Project management is more or less the art of making things happen, or moving a project forward to completion. Sounds simple enough, right? We all wish that were the case anyway! Even simple projects can quickly turn complex with delays in supplier shipments, installing a system during a customer’s operating hours, sourcing miscellaneous hardware in an unfamiliar area, handling issues with working dynamics between multiple sub-contractors, etc.

I have been involved in multiple projects, which I felt would go smoothly, only to quickly find out that the proverbial “Murphy” decided to step in, mix things up, and make things more interesting. It’s during times like these that one’s project management skills are put to the test.

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I often joke with my wife about what it would look like if I took my two passions in life–designing and building warehouse automation systems and cooking–and combined them into one enterprise, an automation café. All the food would be delivered automatically, and the wait staff would be in the form of some fun type of HMI (Human Machine Interface) screen.

Over the years, I have had fun dreaming of how something like this might look and function. Would the conveyors used to deliver the food be placed over top of the tables or come up from under the floor? I like to envision the waiter on the HMI screen being a Max Headroom-like character, but perhaps the entire restaurant would be run by robots delivering food like Rosie in the Jetsons.

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End users… can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. We love our customers. They keep us in business. More importantly, they make the world go round. BUT, we do need to talk.

In this day and age, it’s absolutely crucial to develop a sound request for proposal, or RFP. There are several key advantages to taking the time and effort to do so, but this isn’t a how-to on on RFPs. Instead, it is key information that you should think about as it relates to your projects.

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Technology in today’s material handling world is changing at a record pace and will only continue that same trend. As I see this pattern, it reminds me of how history really has so many lessons for us today.

My dad was a farmer. When I think about all the changes that he saw over the years, I can’t help but admire his ability to keep pace with technology and to raise a large family on even a small operation. He was born on the farm and never had a job off that farm a day in his life. The farm was his life. And yet, there was Old Bob…

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It’s always puzzled me as to why so many companies spend months and years planning and designing a project and only give the material handling integrators two weeks to bid.

It’s also been suggested that tight timelines provide the end user with the best price possible. In my opinion and past experience, this statement couldn’t be further from the truth.

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