MSc/PgDip/PgCert Engineering Project Management (online)

This module aims to introduce the basic principles and techniques of engineering risk management and demonstrates the appropriate application of this knowledge within an engineering context.

The module covers: Risk definitions and basic risks in engineering; Risk management processes; Reliability - achieving reliability; Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) cycle; failure rate; Mean Time Between Failure; Mean Time to Fail; Mean Life; failure stages within bathtub distribution; downtime; repair time and availability; Risk classification - failure rate; severity and detection; As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP); Risk identification - Failure Modes and Affects Analysis; Hazard and Operability Study; Fault and Event Tree Analysis; Risk-based decision making – uncertainty, decision trees, Pareto optimality, Analytic Hierarchy Process and Risk legislation and litigation in engineering.

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate awareness of and ability to make general evaluations of risk issues in the context of the particular specialisation, including health & safety, environmental and commercial risk
• Demonstrate awareness of relevant regulatory requirements governing engineering activities
• Demonstrate ability to work with information that may be incomplete or uncertain, quantify the effect of this on the design and, where appropriate, use theory or experimental research to mitigate deficiencies

Assessment and feedback is in the form of a group coursework to show understanding of the risk management process in practice (100% for group contribution and submission of main reports).

This module aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the key principles, concepts, tools and techniques of total quality management and continuous improvement together with an awareness of how these can be used to design and deliver an integrated continuous improvement programme.

It covers an Introduction to Total Quality Management including definitions, basic elements and quality costing; ISO Quality Management System Standards; Quality improvement tools; Reliability Engineering and Continuous Improvement Concepts (FMEA, Lean methodologies, Kaizen, Poka Yoke, Theory of constraints).

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• understand the key principles, concepts, tools and techniques of total quality management and continuous improvement
• apply key principles, concepts, tools and techniques of total quality management and continuous improvement, including planning for real-life application of tools and techniques
• formulate improvement strategies within a particular context

Assessment and feedback is in the form of one group work (a case study report, 40%) and one individual coursework (a journal article, 60%).

This module aims to provide students with skills and knowledge relating to the use of engineering practices in Project Management with particular respect to the project triple constraint: time, cost and quality.

The module covers: project management principles, concepts and processes; organisational influences, project stakeholders and project lifecycle; project scoping such as project definition, project objectives, project deliverables, and work breakdown structure; Project planning and scheduling: definition of events, activities and nodes, network diagram, analysis of critical path, PERT method and use of industry standard software packages; Project controlling: cost estimate, budget setting, risk identification and assessment and contingency planning.

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• demonstrate a good understanding of project management practices and practical skills to manage project scope – including translating project specifications into work packages
• define and schedule project activities using tools such as critical path and PERT methods; estimate cost and determine budget using analogous and three-point estimating methods; identify and control quality standards using cost of quality and other tools
• develop a good understanding of the inter-dependency between various project management knowledge areas, such as managing projects under constraints; identifying and assessing risks and developing contingency plans
• understand the importance of project stakeholders and their impact on project management, including managing stakeholder relationships

Assessment and feedback is in the form of a group report (50%) and an individual project (50%).

This module aims to provide students insights into Strategic Purchasing Management, focussing on the Excellent Purchasing Model (EXP), which summarises purchasing functions and processes at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

The module covers: Purchasing management including impact on a company’s competitiveness, Balance sheet and P&L account, contract management; Excellent Purchasing Model to highlight a controlled process for defining purchasing management including Total Cost of Ownership; Operational processes of the Excellent Purchasing Model including legal implications and ethics in procurement, corporate social responsibility, supplier selection, implementation and management and purchasing BSC & KPI management; Category Management strategy and development including an introduction to Kraljic Matrix and supplier/customer power matrix.

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• understand why procurement is a strategic influence of an organisation and determine the building blocks that are essential to this
• demonstrate how purchasing systems may facilitate decision making at organisational levels
• identify how the purchasing strategy is defined and deployed and to prepare a strategic purchasing plan
• identify the skills and attitudes necessary to build a strategic procurement structure and the functions that make it imperative to the organisation

Assessment and feedback is in the form of a group presentation (15%) and a two-part assignment (essay) consisting of an individual assignment focusing on an evaluation of a critical procurement topic (35%) and a group analysis of a major organisation’s procurement practices case study (50%).

The aim of the individual project is to allow students to combine the skills learned in other modules of the course and apply them within a significant project in a specific area of design, manufacture, or engineering management. This will be achieved through students carrying out work into a particular topic relating to their course and preparing a dissertation that documents the project.

On completion of the module the student is expected to be able to:

• define a valid project in a cutting-edge field of study relevant to the student’s degree – with an appropriate methodology and work plan for the project
• plan, manage and complete project, involving where appropriate technical analysis and independent critical thinking. This involves giving a thorough, logical and critical review of the subject matter; using appropriate tools, processes and levels of analysis in the project and applying project management techniques to manage a successful project
• document their project using suitable presentation techniques (such as language, figures, writing, layout, structure etc.); showing clear evidence of the value of the project and its outcomes and describing the project with clarity

Based on the work of a project, a student will submit an individual dissertation that will account for 90% of the final mark for the class. An interim project justification report will account for the remaining 10% of the mark.

This module aims to provide students with an understanding of strategic aspects of finance in relation to the decision-making process and analysis necessary for efficient management of organisations.

The module will cover:

Part 1. Financial Management

• Financial organisation
• Financial accounting
• Financial planning

Part 2. Cost Engineering

• Classifications of costs
• Costing methods

Part 3. Performance Evaluation

• Financial ratios
• Limitations of financial management techniques
• Non-financial performance measurement techniques

Part 4. Financial Analysis

• Investment decisions
• Investment analysis

Part 5. Other aspects of Financial Management

• Risk Management
• Finance and Project Management

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the financial organisation of industrial enterprises.
• Understand, interpret and prepare financial statements and costing models of industrial enterprises.
• Evaluate financial models to facilitate economic decision making
• Evaluate the application and impact of performance measurement tools in a business environment

Assessment and feedback is in the form of:

• An online quiz under exam conditions to assess understanding of product costing, cost model development and financial management (50 % of overall mark)
• Working in groups (pre-assigned) you need to carry out a detailed study on an aspect of contemporary financial management. Each group will be assigned a topic to carry out an in-depth analysis of the subject. The outcome of this analysis will be communicated through a report and pre-recorded group video presentation (50% of overall mark).

The objective of this module is to introduce the participants to the theories and principles behind the discipline of Systems Thinking. The module will also introduce the participants to the methods, tools and techniques for modelling, analysing, improving and designing systems in a variety of organisations, including industrial, commercial and public sector.

The module will cover:

Systems theory, concepts and approaches

• Connectedness, complexity, hierarchy & emergence
• Understanding and modelling the concepts of value, variation, time and constraints
• Hard and soft systems analysis
• Peter Checkland’s soft systems methodology
• Viable Systems Model
• Systems Dynamics

Systems & organisational performance

• Systems thinking and its impact on personal vision and professional role
• Deming’s theory of profound knowledge & organisational learning
• Understanding and managing complexity
• Leadership in a systems environment
• Seddon’s systems thinking concepts - Purpose-Measure-Method
• ‘Design’ in a systems environment

Practical application of Systems Thinking

• Industrial case study
• Public sector case study
• Service sector case study
• People Organisation and Leadership (10 credits)
• Technology and Innovation Management (10 credits)
• Postgraduate Group Project (40 credits)

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Discuss and critically evaluate various organisational and engineering systems across a variety of organisations, including industrial, commercial and public sector
• Model, analyse and design various organisational and engineering systems across a range of organisations
• Perform systems based forms of organisational analysis and intervention in a complex organisational problem situation

Assessment and feedback is in the form of:

Group video presentation on the development of a business system model (40%) and  an individual report on two comparable business within the same industry, modelling their systems, reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses, and possible improvements (60%)

This module aims to introduce students to the “softer” aspects of engineering management.  Given some key organisational and technological issues, the main focus is to examine the relationship between “human” elements and change management from an engineering-oriented perspective.

The module will cover organisational and technological issues in the workplace, human element in organisations and leadership considerations.

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Discuss key issues in organisation and technology.
• Understand modern people management concepts and practices.
• Appreciate the challenges and consequences of change.
• Understand the impact of organisational issues on people when managing projects

Assessment and feedback is in the form of:

• Online class test (50%)
• Individual essay (50%)

This is an interdisciplinary strategic technology and innovation management course. It integrates insights from research on strategy, management control, innovation and technology, and organizational behaviour. Imagine for a moment that you are a consultant/product manager and you have been asked to develop a strategy for a major innovation initiative for a large and successful company. Based on your research, you devise a business plan and present it / pitch it to the CEO. The CEO likes it, and decides to invest on the basis of your recommendation. This course is about what happens next. We will focus on the challenges faced by the leaders of innovation initiatives, as well as how CEOs and other senior executives can either help or get in the way.

The module will cover creating, capturing, and delivering value with technology strategy. The 11 topics will cover:

a) How should one define a strategy for a technology driven company?

b) How to make innovation happen?

c) What are the three models to make innovations happen?

d) How to build innovation teams and manage partnerships?

e) How to run innovations as ‘disciplined experiments’?

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the role and importance of technology in business strategy formulation process
• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of managing the innovation process within organisations
• Develop the ability to critically assess concepts, tools and techniques of managing innovation for both stable and turbulent business environments
• Diagnose complexity and develop appropriate innovation management mechanisms for specific cases

Assessment and feedback is in the form of an individual report (100%).

This module aims for students to integrate and apply design, manufacturing and engineering management knowledge and skills to an industry based product and process development project and to develop project management skills.

The module consists of a team-based industrial project where an outline project brief is set by an industrial client. The team is expected to manage all aspects of the project through to a finished solution. This can be a product, system or process depending on the nature of the project. Teams meet with academic staff and industrial clients regularly through the project. At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the various elements associated with the respective course disciplines
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of products and management practices in industry
• Demonstrate knowledge and ability in applying and using various analysis and modelling tools and techniques in product and process realisation
• Demonstrate project planning and management, data collection and analysis, presentation, consulting and team working skills

Assessment and feedback is in the form of three milestones submitted during the project, with a final project submission at the end of Semester 2. This includes a project report, a presentation to the client and any other deliverables specified in the project brief.