Project Management, we need help!!! 1

[bloodclot]

Hello all,
We have been discussing how to make the Engineering department more streamlined and productive. We currently have 2 solidworks users, a technical writer, Engineering supervisor, and Engineering manager. Each of the designers (me included) have about 5 projects in process at all times. This does not include mini-tasks, non-engineering hats to wear (internal auditor, change requests, etc.). Even though we are 90% "paper-free" we spend about 50 percent of our time on electronic paperwork. This includes getting quotes for completed designs, generating P.O. Requests, ISO paperwork for projects, timelines for projects, design meetings, engineering meetings, ISO meetings, engineering change request meetings. All of these meetings require multiple forms of electronic paperwork, etc. The projects from the 2 designers go to the eng supervisor for review and he is overloaded as well. In addition to being the eng supervisor he is also the electronic prod supervisor, as well as about 3 other hats.

I have suggested adding an Engineering clerk to take over the "non- engineering" type work but the suggestion was met with resistance.

How do you guys & or girls manage your projects/engineering departments? What saves you lots of time. Is it software packages that help with project management, extra manpower,
what are your secrets to being PRODUCTIVE without drowning in paperwork? All suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Bloodclot

***** Fear not those who argue but those who dodge *****

Dell Precision 670
3.0 Ghz Xeon Processor
Nvidia FX3450
3 gig of RAM
Dual 19" Viewsonics

 

[MadMango]

This isn't a SW question, it's a fundamental one that covers a wide area and all industries. You should probably repost to forum732 if you want more general non-SW responses.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[MadMango]

Nevermind, I see you also posted in forum768. That's a good place too.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[AnnaWood]

Sounds like you guys are a victim of your own procedures.

Do you REALLY need all the paperwork and procedures that you have to get quality work out of the engineering department?

First thing you are going to tell me is that ISO requires it. We are an ISO 9001:2000 company (just re-certified last month) and we are not a slave to our procedures and paperwork.

There is WAY more latitude then you think to have the correct amount of checks and balances in place with paperwork and procedures and still be ISO compliant.

If needed re-write your ISO procedures so they make business sense and help you create a quality product without being a slave to the process.

The next thought to banish is "We have always done it this way" You need to take a REAL HARD LOOK at what you do and evaluate if it adds value to the end product that you deliver out of engineering.

We went though the process a few years ago and took the hard look at what we did in engineering and changed the way we did things to have the right amount of process procedures in place for the work we are doing at this time.

It took a while to get the paradigm shift in place but it was well worth the effort.

FWIW,

Anna Wood
SW06 SP5 x64, WinXP x64
Dell Precision 380, Pentium D940, 4 Gigs RAM, FX3450
WD Raptors, 1 Gb network connection

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/solidmuse

 

[ctopher]

I agree with Anna 100%. I went through the same a few years ago. Everything was restructured. You have to take a hard look at what you do vs how you want it.

Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)

 

[bloodclot]

I see that the most responses are coming from this forum as opposed to the other forum that I posted in. I know this somewhat out of the solidworks specific area but I do feel more comfortable with suggestions from people who are performing the same type of work as myself as well as from the only forum that has been a great deal of help for SW specifically.

I agree that there must be some type of a happy medium between procedures/paperwork and design. We are probably self inflicting much of the problem. I would like to get an idea of what differences there are out there with 2 things:

First - Can you tell me what your job description consists of as far as tasks.

Second - Can you please layout the procedure you follow when desigining a new product? Not the design itself, but the procedure to go from conception to final product. I think this is an important question to compare. Please include required meetings, etc.

We are an OEM comapany that design mechanical and electronic products for testing diesel vehicles and engines.

***** Fear not those who argue but those who dodge *****

Dell Precision 670
3.0 Ghz Xeon Processor
Nvidia FX3450
3 gig of RAM
Dual 19" Viewsonics

 

[MadMango]

Design Process
1) Get called into a meeting to receive approved concept ideas from executives (Wow, we could sell a million in 6 months if our products did this!).

2) Write a Project Scope (We are only adding a bell and whistle, 4wks) and Product Specification (300hz, 80db whistle & manually struck brass bell) for approval.

3) Executives approve Project Scope and Product Specification (after adding a 2lb weight limit to the whistle and changing the brass bell to chrome).

4) Project Scope (6wks) and Product Specification updated and project number is assigned and initial concept modeling begins.

5) Milestone: Virtual Design Review, all departments invited (Sales/Marketing complain about model colors and pushed-out production dates, Manufacturing complains about manufacturability, Planning and Purchasing could care less at this stage). Design Changes arise.

6) Further concept modeling, add user interface for whistle and tether for bell striker, make bell twice as large and half as heavy. Project Scope (now 9wks) and Product Specification updated.

7) Milestone: Preliminary Design Review, all departments invited (Sales/Marketing complain about model colors and pushed-out production dates, Purchasing wants to know which parts are molded to order them now, Planning wants to know the annual forecast). Design Changes arise and approval is given to make prototypes (1 for NDT, 1 for DT, 1 for future Design Review.

8) Further concept modeling, ensure the whistle is 12vdc and all switches are IP67 compliant, and require two-hand operation, and make different sounds based on different inputs. The bell should be 20% larger and architectural aluminum with a composite handle on the delrin striker. Coordinate with electrical engineer for programable controller and harnessing. Project Scope (now 14wks) and Product Specification updated.

9) Design Check within Engineering, after a few rounds of minor changes: finish all modeling, create 2D manufacturing drawings for prototypes, export flat patterns DXFs for sheet metal, input item data, routings and BOM information into the ERP system, create work orders to have the components made in house, order required prototype hardware, order SLA models, set-up assembly area in prototype lab, coordinate with test engineer for required testing, generate preliminary views of assembly steps and spare parts for Tech Pubs use. Update the Project Scope (17wks) and Product Specification.

10) Milestone: Assemble Prototypes. Reject several key components due to bad in-house manufacturing, re-issue work orders. Cobble together 1 working prototype for testing... cancel that, ship that unit to a major dealer to get their feedback (never see that unit again). Cobble another unit together to hold a Design Review.

11) Milestone: Design Review, all departments invited for “touchy-feely” review (Sales/Marketing ask about the 48vdc version with ISO7072 compliance and complain about pushed-out production date, Planning and Purchasing don’t show up, zero comments from Manufacturing representative). Design changes arise.

12) Final model tweaks, drop the Bell as it is redundant with the whistle, forget the IP67 switches and programable controller (too expensive) build a ISO7072 enclosure with interlocks instead, forget about 48vdc requirement as that is only 2% of market, concentrate on 24vdc version (80% of market), oh, and make it 3-inches smaller, but don’t let the last production date slide, it’s firm because Sales has already sold 900 units domestically, 350 units to the EU, and 15 to Asia.

13) Repeat steps 8-11 again and somehow manage to do it in only six-15hr days.

14) Six months later everyone is happy! Finalize the models and 2D drawings, update your ERP data, issue work orders for your test units. Build and test your units. Make a final round of tweaks, conduct a Project Audit. Complete a Production Release to Manufacturing, help Manufacturing with the assembly line set-up and training. Assist QA/QC to develop inspection logs and processes. Create the Owner/Service manuals for Tech Pubs (let them polish them). Walk Serive personnel through trouble shooting the new product, knowing full well you will be called for the next 9 months with service calls.

15) Enjoy the weekend, and on Monday (see #1).

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[CMcF]

Where is your desk Madmango, I think we must be coleagues!

I am a contractor and have worked in several design offices so I have not seen it all, but I have seen a lot.

First point - Bad designs create work. Penny wise but pound foolish concepts, just cause problems, and the procedures developed to fix those problems, just cause more problems.

Second - Procedeures should push authority downwards not up. If you are competent (you can have a procedure to prove that you are - it is called a qualification) your signature is sufficent. There is no point it getting your boss or worse a comitee to sign off your work.

Thirdly - the ISO assesor gets paid by your company, and only when he has certified you. ie you are his customer. Do not let him bully you!

Fourthly - Push problems back into the departments that caused them. Sales have to give you all the information you need, have a procedure to ensure that they do. Tell production to request their own prints, and not to call you down to the shop floor unless they have already looked at the drawings.

I have also posted non SWX threads on this forum, because it is used by doers rather than dodgers.

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.

"Give a Man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and you get rid of him for the whole weekend".
Zenna Schaffer

 

[ewh]

Have you ever worked in aerospace, MadMango? You've got the process down right, except you would need to add a couple of steps for the continual redesign of components.

 

[Theophilus]

That nailed it, MadMango. Thanks for the reminder to be grateful that I'm no longer working at Dilbert Company. As the sole design consultant to so many of my clients, it's nice to make these decisions on my own and see them soar when released to production/retail/whatever.

There's still a trace of this stuff in dealing with clients, but at least there are no pointy-haired boss/managers to deal with. I must be down to 10% of the hassle you mentioned above.

Well, back to the grind.

(Star)



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[rfus]

Very nice post MadMango. Anna, well said. Bloodclot, I think this is a great forum for this thread. We kind of take a turn at 9.

10) Send this bell wistle design package to China, but integrate it with GPS and a touchscreen

11) 3.5 weeks later T0's and soft tooling protos arrive. Everthing comes in as the mirror image becacuse they are on the other side of the world.

12) Spend the next 6 weeks with ECO's and get FEDEX packages everday to reject or accept parts. Tell them for the sixth time that screws need to be nickle plated.

13) Spent 3 more weeks to get to NPI and recieve 20 units with multiple SMT components placed backwards on every PCB. Have them fix this, but find out they placed the 36 pin connector on backwards as well now that the boards work. Take 3 weeks to make all new PCB's

14) Put a wip in your suitcase and fly over there to spend the next 3 weeks working with them on the production process and watch 17 year old girls inspect your PCB through a cardboard cutout for .25 cents an hour

15) Get home to find out your project has been pushed back with a 17 week lead time becuase thier buyer sold your PSRAM to someone else

16) Work with your puchasing guy to call all over the world to find 50,000 pin for pin drop in replacements. Find this substitute but pay twice as much as you wanted with a Non Returnable Agreement.

17) Now find out that the parts were located by the China buyer and they went ahead and bought them as well, and you now are the proud owner of half a million in chips that you don't need

18) Decide to invent a product to use these ghips up. Go back to 1

I needed to vent for a second. yesterday was crooked sheild cans, warped plastics, failed IPX7 tests, long lead times, and stupid headaches surronding the placement of certification labels. Its comes cheap, but it don't come easy.

RFUS

 

[Theophilus]

It's good to remember that things could always be worse. ..

Of course I'm in this business because I can make things better. It's good to remember that, too.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[wes616]

what about step

9A)

Management gets wind that project schedule is sliding, so they hire 8 new contract designers to come in to work on bell, and an outside consultant for new whistle tone design.

9B) Contractors arrive, never having actually designed a bell, they however are all experts at "ball" design. They of course can "help" with the DMU of the bell, but havn't made a drawing in years, as the other job shops they work in all have a system of 3D delivery. Also you are sidetracked with getting them up to speed with your PLM package.

9C) Turns out that outside consultant is actually tone-deaf, but is good friends with the Engineering Manager from "WAY BACK". He devises an FEA Model of the bell tones, which gets submitted for management approval, but no one in management understands the analysis, so you loose another 2 days in tech meetings with them explaining how the "yellow" bars don't really apply in this case, and they need to look at the "green" line for the new tonal range.

9D) Consultants bill arrives, Accounting and Management review budget, and determine that contractors must go to make project budget, and consultants anaysis gets thrown out because CEO's daughter doesn't like any of the tones that were considered.

Wes C.
------------------------------
No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

 

[fcsuper]

Honestly, if you are really ISO, there is establish examples of processes prefered by ISO. This stuff is as old as dirt, and all ISO does is get its subscribers to codify it.

Create a flow chart of the current system. If it doesn't look roughly like a straight line of steps (save for "rejects") with very few branches, then the system is prolly overly complex.

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA

http://sw.fcsuper.com/index.php