Mack

  • Services
    • Design & Development
    • Prototyping
    • Plastic Injection Molding
    • Finishing
    • Sheet Metal
    • Machining
    • Contract Manufacturing
  • Markets
    • Medical
    • Industrial
    • Transportation
    • Energy/Environment
    • Computer & Business
    • Consumer
  • Northern Division
    • ISO Certificates
    • Arlington, VT
    • East Arlington, VT
    • Cavendish, VT
    • Gardner, MA
    • Woodbridge, CT
  • Southern Division
    • ISO Certificates
    • Inman, SC
    • Statesville, NC
  • News
    • Press Coverage
    • Press Releases
    • Newsletters
    • Bylined Articles
    • Mack Blog
    • Mack Videos
  • Careers
    • Job Opportunities
    • Workplace
    • Locations
  • Company
    • Overview
    • Locations
    • Sustainability
    • Community
  • Contact

Project Management – A Structured Approach to Common Sense

January 19, 2004 by Earthlogic Admin Leave a Comment

The design is approved. Release-to-manufacturing is the next step. But you’re wary – how can you be confident that manufacturing can really launch your product on time and within budget?

“You’re safest with the company that can show you its standard methodology for taking a project from the pre-sales stage to proposal, quotes, contract, design review, prototyping, sampling, tooling and production,” advises Kanan Alhassani, president, Integrated Management Associates, and project management instructor for Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, Mass.

“Project management requires discipline and a structured approach to common sense,” emphasizes Alhassani, who recently taught a two-day Project Management course at Mack Molding for 22 project team members from the sales, engineering, purchasing, quality and manufacturing departments. “While Mack Molding has worked side-by-side with customers for over 85 years to introduce new products to market, they realize new product introduction skills continually need to be honed, the edges sharpened. This is especially true in a business environment where staying within increasingly tighter budgets and doing more with less is the deafening mantra.”

Over the course of 16 hours, Mack team members used best practices, examples and real-world projects to tighten its project management template from initiation to closeout. Building a generic lifecycle that is consistent and repeatable…scoping out a project…gathering customer requirements…assessing risk…generating communications plans with various stakeholders…managing to a critical path in a time-to-market environment where end dates are of the essence…using resources efficiently…tracking, analyzing and managing change. “All of these aspects are fundamental to effective project management,” emphasizes Alhassani.

Customer Deliverables
Mack’s overriding goal is to better align its product launch capabilities with its customers’ requirements, according to Jeff Somple, president of Mack Molding’s northern operations. “Partnering with the customer at the outset to accurately pinpoint the necessary requirements to launch the project right the first time has a domino effect with bottom line impact. The resulting deliverables to the customer include a more efficient requirement gathering stage, fewer engineering changes, improved product quality, heads-up planning that minimizes risk, and ultimately, improved time-to-market and cost of launch.”

To learn more about WPI’s Fundamentals of Project Management course, contact Sharon Deffely, director, WPI Continuing Education, sdeffely@wpi.edu. To learn more about Mack Molding’s approach to project management, contact Jeff Somple, jts@mack.com.

Filed Under: Newsletter Articles

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

NEWS

Mack Blog | Press Releases | Press Coverage | Articles | Videos | Newsletters

VIDEOS



Mack South Spotlights Mega-molding, Class A Painting, Automation

Tags

Arlington Careers Cavendish CNC Connecticut contract manufacturing design & development education employee engagement Employee Wellness Headquarters Hiring Holidays Jobs machining Mack MackMedical Mack Molding Mack Prototype Manufacturing Massachusetts MD&M East MD&M West medical manufacturing New England New Hires North Carolina paid internships plastics injection molding Plastics in Medical Devices Plastics Technology Press Release product design & development Promotion sheet metal fabrication South Carolina Students summer internships supply chain management Synectic Trade Shows Vermont vertical integration of services Video workforce development

ENGAGE

With its roots in custom injection molding, Mack today is a leading supplier of contract manufacturing services and injection molded plastic parts to companies in a range of industries.

There are several entities under the Mack umbrella that have been organized around the company's extensive vertical integration of services, including:

  • · Mack Molding
  • · Mack Technologies
  • · Mack Prototype
  • · MackMedical
  • · Synectic Engineering Services

INFORM

  • Design/Development
  • Prototyping
  • Plastic Injection Molding
  • Finishing
  • Sheet Metal
  • Machining
  • Contract Mfg
  • Medical
  • Industrial
  • Transportation
  • Energy/Environment
  • Computer & Business
  • Consumer
  • Northern Division
  • Southern Division
  • Company Overview
  • Press Releases
  • Newsletters
  • Mack Blog
  • Mack Videos
  • ISO Certifications
  • FTP North
  • FTP South
  • Home
  • Contact

CONNECT

   

Copyright © 2021 Mack.
Legal Notice | Privacy Policy
  • Design/Development
  • Prototyping
  • Plastic Injection Molding
  • Finishing
  • Sheet Metal
  • Machining
  • Contract Mfg
  • Medical
  • Industrial
  • Transportation
  • Energy/Environment
  • Computer & Business
  • Consumer