What is the Scenario?

You have decided to design and build a small manufacturing facility for developing reinforcing steel products for the Queensland construction market (only two products: Reinforcing Steel bars (rib-wire) and Mesh). Before you begin the detailed design process you decide to undertake a preliminary design of the factory and manufacturing process as well as estimate the cost and time required to design and build the facility. Also, you would like to estimate the demand for the product and the envisaged production rates of the steel manufacturing facility to determine whether the project is feasible (i.e. consider a Return of Capital ratio). In a preliminary meeting with your project team, you decide that you need to complete the following tasks:

1. Complete a basic preliminary design of the factory (size, layout, crane requirements etc.).
2. Complete a preliminary design of the manufacturing process for reinforcing steel bars and mesh (i.e. schematics of the process and required machinery – see attached).
3. Consider quality assurance and testing facility requirements in the factory.
4. Consider what factory control facilities will be required.
5. Specify the layout of the manufacturing processes in the factory (see attached).
6. Investigate the specifications of required machinery and their approximate costs (see attached).
7. Investigate lead times for delivery of machinery and their source locations.
8. Investigate assembly/connection requirements for different machinery to develop the required steel manufacturing processes.
9. Investigate design and construction/process assembly durations and resource (i.e. engineers, labour etc.) requirements to develop the facility and the manufacturing process within it.
10. Investigate the sequence for designing and building the steel manufacturing facility (both external and internal).
11. Compile an estimate for the design and construction of the steel manufacturing facility (Note: it is not expected that you will go into detail for the civil and structural elements of the facility).
12. Consider the projects total cost to design and build.
13. Consider the demand for the products and envisaged production rates for the facility (see attached sheet for estimated production rates).
14. Consider annual operating costs for the facility based on production rates and staffing.
15. Consider profitability and returns from the facility based on estimated sales and operating costs.
16. Estimate the yearly Return on Capital (ROC) of the venture as a percentage.

Civil and structural elements should be considered for the planning and estimation for the steel manufacturing facility but detailed costing and scheduling is not required. However, you should be able to detail the basic elements of the structure such as footings, slab, frame, girts, purlins, sheeting etc. and their order of construction. Detailed below is an example of a simple factory layout.

What should the assignment include?

• Complete a basic preliminary design of the factory (size, layout, crane requirements etc.)
• Complete a preliminary design of the manufacturing process for reinforcing steel bars and mesh (i.e. schematics of the process and required machinery).
• Layout of the manufacturing process within the factory (see example attached).
• An itemised list of the tasks required for constructing the building and its internal manufacturing processes (see attached list).
• A work breakdown structure (WBS) for the proposed project.
• A detailed estimate of the resources required for each activity (Labour, machinery, materials, supervision etc.). Allocate costs to each activity in the WBS.
• A PDM diagram for the project (utilise both manual techniques and Microsoft Project software).
• A time analysis for the project including Critical Path, ES, LS, etc. Comment on these results.
• A Gantt chart for the proposed project using Primavera or Microsoft Project.
• A resource analysis for the project and resource histograms. Consider areas where resources may be critical and comment on an approach to levelling the resources.
• A detailed description on strategies to make the best use of resources.
• A cost estimate for the project including all relevant costs (site establishment, materials, labour, overheads, machinery etc.)
• Detail strategies to crash the network. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy?
• A cash flow analysis for the project and a cash flow diagram.
• A risk management plan for program delays, resource availability etc.
• A report on the profitability of the proposed project. Based on the total cost of the project, estimated demand for the product and the envisaged production rates of the steel manufacturing facility, determine whether the project is feasible (i.e. consider a Return of Capital ratio).

The assignment will be in the form of a professional report to the project manager.

What is this assignment worth?

Note: This is a group assignment – plagiarism will not be tolerated. Understandably you will consult each other for estimates on costs, quantities, durations, machinery requirements, production rates, sales data etc.

Assumptions?

Since you have received only minimal details about the factory you will need to make some assumptions about quantities of materials, machinery, resources, production etc. Also, you may not have an idea on material, labour costs etc. You should undertake some research (e.g. Rawlinson’s guide) to obtain approximate costs and specify activity durations to the best of your ability. You will not be penalised for not knowing exact costs and quantities; this is not the purpose of this assignment.

See attached for a detailed manufacturing layout.

Some helpful web sites
https://www.steel-n.com/esales/general/us/catalog/
https://www.nisshin-steel.co.jp/nisshin-steel/english/profile/s_make.htm
https://www.jfe-21st-cf.or.jp/index2.html