As a Systems Integrator focused on the manufacturing industries, our work usually involves a mix of software, hardware and value added engineering and training services. For our clients, a manufacturing project is temporary, designed to accomplish a specific goal, such as the installation and startup of a new system or line. Sometimes, a project brings together technologies and individuals who have never before worked together. There is no gold standard guidebook for what our project managers do on the project, but the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is the starting point.
Our projects address a wide array of businesses, so rigid project management guidelines alone aren’t flexible enough for practical use. Over time, we have customized and tailored PMBOK principles and practices to create our own proven project management methodology. Our project management methodology is the glue that holds everything on the project together.
Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification
Project Management Professionals (PMP) are certified through the Project Management Institute (PMI), and most of Polytron’s Project Managers hold this certification. The PMP qualification provides our project managers with the competency to apply the knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. We approach project management in three primary areas: scope, cost, and schedule management. Many companies and professionals are familiar with these tenets. However, we have taken the most relevant and created an approach in key areas of our business in order to deliver best-in-class project management methodology for our clients.
Intelligent Resource Management Techniques
In project management scheduling, we apply a Stage Gate approach where tasks and resources are applied in a timeline. In short, prerequisite tasks are completed before starting other tasks. Sometimes, particularly in IT/software development and international equipment delivery, meeting the task completion can be challenging. In these cases, project managers will “crash the schedule.” Typically, this involves the addition of human resources who complete tasks in parallel paths on the schedule timeline.
This approach to intelligent resource management allows us to remain within the project scope, deliver on deadline and minimize our costs.
Inherent Quality Management Planning
Quality Management is not developed as a separate component of our project management methodology. Rather, we inherently incorporate quality management into our methodology and the tools we use on a day-to-day basis.
We deliver a functional design specification as part of any automation execution project, defining the scope and quality of our solution. For control systems, we use emulation, factory acceptance testing (FAT) and site acceptance testing (SAT) as standard practices. These activities ensure the quality of our product from start to finish.
Our customers have come to expect us to follow through on quality, because our process ensures it.
