Improving Latino Engineering: A Project Management Case Study Analysis

This case study analyzes Latino Engineering, a company facing issues with product quality, customer service, and employee motivation. The analysis identifies root causes, proposing the application of Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM) methodologies to improve processes and customer satisfaction. The study outlines a plan for continuous improvement, including employee training, establishing a quality department, and implementing a monitoring system. The plan involves resource allocation, including financial, physical, and human resources, to ensure effective project execution. The project's goal is to enhance service quality, increase customer satisfaction, and eliminate product defects through continuous monitoring and employee development. The case study provides a timeline and resource requirements, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement to prevent recurring problems and ensure the long-term success of Latino Engineering.

Project
Management

Introduction
The project management is the process of initiating, planning and executing a particular project
for the purpose of accomplishing the specified goal (Cleland and Ireland, 2006). It can be related
to any particular problem of the corporate world which is resolved with the help of structured
procedure (Turner, 2008). The present essay is the case study of Latino Engineering company
that has issues related to poor designing and development of equipment, non-responsive
customer service team and wrong packaging etc. Owing to this, project management techniques
are being applied to resolve the issue and increase customer satisfaction of the business. This
assists corporation to create the goodwill in the marketplace and meet the expectations of all
related stakeholders. For this purpose, effective tools like Total Quality Management, Six Sigma
are applied. Along with that, techniques such as critical path method and Gantt chart an in
order to complete different project activities in the right manner.
Identifying root cause by proposing use of Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM)
techniques
According to the case study, Latino Engineering is unable to meet the expectations of
customers as they are not happy with the quality of services delivered and the packaging of the
product. The company was sold by Dominic Latino who is the founder of the same and during
his time reputation of the firm was good and customers were highly satisfied. tends the
employees were retained at the time of purchasing the business, still, management faced
complaints in term of; defecting engineering equipment, poor development and design of the
product and non-responsiveness of the customers along with the ineffective packaging as well as
delivery of the products and services. a , necessary action must be taken by the management so
as to address the issue effectively and provide the necessary remedy for the business. It would be
effective to cater the requirement of customers and build the image of the business in the
marketplace. However, the overall scenario reflects that the issue is with the management only.
This is because the company was well-performed at the time of Dominic Latino who was
handling each and every activity in the right manner. Therefore, the root cause is related to the
management. For this purpose, two techniques such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and
Six Sigma are applied for reaching to the root cause of the issue (Kerzner, 2013).
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Six Sigma technique consists of two methods; DMADV and DMAIC for addressing the issue
along with the implementation of the suitable strategy (Burke, 2013; Kwak and Anbari, 2006).
According to the case study, Latino Engineering is facing issue related to product quality and
development, owing to this, DMADV methodology can be applied. This methodology targets to
improve the existing product development phase by proposing the new approach for the
development (Snee, 2004). It would be effective to initiate newness in the company so as to grab
the attention of customers by offering them new product as per their requirement (Meredith and
Mantel Jr, 2011). On the other hand, DMAIC is the data-driven quality strategy which aids to
improve the existing procedure for the purpose of maintaining good quality (Winter and et. al.,
2006). This indicates that application of DMAIC approach is more suitable for Latino
Engineering.
The first step of the selected methodology is defining wherein customers are defined in
the context of their quality issues and core business involved (Stevenson and Hojati, 2007). As
per the current situation of the business, it has that customers require the quick response for the
service quality, packaging and delivery aspect of the engineering equipment produced in the
firm. Also, they want easy delivery and other effective procedure which facilitates to meet their
requirement zero-defect. In this context, business will ensure that requirement of the customers is
met effectively by offering the right kind of product and services on the given time span (De
Mast and Lokkerbol, 2012).
The second step of the selected methodology is the measurement in which data will be
collected from the management/ customers of Latino Engineering. For example, information will
be collected from the customers that what exactly is not going in the business. For example, the
survey will be conducted regarding the quality, delivery and other related aspects of the
engineering product with the purpose or goal \of maintaining the good quality, increased
customer satisfaction and retaining them for longer time span by providing them quick response
(Antony and et. al., 2012). With the collected data, it has been found that there exists the gap
between the expectation and actual performance of the business. Owing to this, appropriate
action must be taken to improve the current situation. At this juncture, derived results will be
compared with the actual situation of the business. It is helpful to bring out the suitable solution
so as to determine the smooth flow of information and ensure the betterment of the business for
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longer time span. In addition to this, analysis of the entire situation proves to be effective in
identifying the root cause of the entire situation. The variation was identified that Latino
Engineering is not able to meet the expectations of customers because the employees are not
motivated. However, it is the fact that if employees are motivated then they tend to deliver good
quality of services and ensure to accomplish the aims and objectives of the business (Frings and
Grant, 2005). At this juncture, the major issue was related to the low level of motivation among
employees. In this regard, a situation will be improved with the creation of an innovative
solution that workforce will be provided monetary reward for their better performance. It will be
assessed on the basis of monthly evaluation of their performance. However, the reward will be
based on their contribution to increasing the customer satisfaction and providing quick response
to them. Yet, the problem was related to production and packaging department so the quality
department will be set that will provide the standard for the respective issues. At last, control will
be done in accord with the continuous monitoring of the internal situation of the business.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is another approach which is based on the customer-
focused, total employee involvement and process-centred. Along with that, integrated system,
continual improvement and fact-based decision-making are included which facilitates in bringing
desired improvement (Kaynak, 2003). As per the situation of the Latino Engineering, employees
are involved in the decision-making process who can provide their valuable suggestions to
improve the service quality. On the other hand, a manufactured product will be based on the
expectation of the customers. Also, the packaging department is monitored as per the set
standard guidelines (Palo and Padhi, 2003). However, the continuous improvement will be
brought through the training of employees in accordance with the issues which are being faced in
the organization. (Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010)
Proposing a plan to eliminate or reducing the root cause taking into consideration resource
requirement
With the application of Six Sigma and TQM approach, it has been found that major issue
is related to the quality of product and services (Andersson, Eriksson and Torstensson, 2006).
Furthermore, the crucial issue was related to lack of motivation among employees and poor
supervision of the packing and production department. Owing to this, appropriate plan related to
continuous improvement has been implemented in which root cause of the problem will be
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reduced to a great extent. At the same time, resources requirement will be assessed whereby
corporation can effectively create its competitive edge in the marketplace through retention of
personnel for longer time span. The plan has been proposed that first of all current situation of
the Latino Engineering will be assessed and accordingly causes are identified. It has been found
that employees should be provided training and continuous monitoring should be done for the
quality department in the context of packing and manufacturing (Isaksson, 2006). It is estimated
that both of the mentioned activities require 12 days and it will be started at the end of the
September month and end up in the first week of the October month. The overall analysis
derived varied objective of the project plan; improving the service quality, customer satisfaction,
zero defect products and higher quality of products and services.
For this purpose, strategies such as continuous training, setting separate quality
department which looks over the packing and manufacturing department as well as customer
issue (Nahmias and Cheng, 2009). All the activities of this particular department will be reported
to the head or management at the end of each working day. It will help management to assess the
performance of the business. The strategy related to training, the quality department set up will
be done as per the allotted time. At this juncture, monitoring will be done on the right time so the
obstacles can be overcome. The project team will communicate the improvement efforts by
conducting the weekly or daily meeting so that each one can get to know about the structured
process associated with the plan. Apart from this, 5whys (refer appendix figure 3) will also be
applied to understand the issues which are taking place in the company. For this purpose, first of
management asses the abnormal conditions are prevailing in the company as the quality is
declining. It is followed by the reason that management issues took place. In this regard,
appropriate action should be taken to improve the quality. For example, necessary training and
development activities of the employees and setting the quality culture in the business (Velaction
Continous improvement, 2016). The project manager set the deadline for all task and employees
according to their proficiency and in the same manner, monitoring will be done (Borkar, 2005).
The issues identified during the monitoring process will be taken into account to modify the
project. Lastly, management of the Latino Engineering will bear in mind regarding the exact
practices to be followed to the lifetime of the organization. At this juncture, customers' survey
will be conducted and continuous development of employees will be ensured. This facilitates to
manufacture the zero-defect product and enable employees to work with integration.
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Resources requirement
A project cannot be completed without employing necessary resources. The major
resources are human resources, physical and financial that aid to complete all the project
activities in an effectual manner. The financial resources are needed in conducting the training
and setting the quality department. On the other hand, physical resources such as laptop,
stationary and training hall are required which will be provided by either Latino Engineering or
project management team (Kolisch and Hartmann, 2006). These physical resources play the
crucial role as all the strategies are implemented by using these resources only. In addition to
this, human resources such as entire project team, executive staff of Latino Engineering and its
employees are crucial in accomplishing the targets in the right manner. Therefore, it is important
for the business to employ all these resources for implementing the project plan and meeting the
organizational requirement in the right manner. At the same time, continuous improvement will
be brought into the plan whereby it will be possible for the business to retain the customers for
longer time span. Further, extra resources will be employed to meet the contingency situation of
the business.
Developing a continuous improvement plan to ensure the problems and issues are not
repeated
According to the current study and aforementioned analysis, Latino Engineering will go
through the continuous improvement plan. The activity table and Gantt chart of the plan are
presented in the appendix which reflects that 51 days are needed for the completion of the project
activities. The Gantt chart is prepared through which project manager can easily assign the task
as per the deadline and resources can also be arranged in the same manner. The initiation of a
project has been done at the end of the September month that will be last until December of the
financial year 2017. In this manner, the overall situation of the business has been assessed that
why the issue and occurring and what remedies can be provided for the effective solution of the
same (Meyringer and Sap Aktiengesellschaft, 2006). The first two activities end up with the
collection of data that management related issues should be resolved as it is the root cause of the
problem and it will be followed by the statement of the objectives. The standard objective of the
project is reduced the customer dissatisfaction to a great level and meet their expectations by
manufacturing zero defect product. In this regard, total 4 days were decided to set time frame for
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the bringing the suitable solution of the problem which is being occurred in the business.
Furthermore, total 20 days are consumed in setting the strategies and implementing the same for
addressing the issue. For example, training sessions were conducted with the manufacturing and
packaging department along with the communication of the standard practices (Kumar, 2005).
They were informed that quality department will pass on the guidelines and they have to abide
by the same.
It is not possible that all plans are completed in the successful manner as certain obstacles
are faced in the management of the project. In this regard, project manager applied strategies to
integrate personnel and provide them monetary and non-monetary rewards. This will help
business in providing the right solution for the corporation and integrating all necessary
resources so as to reach to the optimal solution (Fortune and White, 2006). However,
communication is considered as the strongest tool for the successful completion of any project.
For this purpose, daily or weekly meeting have been conducted to assess the progress of the
project and let the employee know the potential issues. Therefore, varied activities are
communicated to the management.
The critical path method technique has been applied in the project so as to reduce the
time taken in the project and cost involved in the same. The critical path method displayed in the
appendix shows that major activities covered in the project are 1+2+3+4+5+7+9+11+12+13=31
days. It reflects that duration of the project is reduced by 20 days with the application of this
method. It aids to complete the project in relatively less because two or more than two activities
are completed simultaneously (Achanga and et. al., 2006). However, application of such kind of
activities might require additional resources but time will be reduced to a great extent. This
facilitates to improve the performance of the business on the right time. Therefore, critical path
method helps project management team to accomplish the project before the same time and
provide the overall benefit for the organization to create its competitive edge in the marketplace.
Conclusion and recommendations
The aforementioned report concludes that application of suitable software tend to reduce
the time taken in the completion of the project. For this purpose, critical path method and Gantt
chart are effective which support management in completing the business activities in the right
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manner and deliver good quality of services to client. The continuous improvement plan of the
Latino Engineering generates huge cost but the overall quality of services will be improved as
each and every aspect is supervised under the plan of continuous development. Here, the
important part of continuous development is employees involved n the product and service
department of the business. However, it is important for management of Latino Engineering to
conduct the audit skills of employees and assess the training need among employees. This will
helpful for the workforce to understand the standards set by the business and works upon the
same to derive the quality outcome. Furthermore, employees should be reward who achieves the
quality standard. This will assist business to implement the continuous development plan in the
organization.
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