Dmembers of the design and construction team

Is the first person involved in the planning stage of a building industry. He should be an artist, a technician and moreover a businessman. He has to satisfy the client, engineer, contractor and ultimately user. The architect after having obtained the instruction from the owner, design the function layout and provision of functional accommodation. He has to make structure beautiful and functional. He should give aesthetic effect to the structure. He is supposed to have knowledge of building bye- laws and regulations.

During construction, he supervises the work as an agent to the owner, negotiates with client, Prepares drawings and specifications, Obtains planning permission, Prepares legal documents, Chooses building materials, Plans the construction process, Advises on the selection of, and will liaise with the construction am, and Inspects work. Selection of the architect for a development is obviously a critical step. Attention systems, the choice will be based on a combination of considerations, including competence and reputation, compatibility of values and goals between developer and architect, and ability of the two to communicate effectively.

Since there is, in principle, inherent tension between the design function (I. E aesthetically oriented) and the developer (I. E cost and time oriented) communication of views and priorities are vital for a successful outcome. THE LAND PLANNER For land developments the developer (client) gives key design role to a land planner. In large projects involving multiple structures, extensive ground parking areas and drainage and water retention systems, the developer will rely on a land planner to solve the complex land planning puzzle.

The developer work closely with the land planner to evolve the basic site plan within which any structures must fit. He uses input from specialist like the hydrologist, architect, marketing consultant, engineers, soil engineer, and others. The major concern of the land planner includes aesthetics, optimal use, and preservation of the site, traffic flows, utility systems, and drainage system. He also carries out an environmental impact assessment of the project and environment then it will be discarded.

The expertise of several types’ engineers must be coordinated by the architect in bringing together the final structure design. These engineers commonly work as subordinator to the architect, but their qualification need to be reviewed by the developer. The Soil Engineer: He determines the sufficient specifications to achieve safety and stability, for the structure foundation. He also test the soil for stability, strength, stress, strain and specify the kind of foundation that will be suitable for the building/ structure (pile, raft, pad, etc. ).

The Structural Engineer; Calculate the loading and moments for a structure, Design the form for a structure, determine the most appropriate materials. Determine the requisite structural skeleton to maintain the building/ structure’s integrity. He also considers the numbers of beam, column that will withstand the tensional load, and give specification of the types of materials that will sustain the building life p. The Mechanical Engineer; provide pacifications and design for the heating, Ventilation, and air conditioning system and other building systems.

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Fermentaion

Dilution is achieved by controlling the flow of process water from the dilution tank TUB 1201 into the mixer GAL. 1230. Process water flow rate is controlled to achieve the desired density of the mixed solution. The now diluted C-molasses solution flows into the vapor condensate EAI 1204, where it is preheated by the condensing hot water vapor from the flash tank TUB 1203. The solution is preheated to about 75 to ICC. The preheated solution flows into the hydrothermal GAL. 1231 where the temperature s increased to between 85 to ICC, using the 7 – lobar saturated steam as a heating medium.

The then heated solution enters the cyclone IF 210. The cyclone is responsible for removing solid purities that may be present in the concentrated C- molasses. The discharge valve on the cyclone will open periodically to dislodge the cyclone. The diluted, heated and now ‘cleaned’ C-molasses then flows into the intermediate/ Buffer Tank TUB 1202. The tank is equipped with a level indicator control that controls the flow out of this tank maintaining a desired level set point. The stream is then pumped out into the second hydro heater GLOBAL where the temperature is increased to between 121 to ICC, using the 7 – lobar saturated steam.

The hydro heater GAL. 1232 is equipped with highly delicate temperature indicator controller; this temperature control is a Critical Control Point. When the temperature drops below ICC, the sterilizer will go into recirculation and will stop feeding forward to the sterile tanks. This is designed to prevent Coli and C. Botulism to enter the sterile tanks. These are harmful micro-organisms that are not suitable to fermentation and human consumption. The heated solution then flows through the retention coils and into flash tank TUB 1203. The flow through the retention coils is controlled at a backslappers of kappa.

The coils are interchangeable since there are two coils, one online and the other on standby. The flash tank is kept under vacuum – 35 to -kappa by using the vacuum system. The flash tank TUB 1203 is protected from over-pressuring by pressure relief valve installed into the vacuum system. The vapor leaving the flash tank is condensed by incoming diluted C-molasses in EAI 1240 and forming condensate that flows to the inch separator vessel. This separator easel separates liquid from vapor and also forms a barometric seal into the seal pot. L.

DEVELOP DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR THE EFFICIENT OPERATION OF THE PLANT/ SECTION OF PLANT UNDER CONSIDERATION. The diagnostic tool for the efficient operation is a system developed for better and safe way of operating a system. These processes include daily maintenance to ensure that a system is performing at its best. There a programs that is designed for each operation of the plant to maintain stability and safety operation through monitoring. There are alarms installed in the plant to alarm operators of deviation from normal operation of the plant.

Deviations can be of process out of specification and danger alarms of hazards in the plant. At Anchor Yeast Durban the company has a dedicated and well developed system of monitoring deviation throughout the plant operation for the efficient operation. There are DOCS and software such as Aurora. Aurora is used for daily operation maintenance and keeping records of the plant operation. Without these systems the plant will be a danger to employees and the surrounding environment. These tools assist in managing and implementing efficient ways of operation of the plant.

With the tools it is possible to determine and strategies the optimal peak operation for the plant in the next hour of operation and for the 24 hour of operation. They provide demand response strategy for emergency situations, such as extreme unwanted condition of the plant operation. With these the company always adheres to maintains high standard of delivery to its customers, through meeting schedule timing for the production and safety and cost efficient way of saving energy. Fault Tree Analysis is a broadly used deductive method for the efficient operation of the plant in designs and daily operations to minimize cost

F. HAZARD AND OPERABILITY STUDY (HAZARD) OF THE PROCESS OR PART OF THE PROCESS UNDER CONSIDERATION. Hazard and Operability study is the method in which a multi – discipline team performs a systematic study of a process to identify hazard and problems which prevents efficient operation. The technique is applied to new plant development and existing Operations for better and safe Operation. The method is also applied to continuous and batch process. The study provides opportunities to engineers to let their imaginations go free and think of all possible ways in which a hazard or operating problems might arise.

Engineers have to ask themselves the following questions when performing HAZED study: What can go wrong? This is the first and most important stage in any hazard study, is to identify the most important things that can go wrong and produce accidents or operating problems. What will be the consequences? Engineers need to know the consequences to employees, members of the public (community), plant and profits, now and in the long term. How can it be prevented? – Safeguard Engineers need to administer controls that will prevent accidents from occurring, or make them less probable and protect people from the consequences.

What should be done? – Solution At this stage engineers weigh their options to resolving the accidents, by comparing the risk (that is, the probability times the consequences) with generally accepted codes and standards or with other risk around them. Is it worth the cost? Engineers should compare the cost of prevention with the cost of the accident to see if the remedy (solution) is reasonably practical or they should look for a cheaper but efficient solution. Prevention At this point engineers have come up with a solution but before commencing to put the solution in motion they should assess their solution, I. Perhaps their method of prevention has disadvantages and better methods of prevention should be suggested. Figure 1: Hazed Procedure [Figure 2. 1, Peg. 9: Hazed and Hazard Identifying and Assessing Process Industry Hazards, Tremor Klutz 3rd Edition] P. PROBLEM SOLUTION TO A CUSTOMER REQUEST (TECHNICAL REPORT) Unhappy customers are bad news for the company and the business. It takes one unhappy customer to steer away prospective customers away from the company. Unhappy customers have their reasons. Some customers have unrealistic expectations and some they Just don’t feel well with the business.

We must be hones some customers complaint are legitimate and realistic and we as the suppliers we must attend to their complainants with honesty and integrity to build on good customer relationship. Whatever the cause, unhappy customers are our hope for future business and we want them happy again for the business. Customer may not always be right but he or she will always be the customer we want and need. So we need to take care of our customer and take control of their complaints and them to our own advantage. There are seven (7) steps in resolving customer complaint which eave proven to work well. . Listen Intently: Listen to customer and do not interrupt while telling you a complaint. They need to tell their story and feel that they have been heard. 2. Thank Them: Thank the customer for bring the problem to your attention. You cannot resolve a problem that you do not have full details about or solve it on assumptions. 3. Apologies: Sincerely convey to your customer and apology. This is not the time to make Justification and making excuses. You apologies, that’s it. 4. Seek the Best Solution: Determine what the customer is seeking as a solution, Ask the customer. Reach Agreement: Seek to agree to the solution that will resolve the problem to their satisfaction. 6. Take Quick Action: Act on the problem with a sense of urgency. Customer will respond positively to your focus on helping them immediately. 7. Follow Up: Follow up to make sure that the customer is completely satisfied. TYPICAL CUSTOMER REQUEST AND SOLUTION At anchor yeast we have customers all over the country and across the border. Customer happiness is very valuable to the company and any complaint is attended with urgency and caution.

As one of largest yeast making company in South African, e are always under pressure to deliver on time and meet our customer wants and needs, and still performing to our utmost in producing high quality yeast. There are trucks coming in the plant to collect cream yeast and deliver to customers. One of the company that we always work with very closely is Anchor Yeast Johannesburg were most of the cream yeast produced at Anchor Yeast Durban is transported to, for further applications. There are Unitarians coming on daily basis to collect the product.

Delays are very stressing the relationship between the two companies. The Unitarians ruckus come from Johannesburg Debug) with molasses to Durban Anchor Yeast. The molasses is a raw material that is used to make yeast. When the trucks come on site they first have to go to the company’s weighbridge before being offloaded. After being weighed the truck is offloaded either Tank offloading point or at the HTML offloading point. Offloading of the truck takes three (3) hours maximum then truck goes back to be weighed. After the truck has been weighed, it goes to the CHIP (Clean In Place) point to be Caped.

Coping is a process where the truck is being clean using chlorinated water and Caustic. This process takes one hour (1 her). After the CHIP the truck is ready to be loaded with cream yeast. The loading process takes one hour (1 her). Then after that the truck is ready to go back to Judder with the product. Customer Complaint: Unitarians tankers are taking to long at Anchor Yeast Durban to turn around back to Anchor Judder. Possible causes of delays: At Anchor Yeast Durban there are three companies that come on site to deliver molasses.

The Subs Hertz Borders Trucks (GHB) and Gridiron Terminal Trucks and local delivery trucks that that transports cream yeast to Durban based customers ND other customers across the country. When the Unitarians trucks from Judder comes onsite to deliver molasses there are always trucks waiting, loading or offloading molasses. There are only two offloading points at the company. Unitarians have to wait for other trucks which came before to finish offloading and loading. The trucks can sometimes wait for over three hours depending on the number of trucks offloading. Sometimes production of cream yeast is very slow.

That means every time the trucks arrives onsite to collect cream yeast, they wait because not enough cream yeast has been produced. The company having to aware of the complaint from the Anchor Yeast Johannesburg, the company came with solutions to the complaint. There was a spreadsheet that was made to record the times the Unitarians come onsite and time finished to offload the truck. The spreadsheet included also the time it took to load a truck. With regard to running low on cream yeast there was a production time table set for everyday that how much needs to be produced and how much will be transported to Judder on daily basis.

The number of other truck companies bring molasses was reduced to avoid Unitarians trucks to wait for other trucks to finish. It was also suggested that Unitarians trucks given first priority when comes to offloading. This meant when Unitarians is onsite and there is a truck waiting to be offloaded, the Unitarians truck will offload before the truck to avoid delays. The plant efficiency was increased and more of product was produced and made available for the Unitarians to transport. The implement solution has been running fro couple months now and been evaluated. The solution has been found to be working well and keeping the customer happy.

Thought at the beginning the other companies were not happy with Unitarians having o bypass their trucks, but after some negotiations the other companies have come to accept the terms.

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KM Phase Project Report

Electronics (GAPE) to analyze their processes and to come up with a KM improvement plan to shorten their product development lead-time. We took a closer look at the key activities in the product development process and identified critical activities that had most impact on the development lead- time which is the focus for our study. We also got to learn development that did not go as planned as well as getting to know what is working well in product development.

Completing the KM assessment has allowed us to draw the following results: GAPE should focus on Exchange, Combination and Colonization (for both Knowledge Sharing and Discovery). Attention should be given to Routine, Direction, Sterilization and Initialization. The majority of knowledge were captured through formal procedural processes and stored in the Exchange database. But it is not easy for engineers to find them. Knowledge locator may help to solve this problem.

The current KM Infrastructure does not support colonization well enough and does not really exhibit knowledge sharing between development teams. This could improve by setting up community Of practices. The key to success is in getting the product design requirements right the first mime, perform thorough evaluations on all project risks and get the design right the first time. This goes with the reuse of knowledge (I. E. Past product development experiences, standard proven design, lessons learned from the past so that mistakes will not get repeated and the use of best practices).

This calls for all internal as well as external brains together to approve design before proceeding to the next stage of development. [2] Company Background Information Gold Peak Industries GAP (Holdings) Limited -the parent company of GAPE- was established in 1964 and it has been in the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 984. It is well known by the public for its battery products under the GAP Batteries brand. GAPE is in the design and manufacturing industry specialized in both consumer and professional audio products. Reduces developed range from personal audio system & HI Speakers to professional amplifiers & speakers use in cinemas, stadiums and concerts. Engineers take ideas from product concepts through to mass production, then leave the design in safe hands to their manufacturing colleagues in their Hough production plant. The Center of Engineering Department is located in downtown Sheehan and as over 135 Engineering staff. Located in the same site, there are over 65 staff from various associated activities to support the Engineering needs.

The Engineering Department is organized into 3 main branches: Product Development Operation (65 persons) Technology (35 persons) Engineering Support Services (35 persons) Also the Acoustic Team at Hough factory has 44 persons And at Hong Kong office the RFC Team with 7 engineers. The Department Business Strategy is strong product development with dedicated functional teams – Electronics Teams, Mechanical Teams, Software Teams, DSL Teams, RFC Teams, Quality Assurance Teams, Safety & Environmental Team, Test & Measurement Team, etc.

For further information, please visit our client’s websites: Gold Peak Group www. Galloped. Com Electronic Division: www. Gap-industries. Com [3] Assessment Scope and Objective Assessment Scope : Product Development Product Development is the primary task in the Engineering Department. Therefore, putting forward Product Development as our assessment scope came with no surprise. Assessment Objective : Shorten Product Development Lead-Time There are wow key strategic performances in product development, namely Quality and Time-to-Market.

In order not to make our assessment too broad for this Knowledge Management project, we have chosen the latter as our assessment objective which is also the most important out of the TV’0 for GAPE. By improving Time-to-Market, in product development perspective, we are referring to shortening product development lead-time. The following are advantages from a shorten product development lead-time: Stay competitive in the increasing competition in the worldwide market Avoid back-orders and preventing lost sales. It may also lead to more orders and more sales if development is ahead of schedule. 4] Organization Chart Figure 1: Organization Chart In reference to Figure 1, we have the Department’s organization chart. Sitting at the top of the chart, we have the Engineering Director and then branching down to sections Of functional teams. Starting from the left, we have the Product Development Section composed of a team of project managers and 4 Development Teams. Development teams are primarily consisted of Electronics engineers where they are responsible for electronics design and development as well as leading the verbal activities in Product Development.

Next, we have the Mechanical Section consisting of Mechanical engineers. Mechanical Product development team support mechanical related design and development of Product Development. Advance Mechanical section specialized in new design techniques and choice of materials, simulation and other tools that may help development. The Engineering Service Section provides support and services to other sections. It consists of the Safety, Environmental and Material Teams, The Artwork and workshop. Document Control takes care of all documents in & out of Engineering.

The Technology Section consisting of Advance Engineering, Software Team, RFC Team and the DSL Team all working towards the same goal to maintain a competitive edge to compete with the others. These are the lucky group in the department whom will get to learn, design and develop first of the kind in both technologies and products (I . E. Technologies and products that are new to GAPE). Finally we have the Acoustic Team. This Team is responsible for design and development of drivers and speakers. 5] Product Development Process projects are initiated with feasibility and justification with the introduction Of product design specification. In reference to the Product Design Specification Engineer, the engineers will review all past design in the Exchange system with similar specification and review all lessons learned from similar field. The engineers will then work on the initial draft design considering technical risk assessment, BOOM cost, tooling cost, development lead-time and Engineering hours and other investment that go with the project.

Reuse existing design and components where appropriate. Tacit Sharing on design and progress are held on a weekly basis. Only the final sign proposal will be uploaded to their Exchange system when all criteria are met and ready for management approval. Formal procedures (routines) and document format are in place for uploading design document to the Exchange system at the end of each development stage. Design are checked according to design rules and approved by managers before the upload is approved. Please refer to the following figure for the Product Development Process Flow.

Figure 2: Product Development Process The Product Development Process consists of 4 stages – Feasibility, Design & Realization, Industrialization and Mass Production. The items in the middle are key activities that we have identified in the product development process. At the bottom are the outcomes from each of these stages. Below is an explanation Of the activities in each Of the 4 Stages. Feasibility Stage The project typically starts with a set of requirements listing out the required features, the industrial design and the target cost.

The engineers will need to process this information, consider their Use Cases and their User Interface. They will then find out if there are any past projects and designs that can be used to meet some of these requirements. Reusing proven designs will minimize the development lead-time and impose minimal risk to the development. The engineers will then put together a proposal for customer to sign off the project. Often a time the proposal will get adjusted to better match with the end user’s needs, cost target of the customer and time to market.

Any new technology, new component needed and any performance specification required beyond those achieved in the past by the department had to be found, evaluated and learned. All risks will need to be assessed before committing to the project. These are conducted in the Technology Scouting & Evaluation activity. Once all risks are assessed and requirements are met per customer wish, Engineer can proceed with the Project planning activity to draw up the development schedule and plan all resources (both man power and equipment) for the development. The concept release will be granted after successfully completing all feasibility activities.

Design and Realization This involves all knowledge from past projects, lessons learned and best practices together to come up with the solution. Design involves electronic circuits, software and mechanical design. Once the design is drawn, the engineers will conduct simulations to predict if the design conformed to performance requirement. Once the design passed simulation test, Engineer will design the circuit on PC. This is the PC Layout Design activity. They will also design a test plan to qualify the design at board level as well as at system level.

The realization is a collection of activities in getting physical samples, build and design tested. These activities are the Prototype Sample Build, the Engineering Sample Build and the Tool Making. Only a few samples (typically 3 sets) will be built during the Prototype stage. The Engineering Sample Build mom after the Prototype Build involving a larger quantity (typically 1 5 sets) and it will have all design improvements in place from the prototype design. Engineer will initiate Tool Making once the mechanical design is mature enough and off-tool parts will be used on the Pilot Build.

The design release is granted only when enough confidence is gained from the design during the Design and Realization stage. The engineers may proceed to the next stage of development after granting Design Release. Industrialization This stage consists of 2 key activities: the Pilot Build and the Pre-production Build. Both builds are conducted on the production floor with production flow, processes and test fixtures specifically designed for the product. The design for Manufacturing issues and Standard Operating Procedure gets verified and optimized on the Pre-production Build prior to Mass Production.

The build quantity is considerably larger than previous builds. These processes are also very valuable in verifying design tolerances and production process variations. Mass production At this stage, all design and production processes would have been fully verified and qualified for production in huge quantities. Product Development Process Flow will come to an end after executing the first production lot. The engineers will then leave the design, repair and product know to their Manufacturing Engineers whom will have full responsibility of the product from there onward. 6] Learning from Past Product Developments Let’s take a closer look on past product development and see if we find opportunities to shorten the development lead-time if we had been given another chance to do it again. We have reviewed 10 products developed in the past 12 months. We have observed there was no hold up on schedule urine the Industrialization Stage and the Mass Production Stage. The following activities typically are more procedural and time controlled and they did not show sign to have impact on the lead-time: Project Planning, Simulations, PC Layout, Test Plan, Prototype Build, Engineering Sample Build and Tool Making.

We found issues that lead to a longer lead-time fall into the following categories: Technology Scouting and Evaluation Example: Risks are not thoroughly understood before committing to development. One of the projects had its USB Audio with intermittent audio while operating from Windows XP. This intermittent problem was unknown until the team got to the evaluation stage on the first prototype sample. The problem resides in the software driver design where the solution provider could not solve in a short time and the team has no access to the driver codes to solve it.

The team had to find an alternative USB Audio solution to continue the development. This had resulted in a time loss of 2 months. Circuit, Software & Mechanical Design a) Example 1: Design from scratch where they could have reused an existing proven solution. We have identified one Of the project where the engineers ad designed an all new amplifier from scratch where they could have simply reuse design from a past project. This new amplifier had no performance, cost, weight or size advantage over the existing design.

The reason for designing the new amplifier was because the team of engineers was not aware that there was an equivalent amplifier design which they could have just copied. This has resulted in a time loss of 1 month and also in a waste of engineering effort. B) Example 2: Repeating problems that had been encountered and solved by another team in past developments. [7] Critical Activities Figure 3: Critical Activities in the Product Development Process After understanding what went on with past product developments, we have concluded that some Of the activities are less critical to our assessment objective.

In reference to Figure 3, these non-critical activities are highlighted in grey colored text. Activities remained in black color text are areas we have targeted to focus our study to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in order to shorten the overall development lead-time. [8) KM Assessment [8. 1] Desire KM processes We have mapped out contingency factors to each of the 2 critical sub- recesses to determine their desired KM processes.

These contingency factors come from informal interviews conducted with various experienced Engineers working on product development in the department. These factors reflected how they overall judge each of these activities based on their participation in current and past product developments. Figure 4: Chart to determine desire KM Processes Major Processes Us b-processes Task Characteristics Knowledge Characteristics Organizational Characteristics Environmental Uncertainty Desired KM Process(SE) Uncertainty Interdependent

TIE DIP Size Strategy Feasibility Technology scouting & Evaluation Medium High D Combination Colonization for knowledge Discovery Design Circuit , Software , Mechanical Low Exchange Colonization for knowledge sharing Projects handle by the department vary considerably in complexity ranging from a simple audio docking system to a complex Audio Visual Receiver involving complex DSL processing. By averaging out these extremes, we have decided to weight Task Uncertainty as “Medium” for both sub-processes. This weighting is more representative of the real situations.

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Why i want to be an engineer

Why ? What are the characteristics of succesfull engineer? Through my high school life, I have watching my father was working as a contractor for his part time job other than his permanent job. I am so fascinated by his job and get intrigued by all civil engineering channels on television. As I am on my expedition to define myself, I also acknowledge the value of life and aspire to value everything that dwells within It. My drive as civil engineers triggers when my closest cousins succeded her career as civil engineer and working at JKR.

I have become more confidents to select this path as my career. There are many reasons for why I want to participate in becoming an engineer. My greatest anxiety for people Is their need for safety and comfort. Growing up In a safe neighborhood, I understand the importance of safety. Other than that, it’s a job that pays a practically high income due to the level of skills and expertise required, and the ongoing responsibilities to ensure safe, accurate, and enduring engineering outcomes.

On the other hand, Clvll engineers can work in a diversity of work environments, including in the public sector, as contractors, consultants, or even as part of a firm hat undertakes work outsourced from municipalities and government. That Is why im still contented with my choices in this field as I still can decide which path do I want to take part with. Throughout my Internship when I studied at polytechnic, I have been working in a consultant firm. I have felt that it suits me better than working as contractor.

But, I never get Involved yet working in a construction firm. On my Journey to become a succesfull engineer, there are many features that need to be fullfil. I think to become a successful engineer; you need to acquire the alue of teamwork, cooperation, ceativity and management skills. Then, having a big picture as mentality, creatMty, the ability to function as a member of a team, the ability to and to handle high levels of responsibility.

The important thing is to acquire the needed certificates to Justify our career and get qualify to be a Professional Engineer. Other than that, we need to be result oriented, have good leadership qualities, good communication skills and commitment towards work. My role model in this field is my former boss when I was working during my internship. He has become my iconic engineer that really inspires me because he was striking his way since young to have his own his consultant firm.

Astonishingly, he has his own consultant firm that he built with his own to serves people. Other a very respected person, he never slighted his employee’s opinions. I am also fantasizing of having my own consultant’s firm. I am totally obligated to becoming a successful engineer and will work boundlessly in order to achieve my goals. Im keenly to finish my degree and developed as a qualified civil engineers and getting my dreams become reality.

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Orion Systems Jaguar

What recommendations would you make to Rosas about organizing the Jaguar project, and why? Ans: Looking at the major assessment of problem of how ORION projects are manage, it will be plausible for Rosas to shift from the matrix structure and engage in a dedicated project teams structure. The reason been that is, dedicated project teams has a simple form of approach to a particular project where the functional organisation remain intact with the project team operating independently.

It is also fast, meaning projects tend to get done more quickly rather than the matrix structure where you can be assigning multiple roles. It is very cohesive and this result in a high level of motivation which allows participants to share a common goal and take responsibility toward the project whiles the matrix structure there will be lack of strong project ownership.

There is also cross-functional integration which allows specialists from different areas work closely together and, with proper guidance become more committed to optimizing the project but not their respective areas of skill and this becomes the solution for the scope creep ORION has been encountering in terms of delays and design modifications that were inconsistent with customer requirements which was cause by the tendency for design engineers to get to absorb with the science of the project that they lost focus on practical considerations.

ORION major problems of how project are manage; Higher than expected cost, Quality concerns, Problem with customer support, lack of strong project ownership and Scope creep 2) How would you change the organisational chart and master plan to reflect these changes? My chart ORION Organisational chart. Project manager Mechanics System engineer Electronics System engineer Deputy planning and control management Team Leader Team Leader Team Leader Team Leader

Project manager Team Leader Deputy planning and control management Electronics System engineer Mechanics System engineer Traditional functional departments In organising projects as dedicated teams, the project manager becomes the team manager and work together with the rest of the team supported by the traditional functional department’s whiles in the matrix structure used by ORION each team have a different team leader. Master Plan Training Training program

Documentation and and test equipment SDR/PDR/CDR/TRR/PRR Build Production line Environment tests Laboratory tests and delivery Production Activities/time 6-12Months 1-6Months Design reviews Design and Development Production and Delivery ILS Lockheed martin justify that using a dedicated project teams structure facilitate a quick completion of a project.

Now, if Lockheed martin uses 43days to complete an American fighter jet then I don’t see the reason why ORION will spend over 7years to make light-rail trains by using the matrix structure. Therefore, by using the dedicated project teams the process of tests, production and delivery can take less than the usual years ORION use to complete a particular project. So by using the dedicated project teams, I change the years on ORION master plan to months to reflect how fast it is to use the dedicated project teams rather than the matrix structure.

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Software Development and Engineering

Table of contents

There are two features which are common to most engineering definitions. The solution of practical problems for the benefit of humankind. The use of scientific and other formalised knowledge to design and build artefacts within economic constraints

Difference between scientists and engineers:

  • Scientific reasoning and research is essentially inductive, scientists try to infer general rules or laws from the results of a limited number of observations or experimental results
  • The activities of engineers are quite distinct, their objective is for human benefit rather than explaining the natural world. They make use of scientific results in a deductive way (to verify designs and ideas that are feasible and safe.

The discipline starts in a state of craft practice: At this stage engineering is carried out by practitioners with little or no formal training and knowledge is acquired during apprenticeship. The second stage is the development of commercial exploitation when pressures arise to make economic use of resources or to increase output. Practice becomes more organised and standard procedures are established. The third stage in development sees the emergence of professional engineering. At this stage engineering is carried out by educated professionals who use formal analysis and scientific theory to understand and verify their designs.

Characteristics of Engineering

Engineering projects tackle clearly defined and quantified problems. Another aspect of modern engineering is the use of systematised knowledge, this knowledge gives the engineer a good understanding both of the problems that he or she is addressing and the materials available for their solution. A science-based knowledge engineer will have considerable knowledge of proven procedures and designs which they can reuse where appropriate. An important aspect of this codified knowledge is the ability to learn from failures.

Software Development as Engineering

In the 1950s when high-level programming languages were first being designed and implemented, compiler writing was regarded as difficult.  The development of the first compiler for FORTRAN, completed in early 1957, required about 18 person-years of effort. Compiler technology has progressed dramatically since, that a compiler can now be implemented in anything from 6 person-weeks to a person-year. Modern compilers generally produce executable code that is very efficient and it is rare for programmers to need to resort to lower-level languages. Compilers are usually extremely reliable being at least as free from errors as most other software on a typical computer.

Large-scale projects have always been much more prone to problems or failure than smaller developments, such as compiler implementations, due to difficulties of organising and co-ordinating teams, and dealing with clients. But this is not always the case, as seen in these two examples of large and highly successful projects.

SABRE, an Airline Reservation System developed for American Airlines. The project delivered about one million lines of code and involved around 400 person-years of effort.  This success is all the more striking because of the lack of supporting software – there were no database systems available at that time, for example.

NASA Space Shuttle

The project involved introducing rigorous control of software development, tracking all changes and errors, and constantly refining the development process to ensure that errors are eliminated at the earliest possible stage.

Other branches of engineering which have resulted in major disasters:

  • In 1968, Roman point (a high-rise block of flats in London) collapsed after a gas explosion in a top flat. The block was constructed using prefabricated components.
  • In 1980, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, a suspended walkway which connected hotel floors collapsed causing deaths of 114 people. The failure was due to a combination of design and construction flaws.

Quality and Software Development

In modern industry and business there is enormous concern to try to produce goods and services of high quality. Definition of Quality – ‘The set of characteristics of a product or service which satisfy a customer’s requirements and expectations’. American Joseph Juran, one of the early advocates of quality management, defined quality as the fitness for uses. Detailed tracking of error statistics during development has been found by developers such as Microsoft, to be extremely useful even though they may adopt a more informal approach to managing software development (Cusumano and Selby 1997).

Total Quality Management (TQM):

  •  Clearly defining quality in terms of customers’ or consumers’ requirements
  •  Concentrating on achieving quality by improving production processes rather than by inspection of end products
  • The clear specification of processes and the use of statistical analyses and other techniques to track down the sources of faults so that the process can be improved
  • The involvement of everyone in quality improvement
  •  Constantly trying to improve quality by learning from faults and improving processes and designs.

Applicable to software development? Each development of a system is a one-off project so it is not obvious that insights derived from improving manufacturing processes are applicable. The argument of Deming and others that quality cannot be achieved by testing alone is borne out by the experience of many software developers. Quality standards – ISO 9000

In order to achieve ISO 9000 certification:

  • It has standards against which to measure all aspects of its development practices
  • It has procedures in place to access performance against these standards
  •  Both the standards and the assessment methods used are recognised in the industry

ISO 9000 has been criticised on its particular criteria for introducing too much paperwork and ignoring the importance of continuous improvement.

Capability Maturity Model

This model is primarily concerned with the way in which projects are managed and organised, so it proposes five levels of maturity in development practices.

  1. Initial Level-Not stable environment for developing software. Success heavily dependent on key project staff.
  2.  Repeatable Level-Managing software projects based on previous experience. Project progress is tracked and under control.
  3. Defined Level-A standard process of software development is used across the organisation. Adapted and tailored appropriately for individual projects.
  4. Managed Level-Measurable quality targets are set for projects and the results achieved by all projects are monitored.
  5. Optimising Level-Measurements obtained from the monitoring of software development are used as a basis for refining and improving the process used. This level is one of continuous improvement.

 Societies for Computing Professionals

Professionals, such as medicine or the law, are distinguished from other occupations by the long period of training and experience which are required in order to qualify as a practitioner.

  • Regulated by professional societies
  • Societies are run by the members of the profession and represent its interests
  • Not under the immediate control of the government or employers

Professional institutions can be made in two ways:

  • By stature (by passing a law)
  • Royal Charter

The Engineering profession (the institution of Civil Engineers, the institution of Mechanical Engineers, the British Computer Society) have similar rights and responsibilities:

  • To advance knowledge in their area
  •  To uphold and seek to improve standards of practice (e.g. code of conduct for members)
  •  To set educational and training standards in their field (e.g. running professional exams and accrediting certain degree courses)
  • ï To advise the government on issues within their area of expertise (e.g. BCS on the Computer Misuse Act)

When engineering was at the stage of a craft practice, there were few formal mechanisms for the training of new engineers. Throughout most of the nineteenth century British engineers were firmly convinced of the value of practical experience as the basis of training

Two professional institutions which have most relevance for computer professionals are the British Computer Society (BCS) and Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE).

Engineering Council

  •  Created by Royal Charter in 1981
  • Contains 290000 qualified engineers, including about 200000 Chartered Engineers

FEANI

FEANI represents the engineering profession at a European level and is made of engineering institutions from 27 countries. It was formed in 1951. Members of professional societies gain the benefit of meeting other professionals in their field as well as access to other resources, such as libraries, seminars and special interest groups. Computer Science degree courses which cover similar materiel to that of the BCS exams are often accredited by the British Computer Society. For a degree course to give full exemption it must:

  • Cover the underlying theory and mathematics appropriate to computing
  • Have an emphasis on design
  • Promote understanding of ideas of quality
  • Cover systems development approaches
  • Cover ethical, legal, social and professional issues
  • Include a substantial student project which involves the implementation of an application or tool using an engineering-based approach.

Professional Development

BCS has developed the Industry Structure Model to classify different roles and responsibilities which computing professionals must have. It identifies some 200 professional functions ranging from programming to management. The purpose of the model is to help individuals and organisations to plan training and career development by identifying current gaps in knowledge.

BCS runs two development schemes:

  • Professional Development scheme – computing professionals have properly planned and verified training
  • Continuing Professional Development – those who have achieved qualification but who need to broaden their knowledge.

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The Development of Route 128 in Boston

In my paper I will show how the development of Route 128 in Boston, Massachusetts started, and how it exists today. Boston has changed throughout the years in its Renewal reform within its planning of the city mainly on route 128 as well as other major routes though out Boston. Boston had many changes made within the neighborhoods, which have, major routes in which effected the people lives as well as their living conditions. In some cases good in others for the worse. It separated and defined districts in which it no longer keeps the city as a whole.

Boston is a set of distinctly different districts and neighborhoods, each with it’s own defining identity and unique characteristics. Boston as a whole, benefit’s from the contributions from each of these areas and it is truly what gives the city it’s charm and unique differences. However, it had no other choice but to confront a major problem in which it had to face. Massachusetts lacked an organized framework within it’s planning of cities and routes. The correlation between these neighborhoods has been an ongoing problem, which are being resolved.

Even though Boston is making the changes which they feel are necessary, there are a few cases that are not being updated or corrected, and in many cases it has gotten worse due to the poor layout or problems that have arisen. On the other hand, Boston has many successful neighborhoods that are successful entities, and also hold a strong sense of self identify. But at the present time, there are areas that are inaccessible. This le! ads to a disordered city that can be more enjoyed and appreciated if it had a stronger structure!

The characteristic of Boston as a collection of neighborhoods is due to its increase speed in growth from the days of its settlement in 1630. Unlike the many traditional American cities, which are usually based on an orthogonal grid, Boston never had a long-term strategy towards planning. The Boston area did however grow, modified itself, and evolved in a reactionary way as technological advancements came about which affected society as a whole. The original Shawmut peninsula, which at one point contained all of Boston, now only constitutes a fraction of the landmass of the city.

A major portion of the city today exists on landfill claimed from the Boston harbor and Charles River. Expansion and development created the need for more land area. The Back Bay, West End, and much of south Boston are examples of this growth. As these areas were created they added to the existing city but they also had their own distinctiveness, which added to the other surrounding towns as well as Boston on a whole. These new created towns, were and are positive in many ways but they were never really integrated into the existing city central mainframe.

This lead to! aking Boston a bit more disorganized. Thus, solving some problems, but creating others. Within the past fifty years the construction of the main central city of Boston in the 1950’s and the urban renewal projects beginning in the 1960’s inflated this urban problem. The suburbanization of America within its states and related migration of city inhabitants to border towns created a need for expanded automobile transportation in cities throughout the United States. In reaction to this, major routes and highways were constructed to connect suburban life to the cities.

This encouraged more people to move out of the city, but not as far away that they couldn’t maintain their jobs within the main city. Boston had been changing from its historic and original focus as a port city to a city based on business and finance. The routes and central pathway was intended to assist this growth, and make the downtown more accessible. Boston’s West End is one of the most documented neighborhoods destroyed by urban renewal. Around 60% of the families, which were displaced by the urba! n renewal were Hipic or Blacks. West End was mainly working class Italians.

It had narrow streets and had a large amount of social life within it. This situation was viewed as un-American for middle class standards of city planners, which lead it to be demolished around 1959, and was replaced with high rises and expensive apartment buildings. The highway that city planners created lead to growth in and out of the city, and now in the modern era with , it became a necessity in our modern civilization. The routes circle around Boston (I-128 & I-95) and cut though the city (I-90) like a foreign object.

Cutting it’s way through Boston, it also broke up the city as a whole, creating boundaries between the cities, the harbor front, north end, and downtown. Boston had created a larger suburb for itself and pulled away from its history of being one of the most highly used water port that have been used for years. What was at one time considered one of the largest ! ports in the country was being abandoned and forgotten about. The mass departure from urban areas throughout the country led to an identity crisis for many urban areas. In response, The Federal Urban Renewal Program was created.

Boston was a leader in this movement, and had several projects gain nationwide recognition. The Boston Redevelopment Authority approached the renewal in a way that would ultimately prove detrimental. The B. R. A. designated separate districts for administrative and funding reasons. Each district was dealt with as a separate entity with regards to their individual needs. A good comparison would be Silicon Valley, CA and Route 128, MA, which are considered two of the premiere technological concentrations, not only in the United States, but also in the world.

These are regions that since World War II have been devoted to the creation of new information technology. By comparing the two regions I will try to show the different means by which an economic unit can attain success in the information revolution, and point out which strategies are most valuable to long-term success. Many people have attributed the success of the Valley primarily to the influence of nearby institutions of higher education, particularly Stanford University.

In the 1920’s, administrators at Stanford sought to improve the prestige of their institution by hiring highly respected faculty members from East Coast universities. One important recruit was Fred Terman, an electrical engineer from MIT. Like many of his colleagues, he performed cutting-edge research in electronics. Unlike many other members of the faculty, though, he encouraged his students to sell applications of these new-technologies in the marketplace. By providing funds and equipment, Terman enabled two of his first recruits, David Hewlett and William Packard, to commercialize the audio-oscillator in the late 1930s.

After selling their first oscillators to Disney Corporation, they reinvested their earnings and expanded both their products and their range of customers. In 1950, twelve years after its founding, Hewlett-Packard had 200 employees and sold 70 different products with sales over $2 million. It pioneered the formation of a distinctive Silicon Valley management style, treating workers as family members. Numerous workers have sought to duplicate Hewlett-Packard’s management style. In 1954, they accepted an offer by Stanford University to rent part of Stanford Research Park for their operations.

This brought together various industries in Palo Alto. Many other firms subsequently rented other plots of land to take advantage of proximity to the university. Stanford Research Park, through the efforts of a few influential professors and university administrators, became the nucleus of the budding Silicon Valley. By the 1980s, the entire park had been rented out to area firms. This rapid rise of technology reflects itself in the organization of Silicon Valley. The people who began or were employed in these new firms considered themselves as technological trailblazers.

The residents of this technological society were, a strongly homogenous group: white, male, Stanford or MIT educated engineers who migrated to California from other regions of the country. As modern-day pioneers, they were especially responsive to risky ventures that had the potential for great rewards. As people in the region became occupationally mobile, their roles became interchangeable: employers become employees and co-workers can become competitors. The result is that the engineers developed strong loyalties to technology and their fellow engineers and scientists while possessing far less allegiance to a single firm

The traditional delineations between employers and employees were not so sharp as on the East Coast, and in some cases they disappeared entirely. Beginning with Hewlett and Packard, many of the Silicon Valley companies sought a much more interactive environment between employers and employees. Decentralization of powers followed. With respect to its industrial emphasis (electronics), the Route 128 region around Boston presents a study in contrast in terms of its historical development, geography, community life, and degree of interconnectivity between firms.

Similar to Silicon Valley, the development of electronics-related companies on the 65-mile highway surrounding Boston and Cambridge in the area’s major research universities was influenced by academia, industry, and government. The professors and graduate students in the universities devote their energies toward a greater understanding of the world around them. The government, particularly federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation, provides the financial support for the academicians to test the hypothesis and perform the experiments.

The firms would then produce the physical expressions of these ideas for the marketplace. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, like its counterpart in Palo Alto, has engaged in world class scientific research and has produced some of the best engineers in the country. The Institute has sought to provide the theoretical and practical foundations for its students to make major contributions to society. While doing so, it has engaged in a seemingly endless number of advancements and has tried to reach out to large companies in Massachusetts and outside the state as well as participate in many federal and state-run projects.

The Federal government, to a much greater extent in this state than in California, has provided the fuel for the region’s expansion. By the late 1990s, Massachusetts was one of the top five states in terms of federal research resources granted. The Department of Defense itself has accounted for over 60% of federal research and development spending in the state. Consequently, the large firms have profited most. In the 1970s and 80s, Raytheon became one of the most important contractors for the Department of Defense; EG&G Inc. has filled several contracts for NASA.

Some smaller organizations in this Beltway have been created to solely fill government orders. Organizations ranging from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the Department of Energy (DOE) provided universities and firms millions of dollars for research. Whole new industries have sprung up from these efforts: computers, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence, among others. The third leg of this technological triangle, complementing the universities and government agencies, is industry itself.

By 1990, the state contained over 3,000 high-technology firms. Some companies stand as the pillars of the 128 community: Digital Equipment Corporation, Raytheon, and Lotus Development. These companies produced a disproportionate share of the region’s income generation As they grew, so too did the accompanying service firms. The communities in which the high-tech enterprises sprung up, towns such as Burlington, Lexington, and Cambridge have established roots in eastern Massachusetts going back centuries.

Companies such as DEC and Lotus Development are in many ways just descendants of other industrial titans that have crowded this area for over 150 years. The structures of Boston society have resulted in relatively stable and conservative hold on certain aspects of its residents’ life. Engineers who have worked on both coasts report a much greater divide between work and play on the East Coast. Entrepreneurs such as Ken Olsen at DEC and An Wang at Wang industries who succeeded did not change their lifestyles in any radical way.

Olsen, for example, avoided most social gatherings, remained a teetotaler, lived in a small home, and continued to drive an old Ford to work. He and other area CEOs did not live the same high profile lives in Boston that their counterparts did in Silicon Valley. The lack of role models and less developed informal social contacts may have constrained the amount of new companies that were created in the 1970s and 1980s. The defense industry, hiring practices, and the region’s geography all conspired to reinforce this traditionalism. The volume of military purchases encouraged corporate separateness.

The h! iring of management differs substantially from Silicon Valley. In Massachusetts, older individuals, usually wedded to the status-quo, are often selected for executive positions Managers in Silicon Valley, often in their twenties and thirties, are much more likely to experiment with organization. Geography also plays a role. The firms were more spread out around metropolitan Boston than comparable companies in California, lessening the probability of interaction. Communication between company and town is even less prevalent.

Many large companies such as DEC have almost no ties to the towns in which they were located. The hierarchies within companies are extremely rigid. The manager created firms with complex and sophisticated organizational patterns that employed individuals to be loyal first and foremost to the company. In return for the loyalty, employees expected that hard work would enable them to stay employed in the firm and rise through the ranks, culminating in retirement with a large pension. Employers are generally wary of hiring an engineer or programmer who has left another firm after only a few years.

At the same time, significant status differences exist. The hierarchy of positions and the means of formal communication within the firm, along with the structure of salaries and benefits, developed strong delineation’s within the firm. At DEC, for example, the company centralized many of its prominent functions and a small group of individuals made the decisions, namely Ken Olson (the CEO). The companies attempt to internalize many of their procedures. This vertical integration ! often includes: software design, component, peripheral, and subsystem production, and final assembly.

In short, Route 128 firms are much more settled and centralized affairs than the scientists and engineers in northern California. Their histories, attitudes, and strategies have created technological societies similar in products manufactured but very different in their economic and social appearance. With the onset of the computer generation big named companies bought land off of this highway. This lead to an enormous clotting into Route 128, which is considered the edge of Boston (it circles around the main Downtown metropolitan area). Route 128 became a big commodity to the new generation of large computer technology based industries.

The highway began to get congested, with the onslaught of new businesses. All these new businesses in turn lead to major traffic jams. Real estate around route 128 increased dramatically, which appealed more to the upper middle class. Large apartment complexes around the area were sequentially created. With the suppression of the new renewals to towns in Boston as well as the downtown city, a lot of opportunities arose to deal with the large amount of issues that had come from linkages between the various neighborhoods within the main city.

Each town is being dealt with, but with respect to it’s own uniqueness, and it’s contribution toward making Boston more unified within. Despite the rapid growth of the towns around route 128, it hit a point where the business industry came to a standstill in the 90’s. Things that lead to this sudden halt, was due to the region from northern Rhode Island to southern New Hampshire, which ran out of space for expansional development that maintained and held up the large boom for this hot area..

Existing companies couldn’t expand more, which meant less jobs were being offered to the large amounts of people migrating for jobs from these companies. As the companies grew with time, there became higher demand for their products. Another factor to! the standstill in business expansion was due to other large companies which where not based around Route 128 (such as Compaq in Houston, Texas, and Microsoft in Seattle) which made huge profits and revenue. This distant competition drew attention away from the “hub”.

By the end of the 20th Century, Boston was at maximum capacity and could not lend itself anymore to expansion. Route 128 was one of the first beltways built in America. Its ten-mile radius circles the Boston area in an arc shape. Close by is route I-495 that is goes from Rhode Island and ends closely to the beginning of New Hampshire. Both the belts have many intersections throughout it’s p that lead from downtown Boston and into the heart of the states which boarders around. With all the intersections that go through these routes a high capacity of people can access these major belts.

This was the reason for the success and decline of “The Hub”. The smaller stores and companies such as the food industry, benefited from the large companies due to its high employee population servicing the smaller businesses. With the success of Route 128, some towns have grown out of the heavily used belts like Quincy-Braintree. Since the companies couldn’t build anymore on the belt, they moved some of their departments a bit further from the main headquarters, to areas which are easily assessable from many other routes and connectors in the Boston area.

This cut down on the flow of drivers into the highly packed corporate beltway area, which alleviated more congestion, and it made everyone a bit less stressed. Going along I-128 towards the west, brings us to the Mass. Pike. This connection is one good reason that I-128 became the “technology road”, because it connected to other states as well as the rest of Boston. Mass Pike is the oldest beltway in the Boston area.. Going up Northwest on the beltway is where route 128 intersects and meets route 3 and I-93. This area is one of the most congested of any part of the Boston area.

This area is the center of the Lahey Medical Center as well as the Bu! rlington Mall. The Peabody and Danvers area, which is also on the Northwest part of I-128, is where I-95 resumes its route to Maine. Since it’s low-point in the mid-1990s, when several big companies severed or trimmed their ties to the area, Route128 has returned to prominence as one of the nation’s premier high-tech zones. And the rejuvenation hasn’t been limited to just this highway that loops around Boston, but has expanded to other parts of the metro area as well.

Unfortunately since planning is never predictable what could have been more of a commodity Route 128 became exploited and overdone. What recourses that could have been attained such as location, convenience and easy access to suburbs; Route 128 became a city within itself and lost the suburban idealism which was originally sought after. Even though it was seemingly sufficient in space Route 128 has exceeded its limitations. This proves to be a learning experience in that Route 128 although successful in most of its purposes was a failure when it lost its ideals of functioning as a suburb.

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