ASSIGNMENT 2 - PROJECT SCHEDULING
The Sharon Construction Corporation
The Sharon Construction Company has been awarded a contract for the construction of a 20,000-seat stadium. Construction works must start by February 15 and be completed within one year. A penalty clause of $15, 000 per week of delay beyond February 15 of next year is written into the contract.
Jim Brown, the president of the company, called a planning meeting, where he expressed great satisfaction at obtaining the contract and revealed that the company could net as much as $300, 000 on the project. He was confident that the project could be finished on time with an allowance made for the usual delays anticipated in such a large project.
Bonnie Green, the director of personnel, agreed that in a normal year only slight delays might develop due to a shortage of labor. However, she reminded the president that for such a large project, the company would have to use unionized employees and that the construction industry labor agreements were to expire on November 30. Past experience indicated a fifty-fifty chance of a strike.
Jim Brown agreed that a strike might cause a problem. Unfortunately, there was no way to change the contract. He inquired about the prospective length of a strike. Bonnie figured that it would last either 8 weeks (70% Chance) or possibly 12 weeks (30% chance). Jim was not too pleased with these prospects. However, before he had a chance to discuss contingency plans Jack White, the vice-president for engineering, interrupted him. Jack commented that an extremely cold December had been predicted. This factor had not been taken into consideration during earlier estimates since previous forecasts called for milder weather. Concrete pouring in a cold December would require in one out of three cases (depending on the temperature) special heating that cost $500 per week.
This additional information did not please Jim at all. The chances for delay