Critical Chain Project Management for Engineering/Design Services
Is your shop an engineer to order shop or do you provide engineering or design services?
If so, Project Velocity System is similar to Velocity Scheduling System but for your engineering/design services. To see if your shop is a good fit, please sign up for a free strategy session.
The Project Velocity System
The Program
The Project Velocity System Coaching Program includes instruction on what to do and in what order to implement the changes that will reduce chaos, reduce lead-times and improve due date performance. The instruction covers:
- how to reduce bad multi-tasking, what to look for as you do it, what the watch outs are, and the instructions to give your supervisors and the operators as we start
- how to build your visual system — the Velocity Board; examples with pictures are provided, as well as, specific scenarios to help you to customize for your specific environment
- how the Board works (easy is key) and how to create your Time Traveler for the Board; examples of Time Travelers and Board SOPs are provided
- how to build the visual part of your planning system — the To Be Released Board; examples with pictures are provided, as well as, specific scenarios to help you to customize for your specific environment
- the mechanism and rules for moving projects from the To Be Released Board to the Velocity Board with specific scenarios to help you to customize for your environment and to get the best release mechanism for your situation
- how to communicate with the entire company (what to do) and a script to help you to execute (what to say)
- what to measure and how to communicate these key metrics
- how to determine and manage the priority of projects for the To Be Released Board
- what feedback to collect and how to manage your on-going improvement
- AND, in addition to this training, you get coaching to ensure you know how to apply this to YOUR situation
The Project Velocity System was built based on our experience of working with engineer to order / design to order job shops and learning what it really takes to substantially improve due date performance, reduce lead-times, and reduce chaos in highly variable environments. We have learned:
- the order to implement is very important. What to do first, then second and so on
- that the first steps we take need to provide BIG results to get the buy-in and support to continue
- that the scheduling and priority of projects needs to be visual
- and that a visual system created faster buy-in and help the changes to stick
- that the visual system facilitates everyone’s involvement and the desperately needed communication throughout the company
- why full blow Critical Chain Project Management is overkill for many companies causing the cure (Critical Chain) to be worse than the disease
- how to create an effective system that does not require massive computing and manpower to run (a cure that is easy and worth doing)
- how to accommodate a complex environment where the constraint moves frequently
- how to implement the Theory of Constraints process of on-going improvement so that we continuously improve
- and, how to coach managers and supervisors to get it done
And that’s exactly what the Project Velocity System does!