The PMs VIP's

PM 1st. VIP is Sales and Quotations!

To even have a chance to execute a project on time, within budget and with high quality, we depend on the Sales and Quotation department. If they mis estimates, we are left with unrealistic expectations on costs and time. Depending on the extend of the miss, either our contingency will be consumed early and worst case, our project closing margin will drop.

How to help them: Give feedback to S&Q when you identify problems in either over- or under-budgeting. If Quoting underbudgets, we lose margin. If they overbudget we may lose business as our pricing will not be competitive. 

As well, at the End of any project, do a debriefing and ensure the other departments knows about the learnings.

PM 2nd. VIP is ENGINEERING!

In most cases, Engineering is understaffed and under pressure. This means that they "Multitask" which is a difficult task to do in Engineering. Multitasking has several downsides, one is that the ENG jumps from one job to the other without ever finishing a job.

Every time he re-starts a job, he must re-think into the job - assessing where he/her left of. This increases the sources of mistakes and faults and quality issues.

How to help them: Ensure you are acting as a FILTER. The Project Manager should be the HUB between the customer and own department. 

Do not immediately convey any changes a customer wants. Ensure you first assess and double check if the request is appropriate.

Many times, with a few good questions, requests turn into non-requests!

PM 3rd. VIP is Manufacturing!

Remember, the people on the floor work hard and long hours. Many times, they have to make up for the "office" chaos / misses in ENG/Process/Supply Chain and PM misses! They absolutely will work OT or weekends to safe a project time schedule! They are on your side!

It is of utmost importance to align with MFG way ahead so they can get a time slot reserved and have all materials ready when FAB begins.

How to help them: 1st. visit the shop floor and make sure you understand how they work. Make sure you have someone on the floor you can contact and ask status of progress. 2nd. keep MFG up to date on changes and ensure the Shop drawings are correct. 

As well, ensure as soon nesting has been done, that there is a rough material list released to allow early ordering.

PM 4th. VIP is Purchasing / Supply Chain!

Supply chain is responsible to purchase all necessary materials and devices. They must be competitively priced and delivered on time and must be of high quality.

How to help them: Ensure they are involved from the start on. They need time to re-negotiate pricing from initial quoting stage. Keep them updated and part of the team. 

Note: they should confirm to you several times during the project to be on track!

PM 6th. VIP is Shipping / Transport!

The shipping department, much like the supply chain team, operates within a budget defined in the project quote. Additionally, the Incoterms have already been established. 

We recommend visiting our "Incoterms" page, where we provide an overview of how to use and understand them.

The transportation department will organize the shipment, aiming to stay within the allocated budget. Keep in mind that most companies do not offer fixed transportation costs, allowing for some flexibility in pricing.

How to Help them: To ensure the shipping department can perform effectively, it’s essential to provide a clearly defined scope.

This includes details such as the volume and weight of the machines, as well as any information about oversized items or the type of containers required.

Provide this information early so they can prepare, but note that they can only begin working effectively once the following points are clarified:

Critical Information to Clarify Before Proceeding:

• Customer's Address and the point of contact for the shipping team.

• Ready-to-Receive Date: When the customer will be ready to accept the shipment.

• Receiving Conditions: How the equipment will be received (will cranes, loaders, or manpower be available).

• Partial Deliveries: Are partial shipments allowed? For large projects, this can be crucial and beneficial for both the customer and supplier.

• Storage Arrangements: Ensure the customer has proper storage to avoid equipment being kept outdoors.

The Project Manager should have a detailed delivery plan. Once these details are clarified, provide them to the shipping department so they can begin working efficiently.

PM 7th. VIP is Services!

The service team will be the face of the company, and their performance will reflect on the Image of the company. They are the last piece of the puzzle.

Involve them early as they will need to plan the resources. 

Ensure they have all they need to install and start-up.

How to help them: Before the installation start, ensure that you have confirmed with the customer that the site is ready for installation.

For a larger job, you will have to go yourself or delegate the installation engineer to confirm.

As well, besides the obvious equipment, the installation team needs tools, equipment and space to install. Ensure they have all tools they need. As well, they will need consumables like Fastners, Anchors, Welding rods, Gas, Tapes, etc... all this needs to be on site in sufficient quantity and quality. 

Keep the installation team close when there are changes in the delivery and installation time line.

PM 8th. VIP is Finance!

The finance department is highly relevant to ensure a project's financial success, risk management and long-term viability is given.

This department will take a different approach to the project and has different goals. We may call it conflict of interests or sparring partner. However you want to call it. These are smart peoples that will help the PM with invoicing, controlling, handle warranty costs and provisions and give interesting insights into cost developments in your projects.

How to help them: Ensure report budget and costs accurately into the ERP system.

Monitor the project costs by regularly tracking expenses against the budget. Report any variances promptly.

Keep Finance updated on project progress, Milestone status and resource utilization.

Ensure compliance by using the costs and dates defined in the contract.

Discuss overruns, delays, scope changes, material reception and deviations and inform on countermeasures taken.

Customer Service!

Not a dependency, but a very important contributor.

Depending on how your company is organized, e.g. if any missing parts, equipment, devices, etc... during installation and start-up is processed by Customer Service, then we would consider CS as a dependency.

While a project has a start and an end, customer service will take over after you close your project and will be with the customer for the rest of the customer lifecycle.

A few things to consider:

• Many times, there is some money allocation in the quote for essential spare parts. 

• A spare parts quote with the proper parts can only be done after Engineering has defined and calculated all equipment. 

• Ensure the customer understands above point. 

How to help them: When the project is nearing its end, in collaboration with the Sales Manager, ensure the contact is made with the spare parts officer. 

Ensure as well the customer knows all services available. This may not sound like the task of a PM, however, during the execution of the project you will have many more interactions with the customer than the Sales Manager. Use your relationship to build bridges.