Project management in the small engineering business

• Main Author: Legg, Tyrone Anthony
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Project management; Engineering - Management; Quality control
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5336

M.Ing. === Many small emerging engineering companies, in especially South Africa, employ only a single engineer (this is mainly due to the shortages of qualified engineering staff). The engineers in many small engineering companies find themselves in the situation where they are responsible for many areas and fields, from design, management and in some cases finances too. This leaves very little time to plan projects with the detailed attention that each and every project requires no matter how small or large. It was the famous and true words of Harvey MacKay, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, that if any project is undertaken without planning is going to fail on some level. It is undertaken, in this dissertation, to investigate the classical project management process and to ascertain the possibility of simplifying this process so that engineers in small engineering companies have an effective project management process that is economically feasible and will fit into already tight project time lines. A survey was conducted in order to get a good understanding of how project management is viewed in small engineering companies. The results of the survey support the theory that project management in small engineering companies is sadly lacking, and is viewed as an expense rather than a tool. Two case studies were performed; these highlight the value of project management. Initially poor project management leads to successful although late projects; with an improvement of the project breakdown structure and improved project management skills the second case study had some very surprising results. Finally the conclusion highlights that project management has very positive impacts on even the smallest of projects. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts when it comes to project management and what you put in is what you can expect to get out.