Effective Ways of Managing a Project

Project management is a "carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific one-time effort" (Gray,2000). Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes "defining project goals and objectives, identifying tasks or how goals will be achieved" (Gray, 2000). It also identifies what resources are need, and associating budgets and timelines for completion. Project management also includes implementing the project plan, along with "careful controls to stay on the "critical path", to ensure the process is being managed according to plan" (Gray, 2000).

Fisher Scientific has implemented a strategic plan to improve purchasing and supplier visibility. This project plan is called Lines On Tim and Complete, otherwise known as the L.O.T.C project. "On time" shipments refer to whether we get our products when expected, and "complete" is if we are getting the quantities required. The overall goal is for our vendors to reach 100% in the metrics.

The purpose or objective of this process is to reduce variability in the supply chain.

Fishers Towers Utah area from the California Zephy...

Fishers Towers Utah area from the California Zephy...

English: VA IT Project Management Framework

Short-consistent lead times take variability out of the lead time safety stock thereby reducing safety stock inventory. This will help reduce Fisher's inventory, which means reductions in dollars spent and affects the bottom line. Over time, lead times begin to shorten and inventory dollars decrease.

There are specific data inputs that are required to calculate the process. The purchase order numbers are documented from our mainframe and the data warehouse pulls the vendor shipment information. After several conference calls with vendor customer service, production managers, shipping managers, and information systems support, each individual buyer is than able to discuss the nature of the products and agree upon a common once a week ship date, a suitable lead-time. This gives the purchasing department an opportunity to work closely with the transportation group to pinpoint exactly how many transit...