Your employer is a display manufacturer whose client sells prestige cosmetics selling approximately $10 million dollars annually to clients globally. Most clients are located in Canada and the United States; however, the company has recently started selling into Europe.

With the multiple clients/customers from various industries around the globe, production requirements compete for capacity among all of the client requests. Sales Representatives will often "sell" short timelines to gain the sale in the competitive display manufacturing business.

As the newly employed Project Manager you have just been handed the prestige cosmetic account, specifically Lancme. Your task is to manage the process to produce a display that normally takes 8 weeks in 6 weeks in preparation for the busy Holiday/Christmas selling season.

The Stakeholders (Players)

The team in your company that handles the work has multiple members. They include:

Stakeholder Name	Stakeholder Job Description
Sales Representative	Owns the relationship with the client and pursues new business as well as has the final authority over existing business as well. Sales Representatives are commission based.
Account Manager	Manages the day -to-day relationship with various levels of contact with the client. Has primary responsibility for communication between the client and the organization.
Designer	Creates the updated look and feel of the display. Incorporates the client's input for visual look and feel along with new product selection and marketing. This team is short-staffed, and tempers can run high as the creative work needs to be created on short-turn-around times.
Detailer	Converts the designer's artistic vision into confirmed parts that can be manufactured into the final displays.
Prototype Team	Produce first off samples of all display components to confirm fit and client approval.
Production Team	Using drawings and prototypes as reference, produce the required quantity of final update packages to ship out to stores.
Project Manager	Coordinates the timing and delivery of the entire project. Responsible for ordering materials, issuing production orders, planning packaging and coordinating shipping.
Retailer	Provides the space for the client/cosmetic brand to display their products. Has a specific stake in coordinating changes and updates within their store and has an interest in the work being completed on a schedule that they have agreed to.
The Brand/Client/Customer	Has the requirement to update their displays in stores and provides the scope of changes to products as well as the marketing focus/messaging for the upcoming quarter whether it is a new product launch, feature of an existing product or another generic message.

Display background

The products are displayed in store using a self-service system that displays various product groupings and individual items for testing or observing colours. Displays are typically sets of 2 or 3 shelf sections, 3'-4' wide each. The centre or top section is often a "feature" area that promotes the main marketing messaging.

Typical process

The Brand/ client/customer provides updated scope, which could include any of the following: New products Removed products Focus message Overall theme Any key messaging & images Any secondary messaging and image

Account manager conveys information from client to designer by way of a design brief which is provided at a kick-off meeting that includes the project manager and sometimes the sales rep.

The designer interprets the design brief and prepares a presentation to show the planned display of the various products.

The design is presented to the client and feedback is obtained for revision/refinement of the planned changes.

The account manager provides the client feedback to the designer, informing the project manager of the communication for status purposes.

This circular process continues until the client is satisfied and approves the design - hopefully in as few revisions as possible.

Once approved the design is passed to the detailer to create technical production drawings for the manufacturing team to use.

Any long lead time materials are typically ordered at this time to ensure the delivery schedule can be met.

Once technical drawings are complete, they are passed to the prototyping team who create a first off/prototype for review by the client. The account manager takes these samples to the client, has them review and approve or provide feedback for changes.

Once the prototypes are approved, the job is submitted to production where it will travel through several departments including machine shop, graphics and final assembly with the project manager responsible for ensuring that each department is planning for the work and is ready to execute it in a timely fashion.

Once final assembly has put the displays together and packaged them up, the project manager issues a shipping request to have the job sent to the client and issues the paperwork for invoicing and closing off the project.

Throughout the project, the project manager must ensure that each person or department working on the update does their work in timely fashion to ensure the planned in store date (project completion is met.