Assisting in the scheduling of engineering activities
Overview
This standard identifies the competences you need to support colleagues with the scheduling of engineering activities, time and resources, in accordance with approved procedures. You will be expected to assist in producing schedules for significant engineering activities, with complex requirements, having multiple operations and resources. This will cover activities such as component/product manufacturing, installation and commissioning, testing and trialling, planned maintenance, lifting, moving and transporting of goods or materials, and schedules for capability studies or equipment replacement programs.
Your responsibilities will require you to comply with organisational policy and procedures for the scheduling of the engineering activities, and to report any problems that you cannot personally resolve, or that are outside your permitted authority, to the relevant people. You will be expected to work to instructions, either alone or in conjunction with others, taking personal responsibility for your own actions and for the quality and accuracy of the work that you carry out.
Your underpinning knowledge will be sufficient to provide a sound basis for your work, and will enable you to adopt an informed approach applying scheduling procedures to engineering activities. You will have an understanding of the scheduling process and its application, and will know about the engineering activities within your organisation, in adequate depth to provide a sound basis for carrying out the scheduling activities to the required standard.
You will be aware of any health, safety and environmental requirements applicable to the engineering activities being scheduled. You will be required to demonstrate safe working practices throughout, and will understand the responsibility you owe to yourself and others in the workplace.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- confirm the activities and resources that are required to achieve the engineering methods and procedures
- identify the most suitable sequence of activities
- schedule the time and resources available for undertaking the activities
- ensure that schedules are capable of meeting all relevant requirements
- incorporate new schedules into the engineering process with minimal disruption
- identify potential difficulties and produce appropriate contingency plans
- ensure that schedules comply with all relevant regulations and guidelines
- specify clearly the schedules and record them in the appropriate information systems
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- how to access information on health and safety regulations and guidelines relating to the engineering activities to be scheduled
- the implications of not taking account of legislation, regulations, standards and guidelines when producing the engineering schedules
- how to obtain information on the activity to be scheduled, and the type of information that is available (such as customer order requirements and instructions, quality control requirements, product specification, manufacturing methods)
- how to access and use the appropriate information and documentation systems
- how to interpret engineering schedules, and the techniques used for scheduling engineering activities
- the types of information that should be included in the engineering schedules (such as timescales, resource requirements, health and safety issues)
- the document formats, codes and conventions that are used in preparing the schedules
- the factors to be taken into account when preparing the schedules (especially those covering working conditions and safety)
- the products (or assets) involved in the activity being scheduled, and their availability
- the normal timescales for carrying out specific engineering activities, and how and why they vary
- the development of the engineering schedules (to include both master documents and working instructions, along with their purpose, content and status)
- how to prepare the schedules (to include the structure, style, clarity and compliance with relevant standards)
- the process used in the organisation to validate the engineering schedules produced
- the control procedure for ensuring that the schedules are maintained up to date
- methods of assessing the progress against the defined schedule
- the procedures for changing the schedules, and why control procedures are used
- why contingency plans need to be drawn up, and how to develop them
- whom to inform about the schedules
- the importance of providing the right information at the right time
- the types of problem that can occur during the implementation of the schedules, and how these problems can be rectified
the extent of your own authority and to whom you should report in the event of problems that you cannot resolve
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Carry out all of the following when producing the engineering schedules:
- check that all essential information and data needed to produce the schedules are available
- ensure that health and safety regulations, safe working practices and the influence of working conditions are recognised and included in the schedules
- collect relevant information on the engineering requirements, operations, methods and resources
- identify applicable engineering methods, processes and procedures (including specific sequencing requirements)
- update existing engineering schedules (where applicable)
- determine the availability of resources required
- review the schedule and suggest contingency plans to eliminate any difficulties
- ensure that the schedule complies with all relevant regulations, standards and guidelines
- present the engineering schedules in the appropriate formats
Assist in producing engineering schedules for one of the following:
- drawing/design activities (such as mechanical, electrical/electronic, motor vehicle, aerospace, marine)
- manufacturing activities (such as machining, detail fitting, fabrication of components, pressing)
- material processing activities (such as heat treatment, casting, injection moulding, purification)
- composite manufacture (such as wet lay-up, pre-preg laminating, resin infusion, blow moulding)
- finishing activities (such as stripping finishes, painting, plating, anodising, veneering, lacquering)
- assembly activities (such as mechanical, structural, fluid power, electrical/electronic, woodworking)
- installation activities (such as mechanical, electrical/electronic, avionic, structural, environmental equipment)
- plant and equipment (such as site preparation, plant layout, equipment changeover, equipment replacement)
- equipment capability studies/performance measurement
- movement of materials, components or finished goods
- business improvement activities
- engineering safety audits or risk assessments
- quality control/quality assurance
- maintenance activities
- testing and trialling
- modification and repair activities
- research and development
- commissioning/decommissioning
- engineering support services
Obtain accurate details of activities and resources from two of the following people or departments:
- design office
- contractor
- management/directors
- quality engineering
- client/customer
- sales department
- plant engineering
- process engineering
- production engineering
- planning department
- health and safety/environmental engineering
- other specific people or departments
Assist in preparing and reviewing schedules of resources, to include six of the following:
- the documentation to be used (such as drawings, specifications, quality assurance, surveys)
- people required who have the necessary skills and knowledge
- the space/work area in which to carry out the engineering activities
- the raw materials required (such as type and specification of material, form of material, amount of material)
- consumable materials required (such as welding accessories, masking mediums, lubricants, cutting compounds)
- bought-in standard components (such as bearings, electrical or electronic components, fluid power components, mechanical fasteners)
- equipment required (such as hand tools, power tools, machinery, lifting and handling equipment)
- measuring or test equipment (such as mechanical measuring, electrical measuring)
- any outside support services required (such as material treatments, specialist lifting and moving equipment)
- utilities/services required (such as electricity, water, gas, compressed air)
- timescales in which the activities need to take place
- special/specific safety equipment required (such as fume extraction, fire equipment, environmental protection)
Assist in dealing with departures from the schedule that are due to one of the following:
- actual or predicted departures
- variations in quality
- slipping timescales
- unexpected and unscheduled events
- increased cost
- areas of potential or actual conflict
Identify the consequences of departure from the agreed schedules, to include one of the following:
- delay in delivery
- contract variation
- penalties or additional costs
- breach of contract
- consequential impact on impinging schedules
Assist in producing a contingency plan to limit consequences of departures from the schedule, to include detailing one of the following actions:
- implement tighter monitoring and control of the project
- obtain additional/alternative resources
- agree revised requirements with management/client
- recommend a change to the process
- change timescales in agreement with management/clients
- reschedule
- other specific actions
Ensure that the schedule complies with all of the following:
- company policy and procedures
- work plans and delivery targets
- customer requirements
- health, safety and environmental requirements
Record and present the schedule to the appropriate people, using one of the following:
- specific company documentation
- verbal report
- written or typed report
- electronic mail