Manufacturing Project: Recycling Machine, Cost & Time Analysis

This project management solution analyzes the manufacturing of a new recycling machine, detailing the activities involved, their relationships, normal and crashed times, and associated costs. It includes an Activity on Arrow diagram to identify the critical path (A -> B -> D -> I -> J -> K -> L) and the normal completion time of 24 weeks. The solution calculates the normal and crashed costs, determining that crashing the project to its minimum duration of 12 weeks would increase the total cost. Scenarios involving delays in activities C and G are evaluated, with activity G's delay creating a new critical path and extending the project duration. The report assesses the financial implications of crashing the project and the impact of delays on the overall timeline and cost.

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Manufacturing New Recycling Machine
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Answer to 1
The Activity on Arrow diagram has been presented as follows.
Figure 1: Activity on Arrow Diagram
(Source: Created by Author)
The critical path is identified as: A  B  D  I  J  K  L.
The normal completion time of the project is 24 weeks.

2PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Answer to 2
The calculations of the normal and crashed costs and durations are shown in the
following table.
Activity
Normal Crashed
Duration (weeks)
Cost
($)
Duration
(weeks)
Cost
($)
A 2 400 1 800
B 1 0 1 0
C 4 200 2 450
D 6 450 2 1150
E 3 700 1 1200
F 3 200 1 600
G 4 600 1 1000
H 2 0 2 0
I 3 250 2 450
J 8 600 4 950
K 2 450 1 700
L 2 200 1 350
TOTA
L
24 (minimum
duration) 4050
12 (minimum
duration) 7650
The minimum duration of the project is 24 weeks and the cost associated with the project
(sum of all costs + fixed cost) = £ (4050 + 24*250) = £10050.
In case of crash, the crashed duration becomes 12 weeks. Hence, the cost associated with
the crashed duration = £ (7650 + 12*250) = £ 10650.
Hence, the difference between the total crashed cost and the normal cost is £600. Hence,
unless the company is not able to pay for this value, the project will not be worth crashing.

3PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Answer to 3
Scenario a: Due to machine malfunction, it is reported that activity C is delayed by 4
weeks. However, activity C does not fall on the critical path of the project and the extended
duration also does not exceed the actual critical path of the project. Thus, the 4 weeks delay of
activity C will not affect the total duration of the project. However, the expenditure in activity C
will increase considerably.
Scenario b: Like activity C, activity G also does not lie on the critical path of the project.
However, with the 4 weeks delay, exceeds the critical path length and thus a new critical path is
created (A – B – D – E – F – G – K – L). As a result of this change, the total duration of the
project is increased by 3 weeks i.e. the new duration of the project will be 27 weeks.