The primary purpose of this study was to analyze the capability and inclination of the aerospace and electronics industry contractors to abide by the general provisions of the Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC).

by Mak Wing-lai Tony. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [42]). / ABSTRACT / TABLE OF CONTENTS / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT / CHAPTER / Chapter I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II --- METHODOLOGY --- p.9 / Chapter III --- RESULTS --- p.19 / Chapter IV --- DISCUSSION --- p.32 / APPENDIX / BIBLIOGRAPHY

Major projects around the world have long been notorious for cost overruns and schedule delays. In response to the cost overruns, the U.S. Department of Transportation established a task force and took a range of steps to strengthen the stewardship, management, and oversight of major projects at the beginning of the 21st century. Through a classical test of hypotheses, this study first investigates the prevalence and magnitude of the cost overruns of the major infrastructure projects in the U.S. before and after the reform. The before and after comparison finds that the projects experiencing cost overrun have been reduced from 77% to 45% following the reform. Results revealed that the U.S. Department of Transportation has developed measurable outcomes but their success may be limited. To address the cost overruns, conversely, the U.K. adopted Kahneman’s Nobel Prize-winning theory to challenge biases in human judgment and mandated reference class forecasting for major projects at the beginning of the 21st century. Through before-and-after and with-and-without comparisons of major infrastructure projects, this empirical study then examines the practical relevance of reference class forecasting for infrastructure investments. A before-and-after comparison reveals that the average cost overrun declined from 50% to 5% following the introduction of reference class forecasting. A with-and-without comparison also demonstrates that the U.K. surpassed its targeted probability of completing projects within budget by 12% using reference class forecasting, whereas the U.S. underperformed by 23%. Thus, reference class forecasting has engendered notable improvements in estimation in the U.K. Although schedule delays not only result in significant financial implications to project sponsors but also lead to substantial social costs to the public, scant attention has been dedicated to schedule delays. Therefore, this study further investigates the frequency, magnitude, and characteristics of schedule delays occurring during the construction of major infrastructure projects built in the U.S. and the U.K. between 1999 and 2018. A multivariate regression analysis confirms that length of implementation phase and project type plays the most important role in project schedule performance. During extensive efforts were made to project controls in the U.S. and the U.K. over the last two decades, this study also finds, project performance has not improved at all from a schedule perspective. In order to address the issue, this study suggests reference class forecasting to develop more realistic and reliable schedule estimates. This empirical study demonstrates the benefits of supplementing or replacing the current forecasting method. The findings can be used to reduce substantial financial risks for the government as well as social and economic welfare losses for society.

The implications of comminution practices on the planning of a typical open pit mine was investigated in this study by means of computer simulation. The objective was to assess the effects of mining costs as well as processing costs on the production plan of a typical open pit mine. For the purpose of the research, MineLib, an open library of ore body models was consulted. This led to the selection of a copper-gold ore body named “Newman1” for use in the strategic mine optimisation. Various scenarios were considered in order to highlight the contribution of comminution costs to the mine plan. In all the simulated scenarios, the objective function was to maximise the Net Present Value (NPV). And in terms of simulation setup, the comminution costs and cut-off grades were systematically varied from 70 % to 140 %. It was hence possible to investigate their effects on the NPV of the Newman1 ore body using SimSched, a freeware for mine optimisation and planning. Results showed that there is a great opportunity to increase the NPV of the Newman1 block model by adjusting the contribution of processing costs in general and comminution costs in particular. This can be achieved for instance by controlling the policy of cut-off grades, lowering production costs, and increasing throughput. / Civil and Chemical Engineering / M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering)

by Tang Wai Yin, Kerry. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-55). / abstract --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / CHAPTER / Chapter I --- introduction --- p.1 / Purpose --- p.1 / Scope --- p.3 / Methodology --- p.4 / Revision of Original Plan --- p.5 / Chapter II --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.7 / Introduction --- p.7 / Brief History of ABC --- p.8 / Definition of ABC --- p.19 / abc Model --- p.20 / Chapter III --- ASIAN PACIFIC FORUM --- p.23 / Western Environment: --- p.23 / Asian Pacific Environment --- p.26 / Organization Behavioral Contrast --- p.28 / Chapter IV --- CASE STUDY --- p.33 / The Company --- p.33 / Management Strategy --- p.35 / Product Costing --- p.35 / Pricing --- p.37 / Implementation : The Struggle --- p.38 / The Customer --- p.38 / Opportunities and Threats --- p.39 / The Human Factor --- p.41 / The Stalemate --- p.43 / The What-if Scenario --- p.44 / Chapter V --- LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS --- p.46 / Limitation --- p.46 / Conclusion --- p.48 / APPENDIX / Chapter I --- Product Cost Comparison / Traditional and ABC Approach --- p.50 / Chapter II --- Process Re-engineering Through ABC --- p.52 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.53

Shrinking profit margins in the high technology industry has led companies to attempt to increase profits through an increased focus on after-market services. As part of that effort, service parts logistics, which manages the post-sales distribution of spare parts needed to maintain and repair products in use, has gained importance. In an effort to improve Service Parts Logistics (SPL) operations, we integrate facility location and inventory stocking decisions while classifying facilities based on their assignment; dedicated facilities that are assigned solely to individual customers (located on-site of the customer, serving only that customer), and shared facilities that are assigned to a subset of customers. The introduction of dedicated facilities simplifies the overall problem formulation in certain special cases. In one such special case where there is only one facility and none of the customers are within its service time window, the overall problem reduces to a binary knapsack formulation. This can be solved in pseudo-polynomial time through the dynamic programming algorithm for such problems. Nonetheless, even in the general case, we identify conditions under which a dedicated facility will always be opened. Computational results show that this observation is used by solvers as a preprocessing step, thus loosening some hard constraints. As a result, some of these problems are solved in less time than the corresponding problems without the dedicated facilities. However, dedicated facilities become advantageous mainly in sparse networks as opposed to dense networks. Apart from low network density, low holding cost and relatively high demand are two other system parameters that encourage the opening of dedicated facilities. SPL can be further improved by sharing inventory across shared facilities, which is already a common practice in real SPL systems. In this case, Markov chains can be used to estimate fill rates, but the process is iterative. However, under the low demand assumption of parts in SPL, we derive analytical formulae of estimating fill rates and thus incorporate inventory sharing within the network design and inventory optimization model. Special cases of this problem can be solved by an alternative binary knapsack formulation. Computational results show that large instances can be solved instantaneously, and we also identify a greedy heuristic that provides bounds on average within 0.12% of the optimal solution. We observe maximum benefit from inventory sharing when there exists large demand in the area overlapping the time window of both shared facilities and when inventory replenishment rates are high. However, we also identify conditions on the system parameters where inventory sharing could increase cost and/or decrease service in comparison with not-sharing. The combined problem of inventory sharing with customer dedicated facilities is formulated based on a binary knapsack structure. However, the problem size increases exponentially with solution time. Therefore, we construct another greedy heuristic by combining the inventory sharing heuristic and a special case algorithm for a single dedicated facility. A large size problem that takes almost a minute to be solved by conventional branch and bound is solved in less than a second using the greedy heuristic. We also show that for a given demand network, the combined problem achieves 40-60% reduction in total cost within 1% of the time taken by the problem without inventory sharing and without dedicated facilities. Another interesting result is that in some cases, adding new customers to a given inventory sharing system helps to reduce the cost and/or increase service. / text

This thesis aims at developing a conceptual model for supply networks optimization in the floriculture industry in Kenya. In the literature review a detailed account of the evolution of supply chain management, the concept and the factors influencing simultaneous optimization of supply networks in the floriculture industry is given. The area of complex adaptive systems is explored and the link with the floriculture industry in Kenya is shown. A review of current studies is done on the subject of supply chain management and particularly the various conceptual frameworks/models developed by a number of researchers around the world. The supply chain performance measurement and the requirements for model building are also given. The research methodology provides the research paradigm and research design and discusses the justification of the approach taken for the study. The target population consisted of all active cut flower exporting firms by 31st December 2009 as per the information provided by Horticultural Crops Development Authority (HCDA). This target population comprising of 412 active exporters was stratified in terms of: large, International, local, embedded, unimpeded, small and medium scale enterprises. Sampling was done through census sampling technique, in which case the entire population was considered. Data analysis is also discussed including the various tests to be carried out in relation to validity and reliability of data. There is a detailed presentation of principal factor analysis results. Finally there is a detailed discussion on the ethical considerations in the conduct of my data collection and research process. Chapter four outlined the factors that are indeed useful to be considered when designing a conceptual model for managing supply networks for simultaneous optimization. Such factors included: country development; quality of inputs; financing; customer responsiveness; research and development. Also discussed are the factors that contribute to overall organizational performance which in this case included: return on trading investment, overall operational costs, overall productivity growth rates and outsourcing activities and decisions. The triple bottom line benefits encompassing environmental vi audit, financial audit and social audit have also been discussed in relation to country specific benefits in relation to the floriculture industry in Kenya. The revised conceptual model for simultaneous optimisation of supply networks in the floriculture industry is presented consisting of: key success factors; financing; information integration; country specific benefits; transport; research and development. These are the factors which contribute to enhancing performance of the floriculture industry in Kenya. The conclusion and recommendations of the study are made on the basis of these factors. / Business Management / D.B.L. (Business Leadership)

Durante el 2011 y 2012, en el consorcio de las empresas StraconGyM y Mota-Engil Perú, en el proyecto CC-02 “Construcción de Presa de Relave y Facilidades”, se implementó la gestión de control de costos, bajo el enfoque del PMI-PMBOK (Projetc Management Institute-Projetc Management Body of Knowledge). La investigación tuvo el objetivo de determinar en qué medida la implementación del modelo de gestión de control de costos bajo el enfoque del PMI-PMBOK, permite mejorar la eficiencia del costo del proyecto CC-02. La demostración de la mejora de la eficiencia del proyecto se sustentó en; la mejora de la satisfacción de la gestión de control de costos, la mejora del desempeño del costo, y en la mejora del desempeño del trabajo por completar. Para el cual se utilizó el un diseño cuasi-experimental de serie de tiempos. Como resultado de la investigación se obtuvo un incremento de 47.82% en la satisfacción de la gestión de costos, quiere decir que pasó de 33.34% a un 81.16%, un incremento del índice desempeño del costos (eficiencia) de 111 % a 145%, y un incremento del índice desempeño del trabajo por completar de 111% a 114%. La investigación concluye, que la implementación del modelo de gestión de control de costos bajo el enfoque del PMI-PMBOK, en el proyecto CC-02, ha contribuido en la mejora de la eficiencia del costos del proyecto CC-02. During 2011 and 2012, the consortium of companies StraconGyM and Mota-Engil Peru in the CC-02 "Construction of Tailings Dam and Facilities" project management cost control was implemented under the focus of PMI- PMBOK (Project directed Management Institute-Project directed Management Body of Knowledge). The research aimed to determine to what extent the implementation of the management model of cost control under the PMI-PMBOK approach, improves the efficiency of the cost of the CC-02 project. The demonstration of the improved efficiency of the project was based on; improving the satisfaction of the management cost control, improved cost performance, and improving the performance of work to complete. Which it was used for the quasi-experimental time series design. As a result of the investigation, a 47.82% increase in satisfying cost management was obtained, means that went from 33.34% to 81.16%, an increase of cost performance (efficiency) ratio of 111% to 145% and increased job performance complete index of 111% to 114%. The research concludes that the implementation of the management model of cost control under the PMI-PMBOK approach in the CC-02 project has contributed to improving the cost efficiency of the CC-02 project.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rapid urbanisation, coupled with growing per capita incomes and a rapid rising middle class, is triggering rapid growth in urban food markets. Despite these opportunities, agriculture in South Africa is confronted with diminishing profit margins due to direct production cost increasing at rates above the revenue generated from agricultural products. This research assignment has aimed to define the attributes of an effective agricultural value chain in South Africa, given the challenges faced. To achieve this goal, the research focus was on the results of an in-depth analysis of the Dutoit Group’s deciduous fruit value chain. To be able to perform a value chain analysis it is of utmost importance to first understand the meaning of the concepts as well as their origin and the evolution of their application. This is achieved through a comprehensive study of literature. Three value chain analysis tools were used for the research. These tools were an industry analysis, value chain maps and benchmarking. Through the literature review the importance and relevance of these three tools were also explored and reasons provided why they can be regarded to be adequate for a proper in-depth analysis. An overview of the Dutoit Group’s history, focusing on the specific key events influencing the evolution of their value chains, is also discussed together with their business philosophy, business model and main accomplishments. This is done to provide context to the environment in which the value chain analysis process was performed. The main focus of the fourth chapter is the application of the three value chain analysis tools on the Dutoit Group’s deciduous fruit value chain, utilising primary and secondary data collected through interviews with specific value chain actors, observations, management information and literature obtained from the public domain. Through the application of the three value chain analysis tools the effectiveness of the Dutoit Group’s deciduous fruit value chain was evaluated, and strengths and weaknesses identified. The research results showed that the Dutoit Group’s internal deciduous fruit value chain has been effective in addressing the risk of diminishing profit margins. In addition the results showed that the key attributes of an effective value chain which are able to address the current challenges are defined as effective integration, strong relationships between value chain actors, high levels of productivity and strong leadership.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management