Coursecode: mt726

Course name: Project Management in the Maritime Industry

ECTS creditpoints: 4

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology

Lecturer(s): Prof. Dr. Ir. U. Nienhuis MBA

Tel.:  015-27 85306

Catalog data:

Project management basics, project management scope, goal and result definition, five PM control aspects, planning, critical path, work-breakdown.structure, organisational structure, information flows, quality, cost calculation, project risk analysis, decision making, leadership styles, negotiation, contract terms and basics, culture, team composition, proposal preparation.

Course year:

MSc 1e year

Period:

1B

Class hours per week:

Variable: abt 3

Other hours:

Project work in groups of 2 to 4 students + Individual presentation

Assessment:

Report + presentation + participation + Written exam

Assessm.period:

(see academic calendar)

Prerequisites:

Ø       In view of the availability of real-life projects from industry and the available class hours the lecturer may adhere to a maximum number of 20 students. If this is the case, admission will be in the order of registration through BlackBoard.

Ø       If the number of students is less or equal to 10, presentation assignments will be on an individual basis. If the number of participants is between 10 and 20, the presentation assignment will be given out to pairs of students.

Ø       For students of Maritime Technology: mt501 (geometry & stability), mt517 (introduction to ship hydromechanics), mt701 (maritime operations), mt802 (ship structures 1), mt702 (ship production 1)

Ø       For students of Civil Engineering:

-          basic ship stability (Archimedes, metacentric height, Scribanti, righting moment)

-          basic ship resistance & propulsion (resistance estimation, propulsive efficiency, speed & power estimates)

-          basic strength & stiffness (simple beam theory (forget-me-nots), buckling loads)

Follow up:

mt727 (Shipyard processes), mt724 (Ship finance), mt728 (Ship repair & salvage)

Detailed description of topics:

CLASSES ON WEDNESDAYS (5th, 6th, 7th and incidentally 8th hour).

Contents and order of lectures are indicative and subject to change without notice. Planned classes are:

¨       1st class     U. Nienhuis

>        1st hour: Introduction to course, learning goals, expected deliverables, evaluation criteria, introduction to project work, general introduction to project management

>        2nd hour: General introduction to project management (continued), work breakdown structure

>        3rd hour: Division of students in teams, assignment of project case work, provision of case contacts and/or material, allocation of presentation assignments

¨       2nd class    Guest lecturer - Floris Groenevelt

>        1st hour: Introduction to planning, planning methods, planning principles, critical path method

>        2nd hour: Planning tools, level of detail, shipbuilding planning, examples from practice

>        3rd hour: Reserved for planning discussion

¨       3rd class     U. Nienhuis

>        1st hour: Cost calculation, costing methods, rules of thumb

>        2nd hour: Introduction to decision making; discussion on progress of case work

>        3rd hour: Presentation 1 & 2 by participating students

¨       4th class     U. Nienhuis

>        1st hour: Introduction to project organisation issues, types of organisations and their pros & cons, role of project manager, project organisation design

>        2nd hour: Introduction to culture, definition, types of culture, strength & weakness of culture, examples of culture-induced preferences

>        3rd hour: Presentation 3 & 4 by participating students; discussion on progress of case work

¨       5th class     U. Nienhuis

>        1st hour: Introduction to information flows, documentation needs, information flow diagrams, information use, standardisation of information

>        2nd hour: Introduction to quality, types of quality, formal quality structures such as ISO, QA/QC-systems, project quality definitions, liabilities

>        3rd hour: Presentation 5 & 6 by participating students; discussion on progress of case work

¨       6th class     U. Nienhuis

>        1st hour: Introduction to risk analysis, definition of risk, risk assessment methods, types of project risk, categorisation of risk, risk control options, project risk inventory

>        2nd hour: Introduction to negotiation, types of negotiation situations, structuring a negotiation, negotiation phases, formalising negotiation results

>        3rd hour: Presentation 7 & 8 by participating students; discussion on progress of case work

¨       7th class     U. Nienhuis/Guest lecturer

>        1st hour: A negotiation case

>        2nd hour: Presentation 9 & 10 by participating students; discussion on progress of case work

>        3rd hour: Guest lecture on practical project management issues on a shipyard.

PROJECT WORK

The project work comprises a collaborative effort of a team of students. Each team will comprise two to four students. The case material will be supplied by industry. Each case will cover a recent real-life situation. Examples of previously carried out cases are:

>         Conversion of two VLCC’s into two FPSO’s;

>         Replacing the auxiliary engines in a gas tanker;

>         Salvaging of a Japanese fishing boat in the Pacific;

>         Building an oil recovery/survey vessel;

>         Conversion of a bulk carrier into a rock dumping vessel;

>         Newbuilding of an ultra-heavy platform-removal vessel;

>         Conversion of two VLCC’s into an ultra-heavy platform-removal vessel;

>         Building of a buoy laying vessel.

Each team will receive documents such as the industry has received as well. The team is required to prepare a project plan and corresponding bid. The team will be able to interact with the company’s representative to prepare the project plan. The result of the team will be presented to the participating company and the lecturer.

NOTE

Typically the student is expected to distribute the available hours along the following lines:

>         Following class:                                           abt 22 hours

>         Preparing the presentation                            abt 10 hours

>         Executing the case work                              abt 90 hours

>         Preparing for the exam                                 abt 4 hours

Course material:

Author and title of book to be announced at a later date.

References from literature:

To be supplied during first class.

Remarks assessment, entry requirements, etc.:

While the course may be given in English, not all project case material may be available in English. Since the project cases are supplied by industry and cannot be translated, the lecturer reserves the right to provide foreign language students with a specific task other than an industry-provided project case.

Assessment will be on the basis of:

Case Report & Presentation

The report will deal with the project management case issued to the group of students. The group is required to prepare a project plan for the case in hand and prepare a bid to the potential client. The report will detail the following items:

¨       Problem statement & analysis

¨       Precise demarcation of the project (goal, result, etc)

¨       Work breakdown structure

¨       Cost estimate and consequences for financing

¨       Organisational, quality and information flow issues

¨       Risk analysis and risk control options

¨       Bid document and conditions

¨       Conclusions and recommendations

The case-work will be presented by means of a PowerPoint presentation to a representative from the company that has provided the case and to the lecturer.

Assigned Presentation

Each student or each pair of students (depending on the number of participants) will make a presentation on a subject of their choice related to project management. The lecturer may decide to assign a certain subject. The presentation shall elucidate the subject to fellow students. From literature the students shall present a structured overview of the subject. They shall also present their thoughts on the practical application and implications of the subject matter. They will draw conclusions relative to the relevance and limitations of the presented material. The presentation shall be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

Written Exam

The 1-hour written exam will mainly aim at testing if the student has sufficiently mastered the whole breadth of the material covered in the course.

Individual Participation

Learning goals:

The following learning goals are pursued. Upon completion of the course the student must be able to:

1.       Apply the presented theoretical framework to a particular, practical case;

2.       Detail the project phases, formulate goal and results, identify and analyse the critical technical project aspects, assess the associated risks qualitatively and possibly quantitatively and develop risk control options;

3.       Develop a work break-down structure and translate this into a cost estimate and a planning;

4.       Develop a project plan in terms of Time, Money, Quality, Information and Organisation;

5.       Formulate a quotation with corresponding conditions;

6.       Analyse, structure and carry out a (simple) negotiation situation;

7.       Evaluate the use and limitations of project management theory.

Computer use:

Planning tool (probably MS Project), Excel, Word, possibly basic maritime technology software

Laboratory project(s):

None

Design content:

None

Percentage of design:  0%