Orion Systems

Case Study: ORION SYSTEMS (A)

Question 1

There are several recommendations that we would make to Rosas, which are as follows:

* The project should be implemented with a strong matrix structure. This will make the project manager higher control and functional department managers will work like subcontractors. The project is a large, strategically important project in which innovation and coordination is very important due to the time and cost constraints. For these kinds of projects, there needs to be a higher control and authority. Moreover, with a strong matrix structure, the efficiency of the project will increase, which will help to achieve the deadline of the project. There would be a stronger focus on the project, which would lead to a higher coordination and teamwork. The flexibility will increase and due to the matrix structure there wouldn't be any post project transition problem.

* In order to focus more precisely on the market trends and customer requirements/ concerns, there should be a team who work integrated with the project team in all phases. This team should be responsible from following the market trends and customer requirements. The team should be under the supervision of Marketing Manager. With the integration of this team's study throughout the project, there would be decrease in the additional cost of unsuccessful products and reduction in the product development time due to improvements done in the earlier stages of the project. Moreover, due to knowing the customer requirements, better user manuals and technical documentation will be done.

* In order to focus more precisely on the quality issues, there should be a separate Quality Assurance team. The team should be under the supervision of Manufacturing Manager. This team should work on quality measures and they should be integrated with the other teams from the beginning till the end of the project. This will support the production of high quality products that will satisfy the customer and quality requirements. It will also decrease the additional cost of unsuccessful products and reduction in the product development time due to improvements done in the earlier stages of the project.

* The culture of the project's subculture should be more egalitarian, where team members are treated more equally. There should be rewarding based on the performance of the team members. Through an egalitarian culture, there would be stronger team focus in each member of the project.

* Commitment of the senior managers is important, since there would be a matrix structure. If the senior managers support project strongly, then there would be stronger project ownership.

Question 2

With respect to the recommendations that we have done in the first question, we drew our recommended organizational chart as below.

We have included two new teams: Quality Assurance Team under Manufacturing Department and Customer Requirements Team under Marketing Department. We assign one project manager, one Planning and Control Manager, one Electronics System Engineer and one Mechanics System Engineer. There are n (12 to 20 design teams) that work with 5 to 15 engineers. For all the teams involved, there exists one team leader. In the organization, all team members are responsible from reporting to their team leaders and the project manager. All team leaders are also responsible from reporting to the project manager, due to a strong matrix structure. Quality Assurance Team works in direct relation with the manufacturing team, so that quality standards are followed throughout all production and test steps. Customer Requirements Team works in direct relation with the ILS team so that appropriate manuals and technical documents are produced and customer satisfaction is increased. Moreover, due to the strong matrix structure, all teams work in coordination with each other, in all steps of the project.

We believe that will the effect of strong matrix structure and the inclusion of Quality Assurance Team and the Customer Requirements Team, the master plan of the project will change. The effect of having a Quality Assurance Team who work integrated with all teams in all phases of the project, we believe that quality standards will be reached easier, which will lead to shortening of the time span of the project. Also since a Customer Requirements Team will be working also integrated throughout the project, the products that won't be desired by the customers will be eliminated earlier than the production stage. Due to the nature of strong matrix structure, the team members will have higher project focus and collaboration which will also increase the success of the project and shorten the time span, since problems will be solved in the earlier stages. Thus, we believe the master plan of the project will be very nearly as follows:

Case Study: ORION SYSTEMS (B)

Question 1

The major changes between the previous plan and the new plan are given in the table below:

Previous Plan New Plan

There were 4 managers in the project. There are 7 managers in the project.

There were 12 to 20 design teams. There are 35 design teams.

Engineers were working on different projects as well as Jaguar. At least half of the engineers will be working full time on project Jaguar.

Production line building started after TRR is completed. Production line building started after PDR is completed.

ILS was starting documentation in the middle stages of production line building stage. ILS stars documentation in the middle of laboratory