Manufacturing/Processing Plant Improves Project Management with Training from Boston University Corporate Education Center

Westinghouse Electric Company's Western Zirconium Plant wanted to improve its ability to meet project goals, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction, but found that the knowledge of project management of its engineering employees varied greatly. With mounting pressure to complete more projects, the team required training in best practices for project management. The company partnered with Boston University Corporate Education Center to implement a comprehensive project management training program designed specifically to help the engineers standardize project management as the means to achieve rigorous business goals. After 24 days of training, over the course of a year, comprehensive project management is helping the company reduce the high cost of rework, lessen downtime, and maintain its high caliber of customer service.

Technical Manufacturing Process Requires Advanced Project Management Skills
Westinghouse Electric Company provides fuel, services, technology, plant design, and equipment to utility and industrial customers in the worldwide commercial nuclear electric power industry. The Western Zirconium Plant in Ogden, Utah, processes zirconium to make parts for power plants. The plant extracts zirconium from zircon sand and converts it to high-quality metal alloyed with iron, nickel, and chrome to withstand the extreme environments of power plants. These zirconium ingots are transferred to sister plants where they are formed into the components for the power plants—the tubing, plugs, and grids that hold the uranium fuel.

Because the zirconium is used in power plants, there is a great need for precision and quality in all manufacturing processes. The 400 plant employees provide products and services that fully satisfy customer, industry, and regulatory requirements. All customer projects—from order entry through design, manufacturing, and servicing—are managed in accordance with high-quality management standards. To meet these standards, it is essential that project scope is accurate, adequate resources are allocated, and customer deliverables meet the project goals. There is no room at Westinghouse for scope creep, cost overruns, missed deadlines, understaffed projects, or misalignment of resources.

"With tighter budgets, demanding time constraints, and fewer resources, more of our staff needed to be trained in industry-standard project management methods," explained Rick Propst, manager of engineering projects and technology. "There is increasing pressure to complete more and more projects, so it becomes even more critical to do precise project and resource planning to meet our goals."

The highly experienced engineering staff has extensive technical education, yet little formal training in project management. Propst was convinced that even an MBA degree was inadequate preparation for expert project management. In today's fast-paced business environment, it takes skilled individuals to successfully plan and execute projects in the workplace, and insightful strategies to get the job done quickly and with minimal resources.

Westinghouse Electric Adopts Boston University Project Management Training
While developing plans to institute project management training, Propst learned that another Westinghouse Electric division, Nuclear Services, was also implementing project management training to help its staff gain important business skills and was establishing required levels of project management competencies for employees. As the process unfolded, it was decided that all of the Westinghouse Electric business units would adopt the same project management competency requirements for employees, who will have to complete a core curriculum of standardized training in order to manage future projects. Propst's first initiative was to ensure that all engineers in his plant were trained in project management to meet these developing requirements.

That's when he turned to Boston University Corporate Education Center, which was already engaged with other Westinghouse Electric business units for project management training. The Boston University project management program provides a comprehensive, standardized educational program that offers real-life project management methods and techniques to position individuals as leaders and provide companies with a competitive advantage.

The Western Zirconium Plant executive team wanted to select a training partner with a university-based program, one that was closely aligned with the Project Management Institute's (PMI®) professional standards. Other options included local universities, but Propst felt strongly that because Boston University Corporate Education Center is greatly respected in the training industry and offers professional training designed around the PMI standards, it was the best choice.

Boston University Corporate Education Center is a charter member of the PMI global corporate council and the only university represented on the council. Boston University is also a charter Global Registered Education Provider through PMI. The University's project management curriculum is compliant with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide, a collection of best management practices for project management. In addition to preparing project managers for certifications including Project Management Professional (PMP®) and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®), Boston University offers a wide variety of project management courses and certificate programs, and its curriculum can be customized to meet the specific development needs of customers.

In addition to the high level of industry recognition, Boston University Corporate Education Center's courses satisfy the core curriculum requirements adopted by Westinghouse Electric. Earlier, a few of the Western Zirconium Plant employees took some project management courses, but it was not the comprehensive training program that offered the skills and knowledge that the Boston University courses provide.

Boston University Training Advances Individual Skills and Corporate Goals
As Boston University Corporate Education Center and the Western Zirconium Plant planned the training program, they focused on individual skill development to enable comprehensive project management planning and consistent management of projects. The program was customized to concentrate on standardizing both the language and the approach to projects, capturing and implementing best practices in project management, improving consistency in project delivery, and providing better management of the project portfolio. The Boston University Corporate Education Center project management program included select modules to cover essential knowledge areas and incorporated several days of coaching by Boston University experts to support application of the content covered in the program, including mentoring, process documentation review, and facilitated project support.

The project management training program included eleven courses, with 24 days of training conducted over the course of ten months in Utah. The first 17 participants who successfully completed the requirements received certificates from Boston University. Initially, many of the engineers were nervous about being in a learning environment after having been out of school for so many years, but as soon as the courses started, they wanted to immediately apply their new skills. After the program was completed, they formed study groups to prepare for the PMI certification exam because they recognized that PMP certification adds valuable credentials for career advancement. In addition, as the training progressed, they instituted peer checks so that there was a team approach to all project management planning activities.

The attendees reported that all of Boston University Corporate Education Center's instructors were exceptional, with a high level of hands-on industry expertise, instructional techniques, and outstanding instruction of PMBOK methods. The courses had high levels of individual participation and discussion, and exceeded company expectations.

While their new competencies allow the trained individuals to better meet their current responsibilities and to advance their careers, the Western Zirconium Plant also has realized seen significant benefits from the education program. There is improved teamwork, especially for those who didn't have much team experience before. And, the use of tools and project management has become uniform across the division.

Although it is still early in the process, there are recent improvements in project scope statements, and some individuals are circling back to bring their new skills to projects already underway to try to improve the outcomes. Propst feels that achieving the long-term goals of improved productivity, decreased time to complete projects, increased customer satisfaction and sales, and lower costs are just over the horizon.

This initial project management training program is just the beginning of important education goals that the plant team means to accomplish. Boston University Corporate Education Center is the first resource Propst intends to enlist to help. In the meantime, Boston University continues to support the group as it advances its project management skills to meet the needs of its business unit.

About Boston University Corporate Education Center
Boston University Corporate Education Center offers award-winning programs in business, project management, process management, leadership, and information technology. Boston University provides customized corporate training solutions, instructor-led classes, and online training programs. For more information, go to www.BUtrain.com, or call 1-800-BU-TRAIN (288-7246).

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PMI, PMP, CAPM, and PMBOK are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. Other product and company names are property of their respective owners.

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Boston University Corporate Education Center Project Management Training Program for Westinghouse Electric Company

Course

Training Days

Principles & Techniques of Project Management

3

Effective Project Scheduling

3

Project Management Using Microsoft Project 2003

2

Estimating and Managing Project Costs

2

How to Assess and Manage Project Risk

2

Project Quality Management

1

Managing Project Communications

2

Managing Successful Negotiations

2

Building High-Performance Teams

2

Simulation of Real-World Project Management

3

Preparing for the PMP Exam

2

TOTAL

24