Improvement of project management processes and practices aided by lean tools in a metalworking company

Abstract

The research presented in this paper was developed in a Portuguese metallurgical company. The company has many projects ranging from the industrialization of products through the production of initial tool samples (called initial samples) to projects such as the development of prototypes. Prior to this research, the company had already made efforts to improve project management practices. The main objective of the research project was to improve the practices of project management, with the implementation of risk management tools, evaluation of software for project management and the use of Lean tools. In the end, there was an increase in the number of company projects delivered on time (from 22% to 70%), mainly due to the implementation of the Kanban board, which also increased the company integration and the awareness of projects current situation. The new software presented was negative evaluated as it had a high impact on the increase of project managers' tasks. Risk Management was shown as the point that demands more evolution within the aspects addressed by this research project.