Project Assignment Guidelines

Overview

The project for this course is the creation of an analysis of product introduction. The product represents an authentic demonstration of competency because it will focus on how to account for a new product launch, how to mitigate risk, and how to manage employees and customers in regard to the new product launch. The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Five, and Seven. The product will be submitted in Module Nine.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Recommend strategies that incorporate lean manufacturing principles and mitigate process constraints for fulfilling required cycle and takt time limits

• Assess the labor and materials needs required to optimize production increase or new product introductions

• Develop strategies that mitigate risk associated with production increase or new product introduction and best secure production goals

• Develop strategies to manage cross-functional teams required to introduce new products or increase production volume

• Utilize a total quality management (TQM) approach for fulfilling customer expectations regarding existing products or introducing new products

Prompt

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Overview: Provide a concise overview of the company you have selected. Frame your analysis by including pertinent information about the company's new product launch.

II. Production Needs: In this part of the project, you will analyze your selected company's facility layout and propose how to best address production of the new product.

A. Estimate the process cycle time for the new product introduction and compare against estimated takt time.

B. Determine process bottlenecks that may adversely affect cycle time of the new product introduction.

C. Explain how principles of lean management could be applied to the introduction of the new product to account for adverse effects on cycle time.

D. Recommend an appropriate strategy aligned with principles of lean management that the company could implement to improve cycle time of the new product introduction.

E. Assess the labor, equipment, and material needs of the company that would be required to support the new product introduction.

F. Propose a labor, equipment, and materials plan to support the new product introduction that could be implemented by the company.

G. Explain how your proposed labor, equipment, and materials plan will support the new product introduction.

III. Risk and Financial Impact: In this part of the project, you will analyze your selected company and offer guidance as to how to address potential risk factors associated with the introduction of its new product and what the overall financial impact of the new product will be on the company.

A. Identify potential risks to the company associated with the new product introduction.

B. Develop a risk mitigation plan to address the previously identified risks associated with the introduction of the new product.

C. Explain how your proposed risk mitigation plan will account for and address the previously identified risks.

IV. Management Strategies: In this part of the project, you will analyze your selected company and offer guidance as to how to form and appropriately manage the launch of a new product as well as the team that will be involved with the launch of the new product.

A. Describe the key aspects and characteristics of the team that you would build to support introduction of the new product.

B. Select the stakeholder from the company that you would include on a cross-functional team to support the introduction of the new product.

C. Explain how your proposed team is cross-functional and how that assists them in supporting the introduction of the new product.

D. Develop a strategy you would use to manage the cross-functional team tasked with supporting the introduction of the new product.

E. Explain how you could apply principles of total quality management (TQM) in managing the product introduction.

F. Describe how you could utilize the total quality management (TQM) approach for fulfilling customer expectations associated with the new product.

G. Explain how each department in the company would approach assessing customer expectations of the product.

Milestones

Milestone One: Overview

In Module Three, you will identify an organization and include the reasoning for your selection.

Milestone Two: Production Needs

In Module Five, you will explore more details about facility layout needs and any special considerations that may be required.

Milestone Three: Risk and Financial Impact and Draft of Management Strategies

In Module Seven, you will further expand on plant considerations and how they apply to safety.

Submission: Analysis of Product Introduction

In Module Nine, you will submit your project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course.