new using project-everybody's input requested

[Ashley McKown]

hello everybody
here is the deal i work as a production manager for a steel parts
manufacturing company.
We manufacture several parts but all in all around hundred. I decided to
use ms project to better manage resources but more importantly for scheduling
each task and resource.
The way i designed it so far, and i will appreciate everyone's input in that
as well, is I created a different project for each part and then i created a
project in which I will create the resource pool and will import all the
projets that are in the order list for the day. Now here is the problem,
number 1, I want that when i import projects each project should ask me what
is the "deadline" and also i want to introduce a macro that will ask for the
"partrs ordered" and then it will calculate the fixed costs such as manpower
hours and raw material required. Like for example each metal sheet makes 2
parts so if the order is of 100 parts the macro should calculate that it
requires 50 sheets and it should display that in the summary bar and then the
task 1-3 will use machine 2,3 and 4 to for two hours each and each machine
will require two operators which means 4 manpower hours for each machine and
12 for the whole project. How do i go about doing that, any kind of help
will be greatly appreciated, by the way i have no programming experience
whatsoever. Here is another problem when i created a project for each
project separately, lets say task number one took 2 hours and task number two
took two hours and so on and so forth, the way project is scheduling it that
it will push the task into next day rather than keepign it in the same day
just one after the other. Here is another one we only give half hour lunch
breaks and my shifts starts at 7:30 in the morning but in the gant chart
timescale i can either show it as starting at 7 or 8. Also how do i set the
task up so that when each task is due (like 9am) i can input whether the task
was completed and if not when it was completed.

This would be it for now. I was told by circuit city where i bought the
software from that people on this board are very helpful and there are
answers to everything that can be done in the project on this board so if u
guys can help this technology challenged female production manager out it
will be greatly appreciated.

thanking in advance.

ash

 

[Rob Schneider]

I spent a few days earlier this year working with a company which
manufactured metal components, probably not unlike your company.
Naturally I was curious to see if Project would help them (although that
was not the purpose of my visit). Based on what I saw and based on
what I know of Project, I don't think it's a good fit. Especially since
there are more bespoke software solutions available which are specific
to the so-called "metal bashing" industry which are more closely aligned
to the manufacturing processes. I guess my advice is to seek out that
other software and not try to do all this in Project. It probably could
be forced to work, but I wonder the value and cost to do so.

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[JulieD]

Hi Ashley

like Rob i'm not sure that project is the best solution for what you are
after ... however, i would recommend that you attend an introductory
"hands-on" project course (2-3 days) to get the basics of project "under
your belt" before diving in at the deep end ... this will also give you a
much better idea of whether or not project is going to meet your needs. If
this isn't a possibility then i would recommend a read of Mike Glen's
excellent tutorials at http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc

These should, at least, explain the working time concept and answer that
question for you.

Hope this helps
JulieD

 

[davegb]

I agree with Rob. Project is intended to schedule projects, which have
a definite start and finish. You're scheduling manufacturing, which
doesn't. You could say that, if you're doing batch runs, each batch is
a project, but it's a stretch. While I'm not familiar with
manufacturing, I would guess that there is software designed to do
precisely what you are doing. Project can be "bent" to do a lot of
things, but the more you bend it, the more of a headache it becomes,
and the more expensive it is to maintain it. I'm a firm believer that
you need to get the software the best fits the task, rather than
trying to make the software at hand work in a application for which it
isn't intended. I had a friend once, who tried to use Lotus 123 as a
Word Processor. Didn't work out very well...
Hope this helps.

David G. Bellamy
Bellamy Consulting

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Every batch is a project... it meets all the criteria defined by PMI and
others.
That is not a stretch but a fact, I'm sorry.
This does not mean there may be products better suited for the job than
Project, as it ignores major requirements such as just in time scheduling
and simultaneity of 2 resources (man and operator).
HTH