We have followed Fred Maintainer as he has had to lease additional space, figure out the operating costs associated with a new production line and then develop a ten year capital plan for ACME Industries. As is often the case, change is constant and business has to be nimble based on consumer demand. A recent downturn in the economy has left ACME with declining sales, revenues and profits while costs are staying the same or increasing slightly due to inflation and raising health insurance costs.
It is clear ACME needs to do something dramatic to help its balance sheet. Projects will need to be scaled back as ACME’s growth assumptions need to be put on hold. More importantly, the CEO and CFO have issued a directive that all non-revenue generating business units are required to create two budget cutting options – the first is to provide a budget reduction of 5% and the other is 15%. Let’s assume today’s date in the ACME Industries world is July 1st and the fiscal year is the same as the calendar year. In other words, Fred is half-way through the current fiscal year.
Based on cuts of 5% and 15%, develop a consolidated (include operating and capital budget) for the current year and next year’s budget reflecting those two scenarios and how you would recommend ways to save money using your work in previous modules.
Provide a spreadsheet and narrative in no more than 5 pages to address this most urgent situation that ACME Industries finds itself in and be sure to address the following competencies from the field as identified in the syllabus:
1.1 Appropriately communicate orally and in writing in diverse settings.
1.3 Identify all stakeholders involved in the project process.
2.1 Demonstrate principles of effective project and process management.
2.3 Analyze methods, materials and equipment required to implement projects.
2.4 Demonstrate scheduling and resource planning techniques to project activities.
2.6 Implement workplace processes, procedures and safety strategies.
2.8 Employ contract, procurement and delivery strategies to the project process.
4.1 Demonstrate business and management fundamentals of the organization – people, place and service
4.3 Evaluate project disputes based upon case facts and contract content
4.4 Demonstrate business and project accounting and cost control
*Attached below are past assignment resources to utilize for this project from the course*
Category: Facility Asset Management
Let’s discuss an interesting article I found titled The Construction Project Manager by Robert Shaker (See download down below for the article). Mr. Shaker provides a very good description of what it takes to be a successful project manager – he also discusses aspects of project management that are most critical and areas that tend to be neglected. For example, he talks about cost control and how it is used to keep project expenses in line with the budget.
He goes on to say that project managers have the most difficulty with this job responsibility (cost control) because they rarely allow themselves necessary time during the week to focus on those issues that arise during a week’s construction that have cost impacts on the project.
What are some ways to handle this? The author suggests some but what are other ideas? What type of tools could a project manager use to help him/her? What are some things that could tip off the project manager that things are not heading in the right direction before cost over-runs even show up?