Operations and Supply Chain Management 14th Edition by Robert Jacobs,Richard Chase

Exercise 2

You work for Nokia in its global cell phone group. You have been made project manager for the design of a new cell phone. Your supervisors have already scoped the project so you have a list showing the work breakdown structure, and this includes major project activities. You must plan the project schedule and calculate project duration. Your boss wants the schedule on his desk tomorrow morning!
You have been given the information in Exhibit 4.13. It includes all the activities required in the project and the duration of each activity. Also, dependencies between the activities have been identified. Remember that the preceding activity must be fully completed before work on the following activity can be started.
Your project is divided into five major subprojects. Subproject P involves developing specifications for the new cell phone. Here decisions related to such things as battery life, size of the phone, and features need to be made. These details are based on how a customer uses the cell phone. These user specifications are redefined in terms that have meaning to the subcontractors that will actually make the new cell phone in subproject S, supplier specifications.

These involve engineering details for how the product will perform.
The individual components that make up the product are the focus of subproject D. Subproject I brings all the components together, and a working prototype is built and tested.
Finally in subproject V, suppliers are selected and contracts are negotiated.
Calculate the start and finish times for each activity and determine the minimum number of weeks for completing the project. Find the activities that are on the critical path for completing the project in the shortest time.