The Rise and Fall of a PM System

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Sundance Thermal Generating Plant has six 375-megawatt generators. Before 1979, its annual maintenance shutdowns were handled entirely by external specialized contractors. In 1980, the plant staff started to assume project management control of the shutdowns, using the contractors as subcontractors. Working initially with a training consultant, the plant crew started with short planning sessions and manually updated CPM networks. Over the next 4 years, the project management methods quickly advanced to a simple computer critical path on a time-share system, and then to a complex resource-balanced program on a dedicated VAX. By this time, most of the contractors had been replaced by locally hired tradespeople who were managed directly by the plant staff.The consultant left the project in 1984, and the maintenance staff took over the training and development tasks associated with the system. Seven years later, in 1992, the project management system was observed, evaluated, and compared against t...