Category: Flight Deck

Project management is much more than setting a system, tracking tasks on spreadsheets or holding regular meetings. Today it is about providing digital convenience to your employees, setting actionable goals, tracking tasks in real-time and solving problems quickly. Big companies across the globe are investing millions into project management because it helps them streamline daily operations seamlessly.

In this blog, we’ll look into the essentials of project management and how companies of all sizes can use it optimally to achieve operational success.  

What is Project Management?

Project management is the process of planning, executing, and overseeing a project to meet specific objectives within a given timeframe and budget. In easier terms, it is a software or a system that aligns your business goals and operations together to get tasks done on time. It involves coordinating resources, managing risks, and ensuring all stakeholders are aligned with project goals. Whether you’re launching a new product, handling client projects, or managing internal operations, understanding the core principles of project management can help you stay on track, meet deadlines, and achieve desired outcomes.

Principles That Form The Backbone Of Project Management:

Break Down Project Structure & Plan:

Large projects are tricky to manage because they require a lot of time, effort and planning. Hence, it becomes crucial to divide the project into phases and understand the scope of work to effectively assign resources. Dividing the project in an agile manner helps stakeholders manage it better. A well-structured plan includes:

• Defining scope of work
• Capacity planning
• Setting timeline and milestones
• Optimal resource allocation
• Budget estimation
• Forming risk management strategies

Define Objectives & Goals:

Setting SMART goals has become imperative for modern operations. When goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART), they aid better collaboration between teams and ensure timely completion of tasks.

Effective Communication:

Communication sets the foundation of any project. It’s important to set good communication channels in place where departments can collaborate with each other easily. A project management system helps eliminate any gaps in communication with its intuitive dashboards, communication features, centralization of data and chat features, a great tool to use to enhance communication.

Risk Management:

Project managers must continuously assess and evaluate risks at every stage to prevent issues and ensure project success. A plan must be put into place to mitigate any unknown bottlenecks or accidental risks if they arise. This safeguards, the project, stakeholders as well as business.

Assigning Tasks & Managing Resources:

In this process, the managers come together to assign roles and responsibilities to the stakeholders involved, along with planning optimal resource usage for every stage. This is a crucial step in building collaborative efforts to guarantee that every role contributes towards successful project completion.

Time & Task Management:

Project management tools like Inevia’s Flight Deck, Asana, Trello or Microsoft Project have in-built features to organize tasks, track task status in real-time and setting priorities to check that deadlines are met. Such tools help keep progress on track and aid in task and time management.

Leadership & Team Success:

A motivated team with the right leader can make or break a project. It is important to ensure that the leader heading the project has the capabilities and skills to encourage the team, delegate tasks effectively and foster a positive work environment to improve productivity and morale.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Good project management practices make certain that stakeholders, especially external stakeholders, are always kept in loop about changes throughout the project’s lifecycle. This fosters trust and secures smooth project execution.

Continuous Monitoring & Evaluation:

Setting small milestones and regularly keeping a track of them; is the best way to maintain project quality. It’s best to conduct reviews and adjust strategies as needed to keep the project aligned with the goals of the business.

Conclusion:

Project management is an essential part of operations in various industries. A project management system needs to be refined periodically to adapt to changing industry trends. It’s always a great idea to combine project management fundamentals and methodologies with digital project management tools like Inevia’s Flight Deck to stay ahead of competition and ensure operational success. Flight Deck has robust capabilities in handling everyday tasks. It’s features like Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), Capacity Planning, Baseline Tracking and Security control are crafted to help project managers streamline tasks.

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In the digital age, strategic management isn’t just limited to discussion and collaboration. Today it is about creating tangible processes that are universal, adaptable and systematic in nature. For example, in the manufacturing industry, it is extremely important to quantify and measure operational activities because if they aren’t quantified, then the quality of finished goods can get affected. Managers may not be able to see inefficiencies or bottlenecks, tracking deadlines may turn into a nightmare and managing the workforce could become challenging.

Therefore, to tackle issues like this, manufacturing companies rely on tools to simplify processes. These tools help companies stay ahead of demands and keep workflow productive. Two of such tools are:

–          Project Management Methodologies/Strategies/Software

–          Manufacturing Execution Software (MES)

Often a mix of both is used to achieve optimal productivity.

Understanding Manufacturing Execution System & Project Management

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is a digital solution that integrates into a company’s existing ERP system. Its main use is to centralize data, monitor, control and document processes from the factory floor. It is often used by manufacturing industry of all sizes to manage operational activities in the form of a useful dashboard, one that collects data like workflows, orders, quality assurance standards, component tracing etc. and presents it in the form of insights.

Project Management on the other hand are methodologies designed to oversee projects, track progress, allocate resources, and manage deadlines. It is a management system that is used either in the form of software or just strategic agile methodologies. It helps manufacturers streamline planning, ensuring that tasks are updated, well allocated in an agile manner and tracked while meeting deadlines. The aim of project management in manufacturing industry is to achieve production goals efficiently.

How MES & Project Management Complement Each Other

Effective Production Planning & Scheduling:

PMS helps manufacturers assign & schedule tasks, allocate resources and track deadlines. When this management proficiency is integrated with the capabilities of MES, it helps Managers adjust schedules accordingly and plan ahead, preventing blockages and delays.

Fact-Based Decision Making:

MES captures live production data that can be fed in project management systems or used overall to understand operational needs. Managers can leverage this data to make informed and quick decisions based on real-time data. They can adjust work plans and even predict future trends based on current insights, e.g. the amount of output needed 3 months from today based on present numbers.

Enhanced Resource Utilization In Manufacturing Industry:

Effective project management ensures that human and material resources are utilized optimally. MES on the other hand tracks usage and availability. This integration prevents underutilization or overuse of precious resources. With the help of MES one can trace back raw materials, with the help of project management, Managers can find the best ways to allocate those raw materials effectively. A win-win situation for both employees and business.

Seamless Communication & Collaboration:

MES helps centralize factory floor data and turn it into actionable insights. Engineers, Production Managers and Project Leads can use this data with project management to establish best modes of communication and collaboration with the workforce for uninterrupted work.

Cost & Time Management:

MES reduces waste by identifying inefficiencies in the manufacturing process, helping reduce production cost, while project management ensures on-time management and a centralized collaborative environment that connects various departments together. This seamless integration saves both time and cost.

Quality Control & Compliance:

MES helps maintain quality standards by tracking defects and deviations. With strong project management, compliance measures can be planned and executed swiftly, ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

A Valuable Combination For Operations

MES and Project Management together fasten the manufacturing process, ensuring that fast-paced demands are met without compromising quality. Together they bridge the gap between planning and execution, adding value to a firm through a more holistic approach.

At Inevia, we are very conscious of the manufacturing industry’s changing demands. As a firm that provides 360-degree manufacturing solutions, we crafted Traveler MES and Flight Deck Project Management tool for small and medium enterprises that require cost effective operational solutions to keep up with the dynamic needs of their clients.

With Traveler and Flight Deck, you can customize your internal systems with state-of-the-art tech and help your team and business grow exponentially.

Get in touch with us for a quick demo!