Lean Office applied to ICT Project Management: Autoparts Company Case Study

ABSTRACT As result of Globalization, enterprises should act properly on very aggressive and competitive markets. To achieve this goal, not only product development cycles should be decreased, but also new added value services and products must be created, which, in turn, are delivered as a result of successful projects. Besides, ongoing processes have to be continuously reviewed, in order to eliminate losses of efficiency and/or effectiveness. Lean Thinking principles are indicated to achieve better processes performance, through reduction of delays, waste, inventory levels, over processing and over production, also improving information quality, essential for competitiveness (WOMACK and JONES, 2003). Yet, as a result of markets globalization, new levels of competitiveness are in place, marked by quick and deep changes in cultural, social, economic and technological basis, forcing organizations to find more effective ways to respond to these requirements. In this sense, projects become foundation to implement new goods and services, being important to conclude them successfully. Festa and Assumpção (2012) argue that projects that involve ICT (Information and Communication Technology) applied to logistics businesses result in "changes in processes with improved asset utilization, yielding higher productivity and quality / consistency in operations, reducing waste and delivery times". Additionally, Hartman and Ashrafi (2002) point out that ICT is one of the fastest growing sectors in emerging countries. Thus, it is mandatory that projects be concluded within predefined conditions of time, cost, quality and scope (PMBOK, 2013). Besides, project management has been consolidated into companies due to its high potential value they provide, allowing that project results are delivered on time, budget, scope and quality, which is especially important for ICT projects, for which innovation is usually present. For such, the correct resource allocation, and effective application of project management techniques and methodologies improve success chances. This work presents a case study of project management processes, based on the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) practices into Latin America Information Technology initiatives of an Autoparts Company. Additionally, this paper presents the relationship among these practices with Lean Office elements, which causes positive impacts.