College of Engineering

Department of Industrial Engineering

EGM 362: Engineering Project Managment
Spring 2016
Name: Afifa Farooq
I.D.: 51241

Homework #2: Proposal Submission

Instructor: Dr. Mehmet Ertem

Dated: March 1, 2016

 XYZ Consulting Response to Request for Proposal No. 111-90
by The Company
Solicitation M91001
Relocation Study for The Company
September 15, 1990
To the Management of The Company,

With George Chambers as CEO, XYZ Consulting employs a nationwide workforce which
centers across a wide range of locations including Jebel Ali in Dubai, Mussafah in Abu Dhabi,
Industrial Area 3 in Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain, Al Ain Industrial City and an external office in
Ras Laffan Industrial City in Doha, Qatar.

XYZ Consulting employee population is divided into four segments, with half of our
employees as engineering and management consultants, one-sixth in services, one-sixth in
operational consulting and one-sixth as supporting groups.

1. Customer Requirements and Project Specifications:

The Company has always been at the forefront of innovation and the first to react to changes
within the market. With decreasing oil prices and predictions of lower oil prices, it would stand
to reason that consolidation of the company to a single site would optimize transport of
manufactured items to the eight main customer bases within the United Arab Emirates. As each
different site specializes in the production of different items, it would also decrease
transportation costs, in terms of overland transportation costs, for international shipping with
only one initial point instead of seven. Furthermore, five meetings have been conducted with the
management of the Company employees and a preliminary set of questionnaires has been
circulated to The Company’s major stakeholders and customer base. The meeting agendas,
minutes, questionnaire overviews and the subsequent analysis has been attached with this
document under the section Appendix A. This analysis reveals that a major part of The
Company’s customers are concentrated within the cities of Dubai and Sharjah, with a significant
but lesser portion from Abu Dhabi.

As part of deliberations by The Company to upgrade to innovative new technologies

including 3D printing of parts and process optimization, the cost of introducing this equipment to

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all seven manufacturing is detrimental to stakeholder profits (Cost charts for purchase and
integration with rate of return included in Appendix B, Section 2). With consultation from XYZ
Consultants in the operational management and engineering team, a new ultra-efficient and
power-dense electric motor has been proposed for integration into the manufacturing processes.
This would decrease motor-energy costs by upto 30%.

An analysis of The Company’s management/employee files has revealed that 37% of all
employees (excluding external office in Ras Laffan) commute to other cities every day/weekend
to where their families reside. This is leading to a higher travel reimbursement package required
for employees. With increasing contribution from community factors, employees prefer to reside
in places with greater access to educational institutions and leisure areas. This means the
preferential cities are Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Regardless of location of relocation, a
consolidation to one site would increase community factors for all employees within the
company. Interaction between employees would increase with a greater exchange between all
management leading to greater employee satisfaction.

With regards to The Company’s mission statement, the consolidation to one location shall
also optimize how waste is handled as all waste can be integrated into one system. This shall
contribute to the Company’s environmental policy as well as be an asset to its reputation.

XYZ Consulting L.L.C. shall over the course of the project:

 Determine employee feedback on consolidation.

 Determine two optimum locations for relocations with reference to costs, management
convenience, employee benefits and optimization at a single location.
 Present an economic analysis of such a consolidation.

2. Assumptions
 Relocation to any site within the U.A.E. is acceptable.
 Department heads and company management will divulge manufacturing site blueprints,
employee information, and management organization structure at the initialization of the
project.
 All profit and loss statements along with pertinent information shall be divulged to XYZ
Consultants under strict confidence.
 Department heads shall collaborate and coordinate with project management team from
initiation to termination.
 All employee units and manufacturing sites are equally significant.
 All employee survey responses on consolidation shall remain anonymous in order to provide
an unbiased view of consolidation opinions and gain highest level of feedback.
 Survey distribution shall be conducted on normal working days via company email and
random interviews.

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  Specific information on land suitability will be provided to project management at project
initialization.
 Documentation on waste management approaches by The Company shall be handed to
project management team.
 XYZ Consulting shall present a better waste management solution if consolidation is
undertaken. This is in appreciation of The Company’s mission statement to be more
environmentally friendly.
 Employee integration/relocation plans to local community shall be aided by XYZ Consulting.

3. Project Approach

XYZ Consulting provides smart, innovative and simple solutions. Our mission involves catering
to customer’s needs with not only a strategic approach but also an operational approach. The
strategic approach shall focus on the recommendations and surveys to be performed in this
project. What sets our company apart from the others is our operational team. Our operational
unit works actively with the customer to initialize and implement changes recommended by our
firm. Our approach is collaborative, open, and innovative. Our tailor-made approach to this
project to achieve the project goal is as follows:

i. Develop specialized surveys aimed at all management units within each site to explore any
special needs for land, equipment, mobilization of equipment, increase/decrease in operating
costs after consolidations, opinions on consolidation, and transportation difficulties/costs
from several consolidation sites.
ii. Provide an analysis of the above two tasks and narrow down the consolidation sites to a
maximum of three sites. A list of advantages/disadvantages for each site (according to
employee/department head opinions) shall be presented in this preliminary report. Approval
of these sites for further research on each shall be required by the President and Senior
Management Committee of The Company.
iii. Develop tailor-made surveys for each of the seven manufacturing sites. For development,
XYZ Consulting shall require full cooperation from department heads of each site. As XYZ
Consulting has offices in five of the seven locations where the sites are, teams of 4 shall be
deployed to these sites and shall collaborate with/observe employee structure to ensure
simplified and efficient development of surveys. Two teams shall be sent for survey
development on the other two sites for a period of three days. The aim of these surveys shall
not only be to gather employee opinions on consolidation, but it shall also assess employee
satisfaction with commuting to the three suggested consolidation sites. It shall also include
options for employees on preferred consolidation sites and an option to rate community
factors near each.
iv. Distribute the employee consolidation surveys to all employees via company emails, in paper
form near entry sites, and minor networking event during the employee lunch breaks. The
networking event shall distribute free food/drinks to increase employee participation and also

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 provide an informal platform to interact with/gather employee opinions. Furthermore, short
formal interviews of 20 minutes shall be conducted with a minimum of 10 employees within
each site. These employees shall be randomly chosen, with the permission of the department
head and respective employee, so as to eliminate biases and real insight on employee
opinions. Another suggested approach that may be employed to ensure maximum employee
participation, subject to approval from the Senior Management Committee, would be to give
the survey before the release of their monthly salary.
v. Simultaneously, a team of specialized engineering consultants (XYZ Consulting has a wide
range of engineers including civil, mechanical, chemical, and industrial) shall work with the
operational consultant team to analyze the three approved sites by the Senior Management
Committee. A plan of mobilization of equipments, assets, and employees along with
integration of new technology into a single consolidation site will be developed. This shall
require intensive collaboration by department heads and employees in other managerial
positions. To increase and sustain collaboration weekly networking events between
management staff and project teams will be held during the first two months. It is expected
that XYZ Consulting shall receive an unrestricted access to information including, but not
limited to, as blueprints of facility, details of the process manufacture, and equipment
specifications.
vi. Next, the XYZ Consulting team shall conduct research and use simulation software to help
assist the economic analysis of a consolidation of all seven sites. The in-depth economic
analysis will consider management reorganization, employee reorganization, employee
relocation/transport reimbursement packages and other necessary financials. Integration and
thus, decrease in energy consumption due to the new electric motors shall form a part of the
economic review. Costs of land, tax payments, and construction labor for rebuilding
administrative and manufacturing sites will be considered.
vii. Regular monthly reports to all department heads and the Senior Management Committee
shall be presented. There will be verbal presentations by the project management team at the
end of the above mentioned six major tasks. All senior management will be welcome to
attend. Two verbal presentations at the end of month 2 and 5 shall be given where all
employee participation shall be encouraged. This last is subject to approval from the
President and is aimed at increasing employee/management/project manager interaction and
thus, employee satisfaction.

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4. Deliverables
a. XYZ Consulting shall provide a location short list study report by 1st March listing the three
possible locations with a rationale behind each in terms of operations, relocation costs, site
relocations benefits, appeal of site and others we believe necessary.
b. An employee attitude study report will be submitted by 1st March including the process by
which employee attitudes were determined, department head involvement approaches,
surveys/data collected and an analysis of employee attitudes specific to each manufacturing
site. It shall also list current employee residential locations, employee attitudes to
relocating/commuting to consolidated sites.
c. We shall provide an in-depth economic analysis report that includes all the details mentioned
in VI of Section 3. It shall also include the cost of transportation of employees from their
current residential areas to all three proposed sites. This report shall be delivered by 1st
March.
d. A recommendation report will be delivered to the Senior Management Committee on the
preferred site by 1st March.
e. An interim report shall be presented to the president and senior management committee at the
end of month 2.
f. Six 25 minute verbal presentations shall be delivered at the end of all the six major tasks
mentioned in Section 3 of this proposal. These presentations will be open to the President,
the Senior Management Committee, department heads and all other managerial staff.
g. Two verbal presentations at the end of month 2 and 5 shall be given where all employee
participation shall be encouraged (Subject to approval of management).
h. Weekly networking dinner to be held between managerial staff and project management team
to update and sustain collaboration.
i. A monthly briefing report will be submitted to the project sponsor through the project
manager; this will include project progress in terms of scheduling and financial updates.
j. Reports on facilities management and financial authority will be given to the Director of
facilities management via the project manager.

5. Resources

Mr. John Nicholson, our senior project management specialist, has worked on two major
successful consolidation project with Schlumberger and Lush LLC. He has a diverse portfolio
with regards to project management with a specialty in civil engineering which is surely an asset
to this project (See Appendix D for CV and Related Project with contact details of the project
management team). As a graduate of Yale with an experience of 12 years with XYZ Consulting,
Mr. Nicholson has a commendable record. He is an efficient and dedicated individual with a
strong work ethic. His team follows an excellent work culture with a positive environment and
thus, delivers the good quality work. The team’s dedication to project goals has been
commended by the Schlumberger’s Senior Committee. XYZ Consultant’s operational
management team shall be a major asset to this project as they will help initiate the consolidation

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project, if it is required, and with already established relationships with The Company’s
employees, the transition from segregated to consolidating shall be smooth.

6. Schedule

Tasks Duration Start Finish

1.Development of the employee 2 weeks 23/09/1990 06/10/1990
consolidation review survey
2.Development and distribution of 2 weeks 23/09/1990 06/10/1990
managerial staff surveys
3.Establishment and distribution of 1 week 06/10/1990 14/10/1990
employee consolidation surveys
4.Waiting period for employee 1 week 14/10/1990 23/10/1990
responses
5.Hold consolidation seminar for 4 days 23/10/1990 27/10/1990
managerial staff
6.Research on the three existing sites 5 weeks 14/10/1990 20/11/1990
as the possible relocation site
7.Development of the consolidation 7 weeks 20/11/1990 06/01/1991
proposal plan at relocation sites
8.Develop economic analysis for 3 weeks 06/01/1991 24/01/1991
consolidation sites
9.Study the financial statements of 1 week 24/01/1991 31/01/1991
company
10.Compare each relocation sites 1 week 24/01/1991 31/01/1991
based evaluation criteria
11.Develop a preliminary waste 2 weeks 01/02/1991 15/02/1991
management plan for consolidation
12.Complete all documentation and 2 weeks 15/02/1991 28/02/1991
submit the report
The project management team with the division of all above tasks shall be performed with by
functional management teams as defined in Appendix D of this proposal.

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7. Price

Task Description of Work Number of Anticipated Costs

individuals
Phase One Develop and distribution of 25 20,000
(Task 1-5) surveys to managerial staff and
employees
Phase Two Research and development plan 30 40,000
(Task 6 & 7) for three proposed consolidation
sites
Phase Three Economic analysis 15 15,000
(Task 8 – 10)
Phase Four Report organization, clerical 25 10,000
(Task 11 & 12) tasks and waste management
consolidation plan
Overhead costs 5,000
Contingency 10,000
budget
Total $ 100,000

The details of all the above tasks in Section 6 of this report have been presented and
justified in Section 3 of this proposal. Any further questions on this Section may be asked
directly to the project manager, Mr. John Nicholson (Contact details in Appendix D, Section I)
and may also be addressed in the seminar held on 19th September, 1990 at the company
headquarters. Details shall be emailed to Senior Management.

8. Risks

The following are the risks associated with this project:

 Access to reliable data on land foundations may be preliminary. Further geological tests may
be required to ensure that excavation of the top soil of land, the building of foundation on
land and thus may lead to increase testing and costs. To counter this, a suggested site would
be in the upcoming industrial city Khalifa Port Industrial Zone.
 This project depends mainly on collaboration by managerial staff and all employees.
Incentives will have to be created for complete department head cooperation. The smooth
transition from segregation to consolidation hinges mainly on management.
 Integration of all seven manufacturing sites may not lead to the maximum production.
Changes may have to be made for process optimization.

9. Expected Benefits

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XYZ Consulting will not only provide a detailed analysis and aid the Company in their decision
to consolidate, but will also provide a detailed economic analysis of such a consolidation.
Section 3, 4 & 5 have also detailed several overhead costs estimations that XYZ Consulting has
considered. Additionally, XYZ Consulting has also included a waste consolidation plan within
the budget that shall lend to The Company’s reputation as an environmentally-friendly company.
A major benefit would be the operational management team that shall help integrate and
assimilate the consolidation if it occurs. Most importantly, XYZ Consulting has a teamwork
oriented culture and is focused on maintaining relationships with clientele. With regards to this,
we focus on networking events to encourage employee participation and by extension, employee
satisfaction. In other words, it focuses on client satisfaction.

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