Project Manager Review

This module has been well informative and allowed the group to successfully design a crane to fit a given brief, in accordance to BS standards.


It was important to choose the most suitable crane design from the large variety found in the first week: gantry, jib, tower crane, bridge crane, stacker crane... Ultimately after a long debate, the group chose a gantry type as it best suited the scenario and had the best chances of working productively in accordance to the brief.


Calculations, materials and costs were continuously assessed and reviewed by each member of the group to ensure faults were quickly located and the final design could be altered accordingly.


The main issues brought up during the presentation were:
• Beam length (5.5m) which was noticeably long, but the team had originally accounted for this situation and researched into alternative scenarios including splitting of the beam into several sections. This was found to be impractical, costly, time consuming and would increase stresses, shear and bending forces which the beam would experience (increasing safety issues).
• Shoulder head would be more costly than calculated due to its unique design


Overall the group worked effectively for most of the duration of the project and despite a couple of setbacks, quickly produced action plans in order to assess the situation, compensate and work efficiently to finish the crane and avoid missing the deadlines.


A troubling issue, which was ultimately resolved, was the lack of communication between two members and the rest of the group at various intervals of the project. This included the first 3 weeks where the materials specialist was absent as a result of illness but had not informed the team during this time in order to allow the rest to compensate and to send information regarding progress. The other occurred when it was not possible to contact the stress analyst during the time of the Easter Holiday in order to inform of the issues found with the initial set of calculations for the I beam.