Understanding the Managerial Challenges of the Orion Shield Project

The program to design and construct the Collins Class Submarine has become one of the most complex and expensive Defence procurement programs in history. It was devised to replace the existing Oberon submarine fleet. The Collins Class Submarine program demonstrated the capacity of Australian industry to manufacture a world-class submarine. Nonetheless, the procurement of the Collins Class Submarines has not been without criticism. The program has experienced various project management issues that ultimately lead to increased costs and time delays. This report will address these issues along with traditional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and non-traditional KPIs and their interrelationships.

For this report there were 2 managers interviewed for this topic, Scot Carpenter Director of System Engineering at Teledyne controls and Masood Hassan, Vice President and General Manager of Teledyne Controls. Scot was brought in as the director of System engineering on May of 2016 to oversee the System Engineering group and to handle change for a couple items within the group, mainly the restructuring of the group from 2 functional managers to a 6 distinct groups within the group. Scot has worked with the company as Program Managers which has required him to oversee program with multiple groups while working with individual employees to ensure the success of his product lines. Masood has been with the company for over 20 years and has been the Vice President for more than 15 years. In that time frame he has to work through down turn in the aviation do to the events on 9/11 and other events. He has made changes to the structure of the company, creating System Engineering group, deciding the correct course of action to bring products to production and other aspects of running a company with 500 or more employees.

Nearly every business experiences ups and downs sooner or later along the way, and only those who can find the pattern and answer from the crises can survive and thrive. The Leadership of the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant encountered some road blocks and troubled by issues such as productivity in the business.

Next to first-hand experience, case studies are one of the best ways to learn project management skills. In The Crosby Manufacturing Corporation case study, Harold Kerzner reports on the executive-level exchange between the company president and other department heads regarding a new Management Cost and Control System (Kerzner, 2009). This paper will give a synopsis of the case, analyze the case study communications issues and risks, and evaluate Livingston’s selection of a project manager. It will also discuss the possible reactions from the employees, the impact on the cost and time on the

Allison’s boss, Henry Larsen. Because this is a process which should occur prior to project planning, it serves as the foundation of all processes to follow. The inception of the Orion Shield project was founded on shaky ground. An ethical issue displayed itself from the very beginning when Mr. Larsen coerced, beyond comfort, Gary to accept and issue a dishonest statement regarding the successful functionality of the product. The scientific evidence, realized by Gary, suggests the inability of the Shield to operate successfully at the temperature range provided as a necessary measure by the customer, Space Technology. When a project manager does not support the project it is responsible for, the project will inevitably fail. With faith in execution comes the driving force perpetuating a project forward in compliance with milestone achievement. The process of planning seems to be almost completely non-existent in this scenario. Here is where roles of team members are defined, a scope is drafted and agreed upon by all involved stakeholders, and contractual metrics are realized and mapped out. There are various tools and techniques

Overall, from Vaughan’s theory (1996) it reveals that different management levels were to blame for this shuttle disaster. The rejection culture was ingrained at management that putting people outside their job responsibilities. By contrasting analysis of Vaughan (1996) and Perrow (1999), Perrow (1999) argues Vaughan concentrated too much on organizational culture, and understates the power of organization to suppress the engineers’ considerations.

Synopsis Crosby Manufacturing is a $250 million/year electronics component manufacturing firm that needs new systems in order to even meet the current competition, let alone grow the business, improve projects, and increases their quality and customer base. Wilfred Livingston, President of Crosby, wants to computerize project financial reporting and replace their current system with more advanced technologies. While everyone in the company realizes this is a necessity, the issues surround the manner in which the plan was initiated and rolled out. There are three main issues surrounding this situation:

1. How would you describe Boeing’s approach to project management? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Gary worked at SEC after completed his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering for the last 14 years and is a respected and talented project engineer. He accepted the position of Project Manager on the Orion Shield Project that was offered to him by Henry Larsen, director of engineering. During the preliminary testing, Gary identified a problem area where the design would not function within the technical specifications stated of between -65 degrees F to 145 degrees F. He tried many approach but was unable to get the design material to operate above 130 degree F. Concerned about the inability of the design to operate with the proposal’s specifications, Gary met with Henry Larsen a week before final proposal due. Henry Larsen advised Gary

With any company, organization, or corporation the first phase of any management is planning. This phase is very important to any company because many different planning functions and each planning function create a standard for each of its employees to follow. This paper will discuss the planning functions of management while looking at the Boeing Company. While looking at the different planning functions, this paper will also discuss and identify legal, ethical, and social responsibilities that impact Boeing. It will also show some factors that influence Boeings strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Boeing can be considered the

The US Air Force initiated the JASSM development program in 1996. The program definition and risk reduction contracts, valued at $128 million and $110 million were awarded in June 1996 to McDonnell Douglas (Currently Boeing) and Lockheed Martin. Lockheed was preferred as the final contractor in April 1998. This paper will provide a vision statement that will illustrate the direction and focus of the team. We will then analyze actions that Terry Little took to foster his team to higher heights. In Terry’s work we will elaborate on his actions that took them to higher heights and critique whether or not it was effective. Lastly, we will recommend three strategies with examples in regards to the JASSM program management team that would improve its operational performance.

The following paper analyzes the Whitbread World Sailboat Race case scenario presented at the end of chapter 9 in the Gray and Larson text, Project Management: the Managerial Process. The project encompasses two main objectives; one, design, build and test a new vessel, and two, select and train a crew capable of winning the race. Both objectives must be completed within 45 weeks, the start of the race, and with a planned budget of $3.2 million.

The entrepreneurial sprit which began the foundations of Lockheed Martin remains alive within the company today. Although, the companies’ stricter guidelines do not allow an employee to simply begin an entrepreneurial venture on their own, the company has evolved from an airplane manufacturer to an organization that is involved in everything from defense to space exploration. This massive diversification of interests was brought about by intrapreneurial ventures. It was Lockheed Martin that coined the phrase “Skunkworks”, meaning specialized teams dedicated to discovering new projects. The origin story of “skunkworks” is well known and shows the tenacity and innovation that Lockheed Martin is capable of. In 1943, an engineer named Clarence “Kelly” Johnson and a group of young engineers were asked to design and build a jet fighter to help the US Army prepare for the growing German threat. The small group was isolated and the project was kept secret operating out of a circus tent because available and private space was scarce in the Lockheed Martin facility. The group was given one hundred and fifty days to complete the project, and they completed the jet in one hundred and forty-three (Miller, 1995). This spirt of innovation and growth marked the true beginning of the boom in product development which continues to this day under the same name, but this time trademarked.

The Orion’s ownership specific advantages, including advanced technology, research and development, marketing strategies, accumulated knowledge and experience, innovative management system, are utilised properly for internationalisation of Orion Group in China.

As a result, it was properly to use the present organization structure because the ORION had to work on many projects and it was necessary to conserve cost and limited resources. To sum up, the problems happened because of lacking of human resources, lacking communication between each department and lacking of project management which not covered all area of the project.  How could ORION solve these problems? The following these are solutions which our team discussed regarding to each problem; Production cost higher than expected: The organization should improve corporation between the design & development teams and manufacturing team that the manufacturing team could work easier and more effectively. Quality concerns: Concentration of quality should be added more into the original design of products and the company should pay more attention on it. Problem with customer support: Improving the quality had not only done for the products, but also the manual and technical documentation. At this point, integrated logistical support should do more research or practicing for maintenance and also preparing the better training program for the customers. Moreover, each project should spend more time on ILS task. Lack of strong project ownership: ORION should have more workers to do the projects. Consequently, engineers could concentrate more on their tasks. Scope creep: