Iyno presents report, webinar on May 14

Cummaquid, Massachusetts – Profitable Programs research report sponsored by Deltek and published by Iyno Advisors captures the current state of project-based manufacturing and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations.

 

Project-based operations that improved on-time and on-budget performance by 10% or more were nine times as likely to also improve dramatically on key financial metrics such as net profit margin and cost of compliance. Nearly every project-based manufacturer feels it is important for their company to improve on end-to-end project management but less than half of the companies in project manufacturing, aerospace and defense (A&D), and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sectors with project-based operations make wide use of any recognized category of commercial software system. This includes limited use of enterprise resources planning (ERP) and quality management (QMS) systems. 

 

These are just a few of the findings in the new research report Profitable Programs: Transforming Project-based Operations. The report – designed to capture the current state of project-based manufacturing and MRO – was co-authored by Jeffrey Hill and Julie Fraser of Iyno Advisors and will be available for download on May 14, 2014, on the Deltek website.

 

Part of the challenge for many project-based operations is that the software they use is not well suited to their business. Only 13% of respondents report that the enterprise software they use is commercial software well-designed for the types of projects and manufacturing they perform. Program and project-based businesses are different, and only a few enterprise software providers truly support all of the processes these companies need. Most software also does not offer end-to-end information flow for a project from enterprise accounting through to plant operations and timekeeping. This makes measuring earned value management (EVM) a moderate or major challenge for over 60% of the industry.

 

The research shows that those who do have both enterprise resources planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MES) that interoperate are more likely to have improved on key operational metrics such as customer complaints, product quality, and project on-time (OT) and on-budget (OB).

 

The research findings are based on a February 2014 on-line survey of over 250 respondents in aerospace manufacturing (16%), aircraft manufacturing (12%), MRO or service (9%), military or government operation (9%), defense equipment (9%), avionics or custom electronics (6%), satellites and related equipment (2%), and suppliers to those industries (23%), as well as other project-based industries (14%). The companies surveyed were of all sizes, and nearly evenly split between a focus on government and commercial contracts. In addition to the on-line survey data, the report includes material gathered from telephone interviews with experienced practitioners in these industries.

 

In addition to the research report, Deltek is hosting a no-cost public webinar on May 14, 2014, with study lead author Julie Fraser, president of Iyno Advisors, Conrad Leiva VP of iBASEt, Debbie White, senior product director for Deltek, and Ed Kestel, director manufacturing, Technical Operations – East, for Orbital Sciences Corp. 

 

Participants in the webinar will receive a copy of the research report Profitable Programs: Transforming Project-based Operations with all of the data listed above. The report also includes more information on what works and anecdotes from experienced project operations managers. Register for the webinar by clicking here.

 

The presenters on the webinar will discuss the challenges of project and program management – one of the top two areas where companies surveyed are taking strategic action. The other area is improvement in the efficiency of operations.