Operations and Project Management: BPC Electronics Project Life Cycle

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Project Life Cycle (PLC) applied by BPC Electronics for the launch of a new 52-inch television. It details each phase of the PLC, including project initiation, where objectives, strategies, and tools like Microsoft Project 2019 Professional and Six Sigma are utilized. The planning phase covers cost analysis, communication strategies, quality assurance, and scope management, with the application of Lean methodology, Gantt charts, and Work Breakdown Structures. The execution phase emphasizes task division, training, and performance monitoring using democratic leadership and Total Quality Management. Finally, the project closure phase involves performance evaluation, documentation, and stakeholder communication, leveraging tools like Basecamp and strategic leadership. The report also critically reviews the effectiveness of the PLC, using the Waterfall Model to assess requirements, design, development, and testing/maintenance, along with recommendations for improvement through methodologies like Agile and Scrum. The project aims to increase market share and customer base through innovative features, strategic pricing, and effective project management.

Operations and
Project Management
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Table of Contents
P3. Project Life Cycle.............................................................................................................3
P4. Reviewing and Criticising PLC Effectiveness.................................................................9
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P3. Project Life Cycle
BPC Electronics intends to come up with a 52 inches television with a view to provide a
whole new experience to the customers and to keep them in-tacked with the organisation for a
long duration of time. This new range will be introduced by taking up a project. This would
require from the company to work at each and every stage of Project Life Cycle in order to
ensure successful execution of project and with that, feasible launch of the new range of
television. Project Life Cycle can be referred to as the sequential set of phases linked to the
timeline of project beginning from start to closure. Below mentioned is the Business Case as well
as the Project Life Cycle (PLC) for BPC Electronics:-
Business Case:
BASIS DESCRIPTION
Importance
The new 52 inch television set is going to be made with the
effective combination of unique and innovative features such as
slim screen, HD display. This will cater to the needs and
requirements of people to prefer entertainment at large.
Target Market
The target market that has been selected for this new range of
television would be the middle class and upper class sections of UK
belonging to the age group of 16-36 years and possessing an annual
income of over £1300.
Cost Benefit Analysis:
Particulars Situation 1 2
Costs 100000 120000
Benefit 0 20000
(BEP point)
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Costs Benefit
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
Chart Title
Column C Column D
Illustration 1: Cost Benefit Analysis
PROJECT LIFE CYCLE
Project Initiation: The opening stage of PLC is initiation. Here, BPC Electronics aims at
ascertainment of project objectives together with the evaluation of opportunities as well as
threats that pave the same way. This company needs to carry out the measurement of overall
performance of project in terms of value as well as feasibility. To facilitate this, adequate and
relevant brainstorming becomes essential for the respective organisation so that it can meet the
requirements along with developing factors which have a massive contribution in examination of
opportunities.
Objectives
 With the help of the new commodity, BPC Electronics has
intended to raise its present market share by over 5.5% by the
end of next 3 months.
 The respective entity has also planned to enhance its base of
customers by approx. 13.5% post one year of sale of new TV
range.
Strategies To achieve the above mentioned objectives, BPC Electronics will be
making use of vigorous advertisement as well as marketing by way
of social media in order to gain the attention of a large number of
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people and thereby build awareness about the new range of product.
Besides this, penetration pricing will be taken into use to carry put
large scale sale of the new product.
Further, the in-charge of the project, namely, the project manager, submits the report to
senior officials to seek approval. The respective enterprise can make use of tools such as
Microsoft Project 2019 Professional. Furthermore, the methodology that can be feasibly applied
within this stage is Six Sigma as this allows the company to effective perform a feasibility check.
The rationale behind making use of this is its assistance in determination of elements that can
suitably lower down the cost of operations, thereby enhancing the project feasibility. In terms of
leadership, it will be suitable to make use of transformational style as this provides assistance in
development of a vision for project.
Project Planning: Following the project steps, the next phase is associated with
execution of planning for development of the new commodity for BPC Electronics. Post the
receipt of approval from top authorities, project manager as well as the team members devise a
detailed plan. This will require the assessment of resource gaps in order to determine the
resources that are essential for the formulation of project. In addition to this, the plans and the
maps for the project will also be stipulated within this stage. The next will be the estimation of
budget and the associated financial planning. The Project Plan for launch of 52 inch TV is as
follows:-
Cost
This includes the overall cost incurred upon the materials, technology
processes and development of new product. In relation to the current
project, the overall cost would be approximately £105,000 to £135,000.
Communication
BPC Electronics will be making use of external and internal
communication so as to feasibly undergo the development of 52 inch
Television.
Quality BPC Electronics will be making use of automation with a view to
ensure new product development in an effective manner. This would
strive to achieve maximum productivity and high quality product
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creation.
Scope
The scope of the present project associated with launch of new project
in market place is vast. This is so because there are high chances that
further improvements will be brought in the new product range in order
to ensure constant fulfilment of demands. Further, skilled as well as
competent individuals are hired to execute the present project.
For the effective execution of this phase, BPC Electronics can make use of Lean
methodology. The rationale behind selection of this technique is in its effectiveness owing to its
underlying principle associated with minimisation of wastage. In terms of the leadership
approach, the respective organisation can make use of Autocratic Leadership as this style would
provide assistance to project manager while allotting the roles and responsibilities to individuals
who are a part of project team. This would ensure completion of activities in an effectual and
well-organized manner. To facilitate this, tool such as Gantt Chart as well as WBS (Work
Breakdown Structure) will be used. This will assist in the development of new product in the
desired manner within the stipulated course of time.
Gantt Chart:
Illustration 2: Gantt Chart
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Illustration 3: Gantt Chart
Illustration 4: Network Diagram
Work Breakdown Structure:
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Illustration 5: Work Breakdown Structure
Project Execution: It is referred to as one of the most critical phases of PLC as all the
ideas and concepts are effectively executed under this phase. The purpose of this phase is to
deliver the expected results of the project. At BPC Electronics, project manager will be
responsible to organise workflows such that the tasks can be effectively divided between teams.
While one team is responsible for acquisition of raw material the other team will be responsible
to actual development of a product by producing innovation in it. Moreover it is also important
for the company to brief their members by providing process based training. This stage also
assists the company to effectively and efficiently monitor the performance in terms of budget,
time and quality in order to the deviations and modifying the project. The company can use
software to monitor the overall execution and reporting deviations which are essential for
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successful execution. In BPC electronics, democratic leadership can be used as this style of
leadership style treats all the members of the organisation equally and gives everyone an
opportunity to involve in decision-making. The reason behind choosing this strategy is that it
helps in execution when subordinates cooperate and provide their creative inputs. In order to
manage quality at BPC Electronics, Total Quality Management could be chosen as an effective
methodology. The company would focus on developing a television of 52 inches which has not
been developed earlier. The production process will be monitored on a continuous basis by TQM
to ensure that the standards related to cost, quality, safety and advancement could be achieved.
Project Closure: In this last step, BPC Electronics is required to analyse and evaluate the
performance of the overall project. This helps the company is assessing the performance of its
team. Moreover, detailed documentation is required to be formulated regarding closure of the
project along with accounting of budgets. In this process communication plays an important role
as the company have to inform its stakeholders or employees regarding the successful
accomplishment of the project. For the overall quality of project and closure, Base-camp could
be used as a tool. It will be used as it helps the company in reviewing the overall standards
which are achieved by the project and will examine the extent to the king of energy produced by
the given standards. Strategic leadership could be used as it will serve the company to assess the
effectiveness as well as modify the plan.
P4. Reviewing and Criticising PLC Effectiveness
In an organisation implementation and designing is a useful and effective practice of
Project life cycle for an organisation, as it gives the framework and a structure guide to
appropriately monitor and manage the project. It is critical for BPC electronics to effectively
review and critique their product life cycle such that best methods, techniques and processes can
be ensured. For accomplishing it effectively, Waterfall Model could be used by the firm as an
approach to evaluate their project life cycle. This concept is explained as follows:-
Requirements: It is the stage where company needs to examine the requirement of
resources in order to start a new project. PLC during its initiation phase aids BPC Electronics in
deciding essential requirements for the project. In order to define deliverables, company
implement Six Sigma approach. Along with this, principles adopted by this are very rigid, which
as a result reduces the modification scope in their next stages.
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Design: It is the stage which is mainly accompanied to produce sustainable as well as
flexible design of the project. It is shown as the planning phase, where management team of
company use Lean Principles in order to reduce the scrap. It is the stage where managers ensure
less wastage at the time of planning stage. In addition to this leaders adopt autocratic style of
leadership where the completely eliminate the participation of employees. This serves as a
massive threat for the whole company as employees get demotivated and contribute less which
can negatively affect the productivity of the company.
Development: This stage is aimed at the overall development as well as implementation
of the procedure. At this phase, TQM will be taken into use as this would ensure quality of
project at all times. Further, democratic leadership would be used for making sure that team
members participate optimally and achieve maximum productivity which is the key to success of
this phase. BPC Electronics can further make use of cost effective techniques to facilitate cost
savings. One of the most prominent techniques in such relation is inventory management that
gives access to firm to apply JIT practices. Yet another technique may be the usage of Software
Cost Reduction (SCR) Toolkit which ensures quality and saves cost.
Testing and Maintenance: The last phase of waterfall model is associated with effective
testing and maintenance of plan as these could be used for the assessment for closure of project.
This stage aims at evaluation of effectiveness of overall plan for which BPC Electronics made
use of strategic leadership. There are a number of techniques that can be used by project manager
to assess quality, time, scope, risk such as Agile Methodology to enhance the scope and
execution of project. Another important technique is Scrum wherein cross-functional along with
self-managing teams are formed with a view to develop the 52 inch TV. This raises productivity
and facilitates better management of production, packing and distribution of 52 inch TV.
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