Project Management meets Packaging - Part II: Resource Management

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THIS INSTANCE MEANS:

• to ensure that resources are available during the time that they are required, e.g. the labour input and the equipment for building a new bottle cleansing area.
• to maintain the expected revenue vs. expense ratio, therefore making certain that the utilized resources are not too costly.
• to use all resources sustainably, so that even after the project is completed and e.g. the new sports cap has successfully been launched, the items required for the manufacturing process are still existent to a certain extent and not diminished to an unhealthy level.
• to deploy the right resources at the right time during the project. 

Resource management does not only include labour resources, such as individual people, teams or departments, but also extents to material, i.e. sourcing and processing different types of components, and equipment, such as machines, robots or test areas. The difference between a material and an equipment resource is that the material resource is consumed during the creation of the product, the equipment resource can be reused, over a certain period of time, for multiple projects. Currently there is large awareness on how to deal with material resources in relation to reducing input, reusing and recycling items or parts of them. Ideas range from having regulations of a certain amount of recycled plastic in bottles, to producing new products completely made from recycled materials. A lot of ongoing campaigns and up to date organisations look after this topic of sustainability which is making steady progress over the last couple of years, helping to reduce companies’ ecological footprint. Nevertheless, environmentalists argue that responsible enterprises could have increased the ratio of recycled and reused materials to a larger scale a long time ago but are holding back because of commercial reasons. They fear that consumers might reject the newly designed products due to e.g. a slightly different colour of bottles. Educating people, addressing consumer concerns and deepening awareness of how to sensibly deal with our limited resources both on the supplier and the consumer side, is key to ensure successful resource management. As mentioned above we are used by now to look after our material resources, a discussion which we are also reminded about by regular media coverage. Caring for and supervising our human resources is a topic which is not as popular but should nevertheless be part of professional resource management. The aim is to get the most value out of our specialists, teams and workers in a sustainable way that is healthy for both the company and the labour resources. Understanding needs to be increased that if people are treated well, feel looked after and are challenged to the right degree, they are able to perform at their highest level, therefore giving their best input towards the business. All our resources are limited and consequently we have to manage each individual cautiously to ensure longterm personal and economic success.