The PMI’s Project of the Year Award recognizes and honors successful projects and the teams that employed superior elements of project management. The eligible projects must have a budget of more than $100 million, be of any type and industry, from all over the world and demonstrated exemplary project management principles. The 2008 Project of the Year Award went to Hatch, an engineering consulting Company based in Ontario, Canada (Project Management Institute, 2008). The Sorel Tracy, Quebec, a Canadian metallurgy company was seeking to increase the capacity of their highly sought after commodity while it was still in operation. The project left no room for error as a drop in production numbers could lead losses for the QIT facility and also it could mean that the consumer’s demand could not be met.
Hatch took note of the risks and opportunities that project presented. The company developed a widespread understanding of the processes and operations of the QIT facility which it had commissioned in the 1990’s. Hatch analyzed the numbers and found out that in 2004 the facility produced only 325, 000 tons of upgraded slag which was way below the company’s target of 400, 000 tonnes. Hatch new that it could not reach that target without disrupting operations. It proposed raising the production capacity to 375,000 (a 15% increase) without interrupting work, with a promise to reach full capacity in 2006. Guy LeClair, Hatch’s director of industrial minerals new that he had to assemble his most experienced talent to achieve that goal.
The team began by designing the upgraded versions of their designs. Consistent reporting kept them on schedule. The budget was scrutinized before the purchase of equipment and a procurement schedule was developed. Having known the facility’s operations, the team was able to approach the operations team to commence certain activities before the actual dates. This made the team save a lot on time. Despite the speedy execution, worker safety was never compromised. Stringent safety measures were put in place and safety audits were carried out regularly. In the entire time, no single lost time accident had occurred. The project ended in 2006 with a CAD $15 million saved from the initial budget. In 2007, the facility produced 400,000 tons of upgraded slag which was way above what was estimated numbers. Not only did Hatch meet QIT’s target but went on to be recipients of Project of the Year Award (2008).
References
Project Management Institute. (2000). Project management experience and knowledge self-assessment manual. Newtown Square, Pa: Project Management Institute.
Project Management Institute. "PMI Project of the Year Award 2008." PMI. Project Management Institute, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
http://www.pmi.org/en/About-Us/Our-Professional-Awards/Project-of-the-Year-Award 2008.aspx
Young, T. L. (2010). Successful project management. London: Kogan Page.
