Project Management Methodologies for Latino Engineering

Project Management Methodologies

Introduction
The project management is the deliberate action taken by a team in order to accomplish
the specific objective of the business. It is the structured process in which problem is understood
thoroughly and accordingly suitable strategies are applied (Turner, 2008). The present essay is
based on Latino Engineering which is specialized in designing, developing and manufacturing
engineering equipment for different industries. The company is facing several issues; defects in
the products, poor design, wrong packaging and non-responsiveness to the customers. For this
purpose, project management or continuous improvement plan has been initiated to improve the
overall performance of the business. In this regard, an appropriate methodology like Total
Quality Management and 5 whys are applied to address the issue. Moreover, critical path method
has been used through which problem faced by the firm can be resolved in relatively less time.
Identifying the root cause by proposing the use of appropriate tools and techniques
According to the case study, Latino Engineering was sold by Dominic; the founder who
was specialized in manufacturing engineering equipment. During that time, the business was
well-performed and customers were highly happy. However, the performance decline when the
company was sold out because customers were not happy and their expectations were not being
met. At the same time, design and development of products were poor. Yet, employees were
retained to maintain the performance and reputation of the business. In this regard, the need of
continuous improvement plan has been assessed for Latino Engineering whereby performance
can be improved. At this juncture, the first task of the project management plan is to identify the
root cause with the application of suitable techniques.
Total Quality Management (TQM) approach has been applied which is a continuous
effort put by the management for increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction (Kerzner, 2013).
The current situation of Latino Engineering reflects that customers are not satisfied so the
application of TQM model would be effective. The PDCA cycle of TQM is applied where the
first step is planning phase (P) wherein project team assesses the entire situation of the Latino
Engineering by collecting data from management and employees and customers. With the
collected data, it has been found that there is no coordination between management and
employees which in result customer dissatisfaction is automatically occurring. Also, the

customers feel that their issues are not being addressed and they are not getting the quality
product (Murugaiah and et. al., 2010). This was because of poor planning and management at the
end of high authority of the Latino Engineering. This indicates that employees should be guided
and motivated by the work which is being done. However, earlier Dominic was easily managing
everything so most of the projects of the company were awarded too. In this manner, planning
phase assists project manager to work on the problems.
The next step is of doing phase (D) where it is decided that employees will be trained on
the monthly basis to update their knowledge. Also, management was communicated that there is
need to maintain the continuous flow information regarding the quality standards, policies of the
business etc (Chen, Li and Shady, 2010). This will be helpful for the workforce to understand the
importance of quality aspect. Also, the quality department will be set through all the products
and process will be supervised and feedback will be provided to the respective department. For
example, wrong design and development of the product will be passed back to the manufacturing
department and similarly wrongly packed product. The monthly report will be prepared for each
month and each department which will serve as the basis to motivate employee by sowing the
assessment of their performance.
The third step of the TQM is (C) checking phase in which evaluation will be done that
whether the training program is going fine or not or production department is reducing the
number of defects in the product or not (Hung and et. al., 2010). It would be effective in
providing the feedback and bringing continuous improvement in the Latino Engineering. The last
phase is of action (A) which help to complete the work related to the documentation so as to
serve as the evidence that problem has been addressed in the right manner.
Furthermore, 5 whys is another effective technique which is related to Six Sigma DMAIC
has been applied in the following manner. It proves clear evidence related to the root cause of the
problem through which project can team can work upon the same.
Problem Statement: The quality or performance of the Latino Engineering are declining
1. Why are defective engineering equipmentare delivered?
The employees are not complying the quality standards and do not know regarding the

expectations of customers.
2. Why is Latino Engineering having poor design and development follow up with
clients?
Lack of training and poor communication
3. Why customers have to wait for a long time?
Poor time management in the Latino Engineering and lack of standardized practices
4. Why is customer service team non-responsive?
Due to lack of guidance and motivation to employees
5. Why are wrong engineering products packaged and delivered to clients?
Because of poor quality standards and lack of standardization in the production and
storage department
Plan to eliminate or reduce root cause by considering the resource requirement
The good planning procedure related to the project management relies on the effective
procedural documents (Jung, Jian Wang and Wu, 2009). For this purpose, paperwork will be
completed by the project management related to the task to be allocated to the team and deadline
for each of them. It would be effective in offering the clear guidelines and unifying the entire
project team. The project plan will be implemented with the determination of critical success
factors. Here, the success factors are related to the continuous improvement and overall
satisfaction. At the same time, Latino Engineering management will also become active with the
outcome of the project. Owing to this, it is also considered as the critical success factor which
would be effective in building the competitive edge of the business (Sila, 2007).
All the next step will be supported towards the mentioned critical success factors and
accordingly the related work will be completed so as to derive valid outcome. The second level
is the feasibility determination in which it is assessed that whether the Latino Engineering