplier was able to realize the critical connection between quality and profit through high customer satisfaction.
While car manufacturing is a global industry, automotive companies such as JLR operate in broader regions such as Europe and Asia. Three major trends were identified affecting car production in mature markets, the first was the fragmentation of mature markets, customers were demanding more choice, and this has made it difficult for manufacturers to obtain economies of scale, so cost had to be reduced and with the general
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In 2002 for AM General's Hummer H2, a sport utility version of the 4-wheel drive vehicle popular with the U.S. Armed Forces—was so strong, the company was struggling to keep pace. It was a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. The company needed to boost production by 25 percent, but its factory, built in a joint venture with General Motors, was designed to operate more efficiently than conventional auto plants. That meant less inventory was on hand (Wasserman, 2004, p. 1).
Henry Ford, an American industrialist proved, not only to America but to the world that a car can be affordable to the so called, “Everyday Man”. “Henry Ford did not invent the car; he produced an automobile that was within the economic reach of the average American” (Sorensen 1). Subsequently, Henry Ford’s assembly lines were used in World War II to make equipment for the army. His car company, Ford, still produces one of the most durable and most cost effective car on the planet. In fact, every big car franchise today uses Henry Ford’s one hundred year old assembly line in order to manufacture safe and efficient transportation for everyone. Seeing that, Henry Ford’s moving assembly line has grown more complex because the parts and variety of vehicles being built continue to evolve. As a matter of fact, more automakers continue to improve the assembly line with flexible tooling, virtual engineering and robotics in order to keep up with the demands of the twenty-first century with ambitions of making Henry Ford’s one hundred year old technology better. Above all, making the automobile less expensive was an achievement in the engineer world, and as Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress’ working together is success” (“Henry”
In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized product manufacturing by introducing the first assembly line to the automotive industry. Ford’s hallmark of achievement proved to be a key competence for the motor company as the low cost of the Model T attracted a broader, new range of prospective car-owners. However, after many decades of success, customers have become harder to find. Due to relatively new threats to the industry, increasing numbers of cars and trucks are parked in dealer lots and showrooms creating an alarming trend of stagnation and profit erosion. Foreign-based automakers, such as Toyota and Honda, have expanded operations onto domestic shores and, in turn, have wrestled
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This case study presents how BMW, a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company, is trying
The increasing numbers of sub-model cars can also affect the brand quality through increasing any risk issues once launched to the public. Furthermore, according to (Stephen, 2004) Mercedes customers have high expectations about the high quality promised by the company. In 2003, the company disappointed many customers when they sold over 2000 vehicles with an extra option for a navigation system, which were not ready to be delivered at the right time, also accompanied by other mechanical issues. On the other hand, the company made an announcement about its new high quality hydraulic breaking system, which increased its competitiveness in terms of safety and quality against other competitors in the industry.