News · 12/4/2016 · Meeting on Thursday 01 December 2016 in urj Rafal Kempinski Hotel , Riyadh....
Transcript of News · 12/4/2016 · Meeting on Thursday 01 December 2016 in urj Rafal Kempinski Hotel , Riyadh....
Newsletter issue # 4
December 31, 2016 What’s Inside
News
Activities
Communications
Training Schedule
Board Members
WISH YOU A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2017
On behalf of the AACE-AGS Board and I wish you a happy New Year, May every good present
day, becomes a treasure for a better tomorrow, Happy New Year!
If you have not yet remitted payment for your 2017 membership dues,
please do so immediately to ensure that you continue to receive all of the
benefits of membership with AACE, including free access to the TCM
Framework and Recommended Practices. Please email us
at [email protected] if you run into any issues. please contact Sha-
ron Hardman at [email protected] or (304) 296-8444, ext. 1105.
Ahmed K. Al-Mulhim
AACEI-AGS President
TECHNICAL DINNER MEETING
“Project Office Management – PMO”
AACE-AGS & Saudi Council of Engineers Project Management Chapter jointly conducted
the 4th Technical Dinner Meeting on Dec 1st, 2016, in Burj Rafal Kempinski Hotel, Riyadh
The Saudi Council of Engineers-Project Manage-ment Chapter and AACE-Arabian Gulf Section jointly conducted the 4th Technical Dinner Meeting on Thursday 01 December 2016 in Burj Rafal Kempinski Hotel , Riyadh.
Dr. Hasnain Rizvi ,OPM3 Consultant, Doctorate of Business Administration, Financial Management, California southern University was the speaker of this event and delivered a technical presentation on "Project Office Management – PMO".
Dr. Hasnain Rizvi and Mr. Ahmed Mulhim
AACE- AGS VISIT TO
KIN ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY
The Saudi Council of Engineers-Project Manage-ment Chapter and AACE-Arabian Gulf Section joint-ly conducted the 5th Technical Dinner Meeting on Monday 05 December 2016 in Al Khozama confer-ence center, Riyadh.
Mr. David Clifton, Middle East Regional Develop-ment Director—Faithful & Gould, with over 18 years in the projects from project, program & cli-ents representative and planning management functions in the aviation, infrastructure, mixed use, healthcare, oil & gas lifestyle sectors in (USA, UK & Middle East), was the speaker of this event and delivered a technical presentation on "An insight into PMOs and KSA Market Overview".
TECHNICAL DINNER MEETING
“An insight into PMOs and KSA Market Overview”
AACE-AGS & Saudi Council of Engineers Project Management Chapter jointly conducted
the 5th Technical Dinner Meeting on Dec 5 2016, in Al Khozama conference center, Riyadh
AACE-AGS PARTICIPATION WITH OTHER PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
AACE-AGS participated in the Annual General Meeting of the Philippine Institute of Civil En-gineers (PICE), held on Friday, 02 December 2016 in Dhahran International Hotel, 5:30 AM to 5:30 PM.
Mr. Ahmed K. Mulhem, AACE-
AGS President delivered a tech-
nical presentation on "AACE In-
ternational and Arabian Gulf Sec-
tion, Certifications and its activi-
ties etc. During the presentation
AGS offered a special discounted
fee for the AACE Certification Re-
fresher Seminars / Exam Prepara-
tory workshops for the PICE
Members. Further it was also in-
formed them the AGS is ready to
provide an in-house training pro-
gram for the PICE Members.
AACE - AGS President visit to (KFUPM)
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran
An awareness presentation about AACEi has been conducted in King Fahad
University of Petroleum and Minerals on De-
cember 20, 2016. The presentation delivered
by AACEi-Arabian Gulf section President Mr.
Ahmed Al-Mulhim covered the membership
benefits and the certifications offered by
AACEi. The attendees (over 30) from the Construction Engineer-
ing & Management Master Degree Students in addition to Dr.
Soliman Al-Mohawis appreciated the initiative from AACEi and
were very interested about the membership and certifications.
Associate Professor of
Construction Engineer-
ing & Management De-
partment at King Fahd
University of Petroleum
and Minerals (KFUPM)
Dhahran
Dr. Soliman Al Mohawis
AACE-AGS 6th Board
meeting was held on
Dec 21, 2016
Wednesday in the
conference hall of
M/s Tarkiz Consult-
ants, Al-Khobar.
AACEI - AGS
COMMUNICATIONS
A memorandum of Understanding has been signed be-tween Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) and AACEi-Arabian Gulf Section (AACEI-AGS) in Riyadh-Saudi Arabia on January 11, 2017. The MoU signed by SCE secretary General Dr. Hussain Al-Fadhli and Ahmed Al-Mulhim (President-AACEI-AGS) will pave the road for technical collaboration between both entities for training, technical seminars, conferences, membership database and utiliza-tion of SCE existing facilities for different purposes.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS OF TECHNICAL SEMINARS
The Saudi Council of Engineers -
Project Management Chapter is
pleased to invite you to submit
your abstract for its 2017 Tech-
nical Seminars, which are
planned to conduct in various
cities of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. The presentations are to
be conducted at night and the
presentation duration should be
45-60 minutes length and it shall be focused on Projects Management related topics.
Please submit at Link: https://goo.gl/forms/6RHA60xNX7MgG4tD3
CALENDAR OF EXAM PREPARATORY WORKSHOPS
REGISTER
NOW!
AACEI - ARABIAN GULF SECTION HIGHLIGHTS
TOWARDS BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT
SIX SIGMA (6 Σ) AN EXAMPLE
What is six sigma?
Sigma (σ) is a Greek alphabet letter designated as a statistical symbol for variation. The pur-
pose of Six Sigma is to reduce the process variation to meet the customer requirements. This
is stated as to have 3.4 defects per million of opportunities (DPMO).
Six Sigma can be defined in several ways. Tomkins (1997) defined six sigma to be " a program
aimed at the near-elimination of defects from every product, process and transaction" while
Harry (1998) defined it as " a strategic initiative to boost profitability, increase market share
and improve customer satisfaction through statistical tools that can lead to breakthrough
quantum gains in quality." Craig Gegy in his book " Six Sigma for Dummies" defines six sigma
to be " Six Sigma is a problem solving methodology. In fact it is the best problem solving
methodology available for improving business and organization performance.
Tomkins definition is very concise and concentrating on quality only while six sigma can re-
duce time cycle and reduce cost as well. However Harry's definition is concentrating on the
purpose of six sigma and not considering its function clearly. Again his definition was linked
only to quality. The third definition which was set by Craig Gegy was too general and did not
differentiate it between other quality programs. We can define six sigma to be " a disciplined
process that uses statistical tool to improve quality, reduce cycle time and cost of product,
process and transaction." Six sigma is not a quality management like ISO 9001 and it is not a
traditional quality program that apply the quality on the product but it is concerned with
process that produce nearly free defect product.
Six Sigma vs. Total Quality Management (TQM)
To differentiate between Six Sigma and other quality programs, we shall make compare it
with one of the most applied quality program; that is Total Quality Management (TQM).
Six Sigma is a relatively new concept compared to Total Quality Management. Tony Jackous-
ki; the writer of the article " Six Sigma vs. Total Quality Management" claimed that six sigma
was not intended to replace TQM. There are many similarities and compatibility between
both programs. Let's go for a comparison and see whether they can both be used or one of
them will prevail on the other.
TQM is concerned with the development, deployment and maintenance of the company
systems which are needed for business process. It is based on a strategic approach that con-
centrates on maintaining the current quality standards and adding incremental improve-
ment to the system. TQM is considered as a cultural initiative that creates cooperation be-
tween all functional departments within the organization to obtain overall quality.
While TQM has helped many companies to improve their products and services quality, Six
Sigma has the potential to get sharper results because of relying on statistical tools and sci-
entific methods. Six Sigma is not just a program of improving the process but it is a continu-
ous one that keeps improving the process by nearly reducing effect by 3.4 defects per mil-
lion of opportunities (DPMO). It uses a statistical process control (SPC) for controlling and
monitoring the process. Once it gains a result, it shifts to the second level and so on. Howev-
er TQM reach a stage which there is no further a stage of improvement.
TQM method focuses on the conformance to the internal requirement to improve the quali-
ty while Six Sigma is concerned on reducing the number of defect, time cycle and cost. It is
not a cost cutting but eliminating the steps which have no added value to the product and
considered as waste.
TQM deals with individual operation within unrelated business process while Six Sigma im-
proves all operations related to a single business process. Six sigma requires the participa-
tion of a full time professional Black Belt (BB) certified professional to lead the improvement
process while TQM can assign a part time none dedicated manager.
Six Sigma is a project initiative that requires a charter including preplanned schedule, re-
sources and financial benefits. Companies using TQM usually are not aware of the financial
benefits and cost of the improvement process. Six Sigma is based on DMAIC process to de-
fine the problem clearly, measure the effects and recommend the solutions which can be
measured.
In conclusion, Six Sigma is a fact based and data driven that provides a quantifiable and
measured solution and a result oriented method and linked to organization strategy and cus-
tomer expectations. I think that TQM is on its way to expiry and Six Sigma will prevail and
outlast TQM.
History of Six sigma
According to Sung H. Park in his book " SIX Sigma for Quality and Production Promotion' Six
Sigma has been launched by Motorola in 1987. In the late of 1970s, Motorola has been in
danger because of the strength of Japanese quality. Paul Galvin; the owner of Motorola re-
ceived a notice of customers dissatisfaction. He decided to make the satisfaction of customer
the number one objective of his company. He sat goals on performance improving for the
next five years. Furthermore, he solicited a quality experts like Joseph Juran and Dorian Shain-
in. Both helped in identifying quality problem and solving them with statistical improvement
methodologies. From 1981 to 1986, Motorola has invested $220,000 to train 3500 people.
The financial benefits were around $6.4 million of cost savings and a real performance im-
provement and customers satisfactions were noticed. However, the danger of Japanese quali-
ty is still there. As a result, Motorola's communication center presented their ideas to Mr. Gal-
vin as " Six Sigma Mechanical Design Tolerancing". Motorola in that time, estimated that they
were performing around 4 sigma, i.e. 6,800 DPMO. The next five years, the communication
sector realized that the gap between them and the Japanese were diminished. After their suc-
cess, Motorola launched their strategic initiative which
was called " Six Sigma Quality". Saving estimate for 1988 was $480 million from$ 9.2 Billion of
sales. The following year, Motorola received a prestigious Malcolm Baldrige. After one year,
they have been awarded the Nikkei Award for manufacturing from Japan.
One question comes to our minds that who were the inventor of Six Sigma? Alan Ramias in his
article " The Mists of Six Sigma" discusses the idea that six sigma was invented by one person
and according to Peter Pande, Craig Gygi that many people contributed to the invention of Six
Sigma.
“Motorola is where Six Sigma began. A highly skilled, confident, and trained engineer who
knew statistics, Mikel Harry, began to study the variations in the various processes within
Motorola.” – Six Sigma for Everyone, by George Eckes.
“Alan Larson, one of the early internal Six Sigma consultants who later helped spread the
concept to GE and AlliedSignal.” – The Six Sigma Way by Peter Pande, et al.
Though, Six Sigma was introduced by Motorola, GE is the company which proven the effec-tiveness of Six Sigma. GE began Six Sigma program in 1995 and has achieved remarkable re-sults since that time. An annual report of GE operating income states that that Six Sigma add-ed $ 300 million to the income and in 1998; this number has been increased to $ 750 million.
Six Sigma Limitations
According to Dr. Jiju Antony in his article "Some Pros and Cons of Six Sigma", we can summa-
rize Six Sigma limitation as follows:-
Six Sigma requires a quality data to start the improvement project. In some cases, it is
very difficult to find the required information. This part can really take the major part of
the project.
The right selection and prioritization of project is very critical to the success of Six Sigma
program. In the author opinion, there are very few tools and most of tools are purely sub-
jective. This could be a good subject for further research.
Six Sigma target is to reach 3.4 DPMO while defects in service could be anything which can
dissatisfy the customers. This assumes that all defects are equally bad. For Example; in
hospitals, a patient misbehaving is not as important as diagnosis mistakes and still both of
them are considered to be defects.
No standardized procedure in certification as research showed that skills and expertise de-
veloped by Black Belts/Green Belts are inconsistence across different companies.
The relation between Cost of Poor Quality (COPC) and the process Six Sigma Level needs
further justifications.
Six Sigma can easily fall in bureaucratic exercises if they concentrated on how many black
belts were certified? Or number of accomplished projects rather than the baseline savings.
Six Sigma in Services Business A research done by Yilmaz and Chaterjee (2000) has shown that services industry like billing,
invoicing, payroll, shipping and service order were performing less than 3.5 sigma which is
23000 DPMO or 97.7%. If we want to improve the process to 4 sigma, i.e. 6210 DPMO or
99.38%, that will indicate 3.5 fold in development of process performance. The real economy
in developed countries is no longer manufacturing based economy as manufacturing was
shifted to low cost countries like china, India, Thailand, etc. Therefore, the service businesses,
like health services, logistics, financial services and commercial one are occupying the vast
majority of business in these countries. Six Sigma can be used for service businesses to re-
duce the cost of poor quality so that a better process can be achieved. Another reason to use
Six Sigma is to minimize the process variation. For instance, the customers nowadays are ra-
tional. They consider the delivery variation rather than the average mean of the delivery time.
Therefore, there is a big chance for Six Sigma to improve the process.
Myth about Six Sigma Six Sigma is still not yet prevailing in service business like in UK because of the wrong believes
that Six Sigma is only associated with manufacturing solutions. They believe that since service
business is driven by human beings, so there is no part for Six Sigma in the business. Further-
more, it is thought that Six Sigma needs complicated and special statistical and improvement
tools for service business. In fact, Service business does not need many tools of Six Sigma
toolbox. They need some simple tools in problem solving like Process Mapping, Cause and
Effect Analysis, Pareto Analysis and Control Chart and so on.
Another myth is that Six Sigma requires massive training cost and additional efforts that cause
misconception among employees. It is true that Six Sigma requires some investment for the
talented people who can act as "change agent. It was proven that the financial benefits ac-
quired from Six Sigma will outweigh the investment cost.
In conclusion
We can claim that Six Sigma made and will continue make remarkable changes to business by
adding a high value that will add competitive ad-
vantages to those organizations adapting Six Sig-
ma. Let's wrap up by what GE CEO; Jack Welch
described Six Sigma as follows: "Six Sigma will
be an exciting journey and the most difficult and
invigorating stretch goal we have ever undertak-
en… This Six Sigma will change the paradigm
from fixing products so that they are perfect to
fixing processes so that they produce nothing
but perfection, or close to it."
A professional Construction Project Manager
holding a BS. in Mechanical Engineering from King
Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
(KFUPM), MBA Degree from Al Ahlia University
and PMP Credential backed by 17 years’ experi-
ence predominantly in construction and engi-
neering projects with exposure to industrial sales
and design/conduct of HR development & profes-
sional training courses and currently working with
Jacobs Zate (JZ), as a Manager of Construction.
Ali Al Marar
Jacobs Construction Project Manager
PMP, AVS , MBA
M: +966561567450 | [email protected]
HOW GOOD PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CONTRIBUTES TO WORKPLACE SAFETY
Every workplace owes its employees a duty to ensure their
safety at work. When a workplace is a high-risk one, such as a
construction site or a plant, it is particularly important to be
meticulous about safety given the potential for the occurrence
of disastrous accidents. When an environment is inherently
risky and may give rise to dangerous situations, careful project
management is necessary in order to ensure employees’ safe-
ty. While safety measures can certainly help to reduce the risk
of workplace injuries, without sound project management
such measures may be rendered ineffective.
Following are a few reasons project management is a key
ingredient in ensuring workplace safety.
Centralized Point of Contact
Many serious accidents don’t just happen out of the blue. In-
stead, they are often preceded by seemingly benign situations
that nonetheless reveal potential dangers. For example, em-
ployees neglecting to wear proper safety equipment can usual-
ly be identified as a risk even before an accident occurs. Many
dangerous situations also develop over long periods of time
and can be spotted before an accident occurs. For instance,
any wear and tear or damage to equipment or scaffolding is
usually noticed before it leads to accidents. Good project man-
agement will provide anyone who notices potentially danger-
ous situations with a centralized point of contact to report
such dangers.
Central Point for Scheduling
As employee numbers increase, it becomes difficult to be ap-
prised of what each individual team is doing, and this may
cause overlaps in tasks that can prove dangerous. Sound pro-
ject management is needed for effective scheduling, which
can ensure, for instance, that the maximum number of people
who can be accommodated safely in a particular area is never
exceeded.
Keeps Employees Informed
It is not enough for management to know who is doing what
and where. All employees need to be similarly apprised of
what is going on so they do not make mistakes that might give
rise to dangerous situations. This is best done with a daily
morning briefing that will keep all employees up to date be-
fore they begin work.
First Point of Contact for Outsiders
Many dangerous situations arise because an outsider, such as
a worker from another company or a deliveryman, enters the
premises without being aware of safety rules and danger
zones. Good project management provides all outsiders with
a first point of contact to ensure they do not end up wander-
ing around the premises unaccompanied.
By offering centralized organization, project management con-
tributes invaluably to workplace safety. This is especially cru-
cial when there are large numbers of employees or teams
performing different tasks. When employees and teams are
not aware of what others are doing, they unwittingly cause
dangerous situations to arise. With clear and concise schedul-
ing and employees who have a keen awareness of what is go-
ing on at the premises, risks at the workplace can be reduced
considerably.
In-house Training Programs
AGS also provides in-house training programs for companies / organizations on their
premises during the 5-day work week.
The AACE International certification program has been designed to provide the industry with
Certified Professionals to perform as cost engineers, estimators, planners & schedulers.
Additionally, the workshops enhance abilities of Cost Engineering Professionals by gaining special
recognition of their peers and highlighting those who meet prescribed standards of performance and
conduct and have demonstrated their excellence by maintaining a high level of competence.
For registration https://goo.gl/forms/u8tBFmadsaEOKmU32
OR contact at [email protected] / [email protected]
For more updates please log on our website: www.aace-ags.org / www.aacei.org
CALENDAR OF CERTIFICATION
AACEI-AGS is pleased to announce the schedule for the upcoming Certification Refresher
Seminars and Exam preparatory Workshops which are to be conducted on every Fridays,
02:00 PM to 7:00 PM in Saudi Arabia
Certification Seminars for June 2016 to May 2017
MONTH VENUE CERTIFICATION NAME
Oct-Nov 2016 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CCP - Cost Certified Professional Exam Preparatory Workshops
Oct-Nov 2016 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CEP - Cost Estimation Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Nov-Dec 2016 Al-Khobar, Riyadh PSP - Planning & Scheduling Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Dec-Jan 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh EVP – Earned Value Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Feb-Apr 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CCP - Cost Certified Professional Exam Preparatory Workshops
Mar-Apr 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh PSP - Planning & Scheduling Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Apr-May 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CEP - Cost Estimation Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Apr-May 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh EVP – Earned Value Professional Exam Prep Workshops