Communication Challenges in a Pulp & Paper Project

Luiz Felipe Coutinho is a project coordinator in Brazil.

  Communications Management   Risk Management   Stakeholder Management  

Project managers know that efficient communication is crucial to their jobs, and this is especially true in the pulp and paper industry. These mills usually run 24/7, and in Brazil only stop production once a year during general shutdowns for inspection and maintenance in accordance with country regulations.

This year, there were increased challenges at a CMPC Guaíba mill that was involved with a BioCMPC project (a modernization and production increase project) over a 10-day period in May that involved 3,000 workers and interface activities running in parallel with the shutdown.

In this shutdown, we had to align procedures and premises of each activity with many stakeholders, including:

• Maintenance team, which is divided by disciplines (mechanical, electric, automation, lubrication, facilities, planning) and is generally responsible for performing activities and starting the mill back up according to the schedule
• Operation team, which is responsible for equipment drains and lock-outs, and to check and confirm that all task are being performed
• Safety team, which is responsible for evaluating the safety risks of every task and determining if they can be performed or not
• BioCMPC project team, which is also divided by disciplines and responsible for performing project activities

The communication challenges began with the scope definition for each area…

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