Program management responsibilities and activities

By Mark Zetter

Program management responsibilities inside the contract manufacturer can vary based on the type of products going into production and the industry in which manufacturing takes place.

Below are some general guidelines to help define some of the responsibilities of program management as a functional group within the contract manufacturer and, what makes a good program manager while interacting with the OEM customer.

Program management responsibilities within a contract manufacturer can be divided into internal efforts and external efforts.

Internal effort
Program management internal responsibilities make up roughly 70% of the program manager's time -- working and resolving OEM customer outsourcing program issues via facilitation with functional groups within the contract manufacturing facility.

External effort
Program management external responsibilities account for the remaining amount of the program manager's time -- understanding the OEM customer's program needs and managing OEM customer's perceptions and satisfaction.

The internal aspect of program management is commercial in nature and involves:

profit and loss statements
balance sheets
cash flow statements

The external aspect of program management is focused on the OEM customer and primarily involves execution management and addressing some of the customer's key questions:

‘What' am I getting?
‘When' am I getting it?
‘How much' am I paying for it?

Effective vs. efficient program management
Program managers that do 'everything' may be efficient. However, an effective program manager does the 'right' things. (If the program manager is not doing what is important...it does not matter how efficient the program manager is)

Single point of contact
In most instances, all OEM outsourcing program information flow from the customer destined for the contract manufacturer should pass through contract manufacturing program management. Equally, all contract manufacturing information destined for the customer should pass through program management.

Program management is the only functional department that is allowed to commit to the customer. In short, program management's role is to transform the OEM customer's vision into an executable plan

Program management responsibilities

While there are many other program management responsibilities, a few of these responsibilities include:

Tracking changes in customer end-user demand volumes against contract manufacturer's capabilities

Forecast management
Program managers help ensure any unusually ‘increased' customer product demand quantities are billed-to, and collected-on, by the contract manufacturer (terms are usually agree on in advance and spelled out in the contract service agreement)

Backlog management (program managers must ask questions)
- How large is the OEM customer's production backlog?
- Why is the backlog there?
- How long will it take to build out?
- How much backlog does the customer want the contract manufacturer to hold indefinitely?

Shipping management
Program management must determine any reasons for production manufacturing shortfalls in quantity committed by month vs. production quantities actually shipped