Study goals
The objective of this technical report is to show the importance of companies to use the knowledge areas of the project management area and to be able to use a Project Management Office to improve and optimize processes more efficiently and effectively and to show the reader the possibility of using of a Project Management Office in any type of company, whether small or not, regardless of the investment value of each project.
Relevance / originality
This technical report aims to present a study based on the professional and practical experience of one of the authors, who is currently a student in a master's program. It was from the project management discipline of this master's program that the opportunity arose to write with the other authors on the subject. And so, being able to portray a professional experience in a work of this nature and which aims to help those interested ones in the area of project management and their skills to have a better understanding of the application of a Project Management Office based on a practical case.
Methodology / approach
Large projects like this one at Fábrica de Celulose Gaúcha are usually aimed at companies with extensive experience in the segment, such as Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada, which have already taken care of similar manufacturing processes. These companies need to have in their structure a Project Management team with Know-how and expertise, as well as the other teams involved. If Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada was not qualified, it could have compromised the entire delivery of the machinery, because, at some point, some failure could have occurred and compromised the entire expected result.
The chances of failure and risk were high. Problems could have occurred in the entire chain of this process, from the moment of scrutinizing the project to obtain data through tools such as Analytical Project Structure, schedule, MSProject, and later the routines of purchasing, production, financial schedules and the final delivery of equipment on the site to the automaker. If Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada´s Project Management Office had competencies below those required for the project, there could have been a risk of producing some or all equipment of inferior quality or with wrong specifications, which would compromise the production performance of cellulose, from the new manufacturing plant at Fábrica de Celulose Gaúcha.
Main results
The experience of participating in this project shows that projects that follow the project management methodology tend to be successful as reported, since the project in question was carried out within the deadlines provided for in the initial schedule, the costs were on schedule and Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada obtained something that is always required by the directors of the companies, in other words, the project left positive financial results, which, consequently, brought satisfaction for both, Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada and for the Finnish company and, mainly, for Fábrica de Celulose Gaúcha, which did not feel any impact by this systemist.
It is still possible to highlight that the successful result of this project opened doors to new commercial opportunities. The importance of constantly monitoring the project and having the culture of recording important facts, making constant reports to the project sponsors, as well as having the culture of recording the lessons learned at the end of the projects, so that possible anomalies can be addressed and that problems that have already occurred will not be repeated in future projects.
Theoretical / methodological contributions
According to PMBOK (2017), all areas of project management needed to be explored and implemented by the Project Management Office of the Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada. All phases involving a project were observed and used as a technical reference for the team. The steps / phases that were followed with a lot of commitment and professionalism, by the Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada´s team in order to efficiently meet the requirements of the Gaúcha Pulp Factory.
It was necessary to have a deep understanding of the dimension of Fábrica Gaúcha de Celulose ´s project by both teams to determine the unilateral scope of each project as the project was divided into 5 large stations and Indústria de Caldeiraria Pesada was responsible for producing one of them: the plant of cellulose. Each company, after carrying out its individual planning, integrated its information to the Project Management Office of each other, so that the activities were validated and the missing points or that had critical activities interposed were synchronized.
Social / management contributions
A Project Management Office is important for corporations that focus on the pursuit of success and the improvement of their results, because by improving skills and competences, value is added to everything that contributes to other professionals and / or scholars, learn and evolve from past experiences and become more prepared for the demands of the market, given the current conjecture of a competitive, fast and globalized market; where there is no room for amateurism or taking unmeasured risks.