Project Management's Role in Indian Automobile Quality Control

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Research Proposal
“Analysis of the impact of project management for quality control in the automobile industry
in India”
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Table of Contents
Proposed Dissertation Title..............................................................................................................3
Rationale..........................................................................................................................................3
Objectives........................................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................8
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Proposed Dissertation Title
Analysis of the impact of project management for quality control in the automobile industry in
India.
Rationale
Quality management can be referred to as the guarantee given by companies about the quality
and consistency of the products they offer. It is very important that every product offered by an
organisation is checked and assured. The research will be helpful for companies focusing on
customers satisfaction. Security is the first things that the customers look in the cars. It is the
responsibility of the automobile manufacturers that they consider the security pint at the top, and
the quality of the product must be the priority of the automobile manufacturers. There are various
other factors related to the quality of the automobiles which must be taken into consideration by
the automobile companies (Hartley, 2017). This topic of this research has been chosen to focus
on the processes used by the automobile companies in India. It will have a positive impact on the
quality procedures of the manufactures of the cares and other automobiles. The research is
carried out to inform the customers about the quality check processes undertaken by the
companies.
Objectives
Project management is important in every aspect where is any activity undertaken. In the
automobile companies also, there are various processes conducted and, in every activity, there is
a need for managing the resources. The time and budget of the events are also necessary to be
considered. One such activity is quality control of the automobiles. The research will analyse the
importance of project management in the quality control activity in the manufacture of cars. The
research study will also assist other researchers to have evidence of the importance of quality
management in automobiles companies. This is a research study which will focus on the impact
of project management for the quality control of the automobile companies. The research study
will be completed by taking into consideration the automobile companies in India. The objective
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of this research is to find out about the importance of project management in automobile
companies. The analysis will also identify the relevance of quality management in the companies
as customer's satisfaction and security must be the primary objective of the companies.
Literature review
Project management can be defined as the set of activities involved in accomplishing a project.
The activities include the initiation of the project, project planning, execution of the plan and
then the controlling operations for the project. Project management helps achieve a specified
goal. According to the authors, Kerzner and Kerzner, (2017) Project is a one-time activity and
needs to be undertaken with great diligence and planning. In the manufacturing of automobiles,
there are various activities carried out by the companies and project management is required to
make sure that the manufacturing process is carried out successfully. Project management is
essential in a manufacturing company to ensure that the quality of the cars and other automobiles
are up to the mark. It is thus essential to understand the importance and impact of the project
management on the quality control of the automobiles (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
Another author explains the quality control in the automobile industry. In the words of the
author, the quality control process in the automobile company starts before the actual production
process begins in the factory. It is not that after the car is manufactured then, its quality will be
checked. The quality standards are set in advance, and each and every manufacturing activity
takes place according to the pre-determined quality standards. The quality control is done to
make sure that the automobile is free from any technical and mechanical defect. There are other
problems also like the leakage of air and fluids from the car. The quality control makes sure that
the automobile is safe and secure for driving for the customers. For checking the quality of the
automobiles, first, a prototype of the model is manufactured to identify the flaws and defects in
the model. The quality control is a very crucial process in the manufacturing of the automobiles.
There are various tests for controlling the quality of the automobile and to carry out the tests, a
set of activities are carried out by the engineers of the company. It is very important to make sure
that all the tests are positive and controlled in an appropriate manner.
According to the author Fonseca, (2015), there are different stages of production of automotive
and quality management is the first and foremost priority of the companies. In every phase of the
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production of the automotive, the project management activities are relevant and hold a great
place. With the help of project management, the automotive manufacturer can review and control
the manufacturing process in an appropriate manner. The tools of quality control also need to be
monitored and managed in a well-specified way. Quality engineers in an automotive company
must know about project management as well. The Indian automotive companies have to comply
with various quality standards like the ISO (international organisation for standardisation) and
the automotive industry in India is regulated by the ministry of road transport and highways
(Fonseca, 2015).
The author Turner, (2014) suggest that there must be an application of project management in the
quality control activities of the automotive companies. The planning of the quality control
techniques needs an expert project manager and engineer so that the tools and methods can be
applied successfully. The tools and techniques of the quality control need to be monitored
effectively so that they are of use to the organisation and the quality of the automobiles are
maintained. The application of project management help in the effective execution of the
manufacturing activities of the automobile company (Turner, 2014). The automotive companies
in India are very much conscious about the quality of their cars as they believe that the
customer's security and satisfaction is the main thing which must be focused on. There are
various factors that determine the success of an automobile company in India. The first aspect is
waste reduction. Waste reduction is significant so that there is optimum utilisation of resources.
For this the application of project management is necessary. By the use of project management,
the resources of the production function are utilised effectively. Another aspect is Kaizen, which
means continuous improvement. In the automotive company, engineers need to have continuous
improvement in the process of production and other processes. There must be continuous
improvement in the automobiles too according to the needs and demands of the target market. It
is only possible only by the application of useful project management tools and techniques. The
projects in the automotive company follow the four necessary steps of PDCA (Plan, Do, Check
and Act). First, the plans are drawn, then the plan is executed, and monitoring of the plan is done
after the effective checking actions are taken by the project engineers (Hartley, 2017).
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Methodology
Research methodology refers to the methods used for the data collection in the research. The
research methodology is essential to be chosen effectively as the conclusion and results of the
study is dependent upon the type of data collected by the researcher. The research methodology
used for this research study is secondary research (Hair, et. al., 2015). Secondary analysis can be
defined as the method of data collection in which the data is collected from the sources already
existing like the interviews that have already been conducted or the published research papers
and other similar resources. Two types of data can be used for the research study. The first type
of data is qualitative data, and the other is quantitative data. Qualitative data is the data which
only specifies the qualitative aspects of the subject matter whereas the quantitative data is the
data which represents the numbers and quantified information about the topic of the research
study. In this research stud, both qualitative and quantitative data are used to draw reliable and
realistic conclusions. After the collection of the data, the next step is to analyse the collected
data. There are different methods for analysing qualitative and quantitative data. The methods
used in this research for investigating the quantitative data are:
Mean: mean is the arithmetic average of the sum of all the components. The identification of
mean is useful in analyzing the current trend of the subject matter.
Standard deviation: standard deviation technique I used to determine the dispersion of data
around the mean (Waters, 2011).
Hypothesis testing: Hypothesis testing is the tool which is used to check the viability of the
hypothesis statement. There are various tests like the T-test, Chi-test, Z-test to test the
hypothesis.
The data analysis methods for the qualitative data are:
Disclosure analysis: This is a qualitative data analysis which is used to analyse the written text
Content analysis: Content analysis is used to analyse verbal and behavioural data. The data is
then tabulated in a form which is understandable by the parties having an interest in the research.
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Grounded theory: Grounded theory is the method in which inferences are drawn on the basis of
one case study and applied to other similar case studies (Dagnino and Cinici, 2016).
The sources of data collection used for this study are literatures, books, research study paper,
magazines and online published content. The data is specific and supports the research as it is
relevant to the topic. The data collected by the secondary research collection method is useful for
the study as it provides evidences to support the research and its conclusions. There were several
issues in collecting the data by the secondary research methods as the research papers were not
easily available, the online content was not wholly reliable to prove the hypothesis. The time
frame for the research study was also not suitable to carry out such in-depth research. There was
a lack of financial resources which also led to a limitation in the research work. But after all the
limitation also, the data collected is appropriate for the study and will prove to be beneficial for
the parties having an interest in the topic. The secondary research is suitable for the study as all
the information about the quality control, and project management could be extracted by the data
which is already published as the big companies do not provide the private information of their
production process and quality management process.
For the completion of the dissertation, the companies that have been chosen are:
Ashok Leyland
Maruti Suzuki
Tata Motors
The companies that have been selected for the research study are suitable for the study. The
companies are very big brands of Indian automotive industry. The companies have a larger scale
operation in India. All three companies are the market leaders in the automotive industry in
India. The companies have operations all over the world, and the profits are very high for all
three automobile businesses. Ashok Leyland is specialised in manufacturing trucks, tractors and
buses (Ashok Leyland, 2019). Maruti Suzuki is a specialised company in producing budget cars
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for the country (Maruti Suzuki, 2019). Tata Motors is the car maker for all the social classes of
people in the country. It is specialised in manufacturing all types of cars for all the budgets
(Maruti Suzuki, 2019). All three companies are appropriate for the research study.
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References
 Ashok Leyland, 2019. About us. [Online]. Ashok Leyland. Available at:
https://www.ashokleyland.com/ [Accessed on 12 February 2019].
 Dagnino, G.B, and Cinici, M.C., 2016. Research Methods for Strategic Management.
London. Routledge.
 Fonseca, L.M., 2015. From Quality Gurus and TQM to ISO 9001: 2015: a review of
several quality paths. International Journal for Quality Research (IJQR), 9(1), pp.167-180. Hair, J.F., Samouel, P., Wolfinbarger, M., and Money, A.H., 2015. Essentials of Business
Research Methods. 2nd Edition. London and New York: Routledge. Hartley, J.R., 2017. Concurrent engineering: shortening lead times, raising quality, and
lowering costs. Routledge.
 Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to
planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. Law, C.M., 2017. Restructuring the global automobile industry. Routledge.
 Maruti Suzuki, 2019. Home [Online]. Maruti Suzuki. Available at:
https://www.marutisuzuki.com/ [Accessed on 12 February 2019].
 Tata Motors, 2019. About us. [Online]. Tata Motors. Available at:
https://www.tatamotors.com/ [Accessed on 12 February 2019].
 Turner, J.R., 2014. Handbook of project-based management(Vol. 92). New York, NY:
McGraw-hill. Waters, D., 2011. Quantitative Methods for Business. 5th Edition. Harlow. Pearson
Education Limited
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