. Project Manag ement i s managing a group of people called as project team which assign ed to complete project milestones according to project timeline. In this article, the author s make a summary how Malaysian automot ive SMEs manage their p roject in comparison to Multinational Companies (MNC) . . Keywords: Project Management, Project Team, Project Timeline, Business Operating System 1. Project Team The i ndicator s of success for a project in automotive industry when project team can manufacture their product with zero product safety issues , zero customer rejection, meet 100% delivery time and meet 100% target Return of Sales (ROS). These indicators called as Launch Performance Metric s as inside Table 1 where performance measures from Start of Production (SOP) date until 90 days . A project launch flawless when meeting these target indicators . To meet these indicators , need a project manager or program manager to monito r all milestones target must complete on-time with desired quality. A project team lead by program manager c onsist 5-10 peoples basically come from several departments; purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, finance, material , quality and launch. Their project tasks begin from Request for Quotation (RFQ) stage until after 90 days of SOP. After that, pr oject will hand over to production team to continuous mass production until End of Phase (EOP). For SME s, project team concept is same with Multi -National Companies (MNC) but smaller project team members and sometimes head of department also be as a project team. Normally, Managing Director (MD) acting as program manager for a project. Th is will continuous until an SME gain more projects and start hire more peoples . Table 1 Launch Pe rformance Metrics Indicators Results Safety 0 accident Rejection 0 RPPM Delivery 100% on -time Financial 100% ROS All indicators above must be measured 90 days start from customer SOP 2. Project Timeline Program manager will sta rt prepare a project timeline during RFQ stage and continuous update until SOP. In project timeline divided into 2 portions; customer e vents and interna l events. The internals events are based on customer events requirements and deadlines. This information must provide by customer during RFQ stage. Program manager needs to conduct RFQ Kick -Off meeting to explain with project team and get input s from them how to achieve target cost and deadlines . Next, project team members will do feasibility studies and give feedback to program manager during follow up meeting. B ased on feasibility study report , program manager will draft a project timeline and check either start on -time or not based on customer SOP using reverse time method. If current RFQ given date is start on time, need to propo se when target Letter of Award (LOA) date must receive from customer. If not start on time, program manager needs to discuss wi th project team how to minimize internal event lead times. It’s crucial to create a deliverable timeline during RFQ stage. MS Project is a c ommon software used by program manager to draw a project timeline but costly to purchase and update license annually . Thus, SMEs normally us ing MS Excel or open -source software like Project Libre. MS Excel still widely use d by Malaysian automotive companies since the software already build -in for any device using MS Window as operating system. Basicall y, customer events are starts from RFQ, LOA re ceive , project kick -off, development phase, prototype phase , series of production trial, pre -production and SOP. Prototype will be built offline after development phase completed . It’s also supported by numerical simulation validation to predict actual performance. Then, do actual validation process such as performance \ endurance testing and appearance check to confirm actual prototype performance . If the prototype meets the design intern, then can start series of production trial which objective to stable new production assembly process. For pre -production, product quality is SOP level but quantity produce are small . SOP production rate must a chieve RFQ target production rate in Jobs Per Hour (JPH) . Before start mass production, a ll Advance Product Quali ty Planning (APQP) documents must submit and Product ion Part Approval Process (PPAP) must approv e by customer [1][2]. Figure 1 shown example Project Timeline drawn using MS Excell . Figure 1 Project Timeline 3. Business Operating System All automotive car maker and Tier 1 suppliers must obtain IATF 16949 -Automotiv e Quality Management Systems certific ation from International Automotive Task Force . Meanwhile, minimum requirement for Tier2 suppliers must certified by ISO 9001 -Quality Management Systems - Requirements . Thus, thos e certifications compulsory to obtain as a prove company has standard procedures that full fill the requirements need ed in IATF 16949 and ISO 9001 [3][4] . Generally, MNC have establish ed their o wn business operating system (BOS) . It’s easier for them to control and update their procedures according to their working environm ent and business nature . BOS as guideline for all staff to work follow standard procedure. For example , PROTON has PROTON Production System (PPS) [5] and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has World Class Manufacturing (WCM) . Meanw hile, SMEs not have sophisticated BOS like MN C. They develop their own procedures continuously according to custome r audit requirement s and based on their staff experience working at many automotive companies. Figure 2 shown WCM [6]. Figure 2 WCM 4. Conclusion As summa ry, project management for Malaysian automotive SMEs are cost effective oriented . Acknowledgments The present work was fully funded by Techno Bro zek Enterpise to suppor t Malaysian automotive SMEs. Any further inquires, can contact at technobrozek@gmail.com.