Gadget Toy

Joe Huffman, the project manager at Gadget Toy Company, has just submitted a proposal for a new children's toy to the new product review committee. He is now waiting an approval from the committee at the end of the week. According to feedback he is going to begin to project.

Joe Huffman is aware of the huge market demand for the cartoon character because of this he has proposed so quick implementation. Joe has an experience of project management, so he has determined the exact beginning point of this project as immediate and the delivery date of September 15th.

Huffman has determined the activities that are necessary for this project but some of the activities have to be performed consecutively. He has also worked on the estimated time to complete the activities that were advertising plan, delivery schedule, building tools. However, these activities have required lengthy time to complete.

Although he estimated twelve weeks for the advertisement in the activity list, after talking to marketing manager, Joe learned that he could reduce the advertising time but not more than six weeks. If he reduces product advertising, it is estimated that there is going to be five percent lost in sales weekly.

He also talked to the production manager and learned that it is possible to reduce two weeks the estimated time to build tools for a cost of $5,000 by working through weekend. So it is possible to cut delivery time by two weeks if Joe accepts the extra cost.

In the first critical path, total process takes 20 hours according to estimated times in activity table. However, Joe wants to finish this project in 19 weeks to deliver on time. Joe has to prevent project delay and shorten the estimated time. Finalizing engineering, delivering new equipment and establishing advertising plan can start at the same time. Finalizing packaging and advertising also can start after establishment of advertising plan. Additionally, de-bug process and raw material delivery are parallel activities. Joe may accelerate the process by starting these activities at the same time. Or he can also shorten the project time by increasing the budget.

In the second critical path, total process takes 18 hours by reducing the activity of building tools and dies by 2 weeks with $5,000 extra cost. However, there is no need to reduce advertisement time because it does not affect the total process time. So there is not going to be loss in sales. By reducing the building tools and dies time just 1-week project can be completed in 19 weeks with half of extra cost.