Analysis of Problems

The report presented has in-depth analysis and briefing on the project for Precision Engineering work Pvt Ltd along with all the improvement suggested. Its main area of expertise the telecommunications industry and it holds reputation in that field. This company has served the related industry along with its many customers for many years. But, because of many new competition in the field, their business has taken a back seat. There contracts are not renewing, as the customers are opting for new suppliers. Their profit has gone down by 45% which has persuaded for a thorough management  plan to amend its position and along with that the profits of the company. The stated report is thus made to analyse the problems along with a necessary and strategic suggestion to improve the profitability of the company. The required timeline for finding an optimal solution of the reasons stated is identified as 3 months and over.

The causes of deterioration can be found by properly identifying its causes under a situation (Dunne, Silva, O’connor & Cunico, 2018). There are certain problems that is being faced by  business of discussed firm. The report has analysed the problems and certain improvement has been suggested to come out from the crisis and to gain profit on the financial front of the company. The related issues have been stated accordingly, like the problem of non availability of new contracts that could be solved by finding new interested suppliers. Due to emergence of many new suppliers that are giving attractive offers to their customers, customers are going for many new options available to them due to their marketing and their pricing of the product. This has also attracted a lot of employees of the PEW to join those rival firms for a more lucrative paycheck and other remunerative in those companies. These are some among the many reasons that are required to be analysed for drastic decrease in profits of this company to 45%. This issue to be dealt by the management if they want a future for this company. The necessary report that is being made in the later sections of this project have to be implemented by the company for a period of 3 months. 

These techniques and tools that is to be discussed with respect to properly make an assessment about the intensity of the problem that are stated by the manager of the project and  to find the solution to these problem to increase the profits of the company.

1. Brainstorming  

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is an old and effective method to analyze and find the reasons for underperformance of any firm through asking questions from their employees and other participating members. This is done through a formal meeting called by administration where the topic of discussion is provided beforehand, the place and the persons are informed. All these participant should write their issues and there deduction on the reasons as to why the profits are declining. The stated report of every participant has to be properly analyzed and discussed by the management without any bias toward any participant. The participants should be informed to write there honest opinion about their topics.

This method will give the management a proper and in-depth ideas as to why the company id falling and its profits are declining. Through this report, the causes of not finding any new customers is analyzed and identified by the management. Because of the honest opinion by the people, the reasons for the attraction of large number of customers toward some new companies have been identified too. Among the participants of the discussion, previous employees of the company should also be contacted to give their views and reason for the decline of the company. These discussion could fetch good results, as they will point out all the loopholes in the management and execution of it by the company. The group discussion will also help to a great deal in underlying the measures that needs to be taken by the company.

1. The 5 whys identification

This technique is very simple to underline the root cause for failure of any process. The basic working process for this method is asking questions so that cause effect could be analyzed which will help to discover the fault or regressive practice used by the company. It is done through a proper investigator who while examining the participant stresses for the answer of ‘Why’ until and unless there is a substantive answer to this question that could be solved. The reason for this method to be named as” 5 why” , is because if the number of question and the stress on getting the answer of ‘why’.

This will certainly help the management to identify the increase in number of competitor of the firm, there tariff and the reasons as to why they are giving the services at such cheaper price than the PEW. This method will certainly analyzed the reasons as to why  products of this company have been declining in the market.

1. Flowcharting

5 Why Method

Flowcharts have always been a scientific strategy to examine any loophole in any of the processes followed in the company. The graphical representation also helps in the scientific analysis of the process followed by PEW and will help the management to know the reasons for the decline of the profit by 45%. Flowcharting offers many tools that are or can be used by the management of  the firm to properly understand the measures that need to be taken by the company in order to increase their profit. The rectangle shape is used to keep the report, diamond shape are used to make a decision and the arrows are used to point the direction of the flow of these flowcharts.

The proper implementation of the flowchart method can easily point out all root cause involved in failure and decline of the profits in PEW.

1. Fishbone Analysis

It is one of the effective techniques of diagrammatic representation which can be effective in finding the root causes of any issue through its proper depiction in logically developed diagrams. This will give us a cause effect analysis if the related problem. There are many category in the concept and the roots of the problem can be known by the management. The arrow indicates the conformity of the flow of root causes responsible for the decline in PEW.

The management through the concept of asking qestions has used the same mechanism, the answers are analysed and intercepted, and the issues of the business are properly analysed. . The corresponding answers show the reason of number of increase in the competitions. It should be noted that the method would easily point out the reasons of the causes of decline in business of the company. 

1. Affinity Analysis

 This is the final analysis tool for the root cause and its analysis techniques. This is used to organise, generate as well as accumulate all the issues that are related for the given process. The reports of this tools has to be properly used by the organisation to discuss the remedies and the issues surrounding the areas that needs to be improved in the company.  This will allow the management to get many serious and effective way for the implementation of the measures that could successfully eliminate the causes of the problems(Wangen, Torres & Hellesen 2018).

The issues of increasing competition, other aspect of the competitor like their tariff and their suppliers along with other products is also been analyzed. The HR (human Resource) is also being discussed . The employees that have left the company and have joined the rival firm have also to be properly analyzed. The salary they are receiving along with other utilities is also to be know by the management of the company to avoid other employees to proceed with such action. The qualities in the products has been found to be an inferior quality with is also a main reason for the decline in market of PEW. This has resulted in heavy loss by the PEW .

1. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Flowcharts

The Failure mode, as the name suggest offers an insight to the root causes of the failures in great detail. This system will tell us the amount of every mistake that has been committed by the company. This will enable the management of the company that have been given the responsibility of finding the problem to identify the mistake and never to repeat the problem. This will be applied to the relatively new products to name the failures of that product that will be helpful in avoiding such mistakes in the future.

1. Fault Tree Analysis

The above stated analysis method is another one in the line of methods that can be used to determine the core causes of the problem in an organisation. It uses Boolean logic that is helpful in finding the real factors that are or might be responsible for getting failures of unwanted result in any process. The tree’s name of the method is because of the shape of the diagram which is in the form of tree, where the branches represent may causes that are ought to be the reasons for failures of certain method. In our context, the branches denote the main reason for the failing of its business of the company and its substantive decline in profit.

This report has been made to analyse the mistakes and the causes that are responsible for the continuous degradation in the business of PEW. The stated assumptions has been taken on the basis of the information provided by the firm and its management. The probability of this given project is same for or the projects i.e there are chances of successes, there are chances of failures depending upon the implementation and formulation of the remedies suggested through the project.

Cost Assumption: Cost estimation of the project has been found out to be around 20000 US $ and it should be mentioned here that PEW has assured to provide us with more capitak in the long process if and as it arises.

Time Assumption:  In total 3 months have been taken as the assumption of the time for execution of the stated project.

Resource Assumption Risk Assumption: There is a need for strong number of workforce for proper resource allocation in the project. This would require many numbers of lawyers, advisors and professional counsellors.

Risk Assumption: There are many uncertain as well as certain risks that are sure to come in the process of making this project a success. These can vary from risk of the failures of allocation of certain aspect of the project that is applied through the management to non-arrival of a constructive solution of the problem by the development team of the project.

Tree Diagrams

There are certain very specific problems that have been continued in PEW for many years that are also a root cause for its decline in giving profits. These problems have to be strategically eliminated if the company is to have any future and then gaining good profits. The problems that is being observed includes:

1. The decline in profit of PEW by staggering 45% is among the most top priority of all the problem.
2. There are many new competitor in the market that have emerged which has caused serious implication in the business transaction of the PEW and is one of the concerns for the management of the company. .
3. There is a denial in the renewal of the old contracts as well, and the new customers are also going for new alternatives which is worrisome for the PEW.
4. There is an increase in number of the employees are leaving the PEW and joining other rival firms in need for better alternative.

The proper analysis of the root causes of the problems that have been stated in the above point, there are certain action that need to be taken by the company in order to gain certain advantages over its problems. The action that is to be taken are: .

• All the new items and features have to sell at a lucrative deal after the proper trail of the product. This initiative will attract many new as well as old customers.
• All the prices of the products are to be modified. This has to be done after proper consultation and advises of the financial department of the company in order to avoid more loss.
• All the reasons because of which the suppliers that have just entered the market are taking over the market has be to properly know and analyzed and all there weakness and strengths have to be properly mentioned while any formal or informal discussion.
• It has to be on the made a point that, all the present employees and staff have to be retained by the company at all cost (Schilling,Jones & Hill,2014).. This could be achieved by increasing the salary and providing other benefits to the employees..

Requirement of resources is evident to solve issues that are faced by PEW. Important resources like marketing, technical, human and monetary resources are mandatory. Professionally experienced market researchers, business advisors, accountants and lawyers are required as to find an effective ways to issues and limitations according to their domain knowledge (Fukuda, 2018).  Project management team should be in tandem with the development team so that the mandatory resources are employed. Usage of support networks is mandatory to develop skill as well as knowledge of team member along with project researchers.

 Necessary actions needs to be undertaken so that solution to the issues of PEW could be undertaken so that the company does not lose it profit making ability.

The Strategic management project means a course on executive development, which is designed specifically to solve issues and limitations of this project. To accomplish the set goals of the project planning, analysis, continuous monitoring as well as assessment are necessary factors. The resultant outcomes of this project will depend on the paths taken by the project management team.

Steps of strategic management :

1. To set the goal, vision as well as objectives needs to be done
2. For analysis to be done information needs to be gathered
3. Effective strategies needs to be evaluated
4. Process needs to be evaluated and controlled

Application of development and project models needs to be undertaken by the project management technical team.. the successful delivery of the project in time can be done effectively by the team members of the project when they adopt these models. Technical project manager’s role is very important, as he takes the decision as to what technology will be employed in the project. Other technical management factors are resource allocation, tasks, stakeholders, status, deadlines and dates. The below mentioned technical skills are required to finish the tasks:

• Operation of quality managing tools, Total Quality Management as well as Six-sigma should be the knowhow of project team
• Requirement of IT skills,eg how to use excel sheets to update project status, requirements as well as usage of resources is mandatory.
• Correct risk assessment and market analysis needs to be done by them by employing assessment tools- standard risk.

One of the most significant factors of this project is leadership. Hence, the project demands experienced leaders who would lead the others to fulfil the goal of this project. Due to the timeline being short, the leaders as well as the managers should pay special emphasis on getting the work done quickly but efficiently. Motivation is the most important contribution of the leaders. A leader should be inspiring, team player and having integrity to lead a project towards success. Leaders of the respective project should take feedback, try to rectify the issues and also process needs to be monitored by them at each and every step. Taking responsibility to make the project successful needs to be undertaken by the leaders (Matias, Pimentel, Rodrigues,  2018).

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Conclusion

This paper is trying to draw an improvement and development plan to increase the profit making capacity of PEW (Precision Engineering works) with the help of this  project. Various aspects as well as probability of project have been highlighted in this paper. A Continuous-improving plan containing the solutions dealing with the problems has been identified and should be executed within 3 month timeline. Monetary, technical, marketing and human resources are all the different resources that are required. Other than that professionally experienced lawyers, and market researchers, along with business advisors and accountants would also be required for analysing the problems and give effective solution according to their respective domain. To accomplish the tasks various tools like six sigma, standard risk should also be  assessed, Microsoft excel tools would be required. Project goal is to increase the profit making capacity of the respective company.

References

Black, N. H., & Vernetti, B. J. (2015). Root-Cause Analysis. Professional Safety, 60-62.

Chang, J. F. (2016). Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. Auerbach Publications.

Cunico, H. A., Dunne, J., O’connor, J., & Silva, A. (2018). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/836,973.

Fukuda, R. (2018). CEDAC: A tool for continuous systematic improvement. Routledge.

Hellesen, N., Torres, H., & Wangen, G. (2018). Empirical case studies of the rootcause analysis method in information security. International Journal On Advances in Security, 11.

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Kim, K. O., & Zuo, M. J. (2018). General model for the risk priority number in failure mode and effects analysis. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 169, 321-329.

Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2015). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute.

Latino, R. J., Latino, K. C., & Latino, M. A. (2016). Root cause analysis: improving performance for bottom-line results. CRC press.

Levine, J. M., Alexander, K. M., Wright, A. G., & Higgins, E. T. (2016). Group brainstorming: when regulatory non-fit enhances performance. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19(2), 257-271.

Lock, D. (2017). The essentials of project management. Routledge.

Luo, T., Wu, C., & Duan, L. (2018). Fishbone diagram and risk matrix analysis method and its application in safety assessment of natural gas spherical tank. Journal of Cleaner Production, 174, 296-304.

Perry, W., & Mehltretter, N. (2018). Applying Root Cause Analysis to Compressed Air: How to Solve Common Compressed Air System Problems with the 5-Whys. Energy Engineering, 115(4), 56-62.

Prashar, A., & Antony, J. (2018). Towards continuous improvement (CI) in professional service delivery: a systematic literature review. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 1-29.

Raghavan, A. (2015). Root cause analysis. In Management and Leadership–A Guide for Clinical Professionals (pp. 105-121). Springer, Cham.

Rodrigues, A. P., Pimentel, C. M., & Matias, J. C. (2018). Third-party logistics continuous improvement through integrated fleet management: the case of a transport company. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 31(1), 39-68.

Rothwell, W. J., Hohne, C. K., & King, S. B. (2018). Human performance improvement: Building practitioner performance. Routledge.

Volk, M., Junges, S., & Katoen, J. P. (2018). Fast dynamic fault tree analysis by model checking techniques. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 14(1), 370-379.

Wahdan, M. A. (2018). Impact of a Practical Flowcharts Approach on Educating the Control Risk Assessment. Accounting and Finance Research, 7(2), 1.

Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy. pearson.