Project Planning and Profitability of Biogas Generating Plants in Malaysia

Abstract

To assess the impact of projects planning on profitability of the biogas generating plants in Malaysia. Project planning is at the heart of the project life cycle, and tells everyone involved where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. The planning phase is when the project plans are documented, the project deliverables and requirements are defined, and the project schedule is created. It involves creating a set of plans to help guide your team through the implementation and closure phases of the project. The plans created during this phase will help you manage time, cost, quality, changes, risk, and related issues. They will also help you control staff and external suppliers to ensure that you deliver the project on time, within budget, and within schedule. It is an essential aspect for success. Briquette manufacturing is fairly new in Malaysia and most companies have an amazing concept but dismally fail at execution due to lack of planning. Production in Malaysia dates back to the 70s but it has been limited to small scale only recently are more studies being done on biogas and their use, which has a sparked a market frenzy. Globally, 52% of the world’s population are using non-renewable energy for cooking and heating. This represents a huge market share for the briquette plant globally. The projection in growth of profitability is directly attributable to unavailability of cooking fuels especially in developing countries and biogas are mostly preferred due to low emissions. The uptake of biogas in Asia has however been low due to lack of awareness by consumers of clear advantages of the product. This study aimed at determining the role of project planning in influencing Profitability of the biogas plant in Malaysia. The study was a literature based in which a desk top review was conducted to derive themes. The study found a positive and significant relationship between financial resource planning and Profitability. The results also indicated that human capital planning and Profitability were positively and significantly related, material requirement planning and Profitability were positively and insignificantly related. The study concluded that the aspects of project planning adopted in this study: financial resource planning, human that capital planning and time management planning positively and significantly influences profitability volume in biogas plant, except for material requirements planning which was found to positively but insignificantly influences Profitability. The study recommended that the management of plant should strive to implement project planning strategies such as financial resource planning, human capital planning, time management planning and material requirements planning because they have been found to influence Profitability. Keywords: Project, Planning, Profitability, Biogas generating plants, Malaysia, Human capital.