Critical Chain Method Based Scheduling Management Research In SAIC Motor IP32 Vehicle Development Project

As China’s economy slows,the development of domestic automotive industry is shifting from a high-speed stage to a stable stage.As a result,this has triggered more fierce market competition.For carmakers,only by responding to customer demand more quickly and by launching new products can they seize the immediate market opportunities.Automotive development is a complex activity,due to the application of Concurrent Engineering in its process,many project tasks are carried out in parallel,which leads to multiple critical paths.Once one of the critical paths experiences delays as a result of resource constraint,many of the others might be influenced.If this is left unchecked,it may cause delay in the overall progress.In the past,the extensive management style only focused on time scheduling which fails to allow consideration for resource constraint.This management style can neither adapt to the present situation nor meet the new requirements of modern project schedule management.In light of the present situation regarding schedule management problems in automotive development.this article will discuss schedule management in SAIC MOTOR’s IP32 project base on Critical Chain Method.Firstly,this article gives a brief introduction of the theory of project schedule management and Critical Chain Method.Secondly,it summarizes the state of SAIC MOTOR IP32 project,putting forward the need to apply Critical Chain Method to IP32 project.Thirdly,it expatiates upon the methods and procedures of the project scheduling and controlling in IP32 project,including time scheduling base on Network Planning Technique,resource restrains recognition,activity priority definition,resource schedule base on heuristic method,buffer setting base on Cut-paste Method,dynamic buffer monitoring etc.Through the study on project scheduling management in IP32,theory of Critical Chain Method and automotive development project are well combined.In the project scheduling part,this paper set a principle of resource allocating and scheduling base on Network Planning Technique,this provides a scheme for Resource Constraint Project Scheduling Problem(RCPSP).Through the buffer setting,the risk posed by project uncertainties is lowered,Parkinson’s Law and student syndrome are avoided.In the controlling part,this paper sets up a control mechanism for the schedule plan base on the dynamic buffer monitoring model.This model lets the buffers to release more precise information about the progress of the progress by means of setting the monitor timing and the warn trigger dynamically.By using this,project administrators can take corrective actions in time when project schedule does not go exactly according to the plan.The research in this article has universal significance for automotive development projects or similar projects.