In project administration and management, a critical path is the sequence of the terminal elements of the project network with the longest duration between them, determining the shortest time to complete the project.
The duration of the critical path determines the duration of the entire project. Any delay in an item on the critical path affects the planned completion date of the project, and there is said to be no slack on the critical path.
A project can have several parallel critical paths. An additional parallel route through the network with total durations less than the critical path is called a critical sub-path.
critical-path-analysis-in-the-evaluation-of-investment-projectsOriginally, the critical path method considered only dependencies between terminal elements. A related concept is the critical chain, which adds resource dependencies. Each resource depends on the handler at the moment where the critical path occurs. It is necessary
- Identify all the activities involved in the project, which means, determine precedence relationships, technical times for each of the activities.
- Build a network based on nodes and activities (or arcs, according to the most used method), which involve the project.
In practical terms, the critical path is interpreted as the maximum dimension that the project can last and the differences with other routes that are not the critical one, are called slack times.
The objective of our work is to carry out an analysis of times and minimum costs, for the start-up of a factory, identifying the critical routes and the gaps of the projects for the investment to be carried out in the Doñaneli bakery located in the municipality of Güines, Havana province, its corporate purpose is the production of sweets and breads to satisfy the needs of the CUBALSE Corporation and sales to external customers, both retail and wholesale.
This Bakery currently has sales levels of around 1 440 MCUC per year and its productions stand out for the quality, the variety of its assortment, the economicity of its productions that allows it to insert itself in different market segments, with high demand in Havana's territory and part of the gastronomy of Havana City.
Due to the high degree of deterioration in the existing equipment and the property, which affects the working conditions with risks for its workers, as well as the increasing decrease in productivity, it is that the Directorate of the Provincial Branch of Havana has evaluated carrying out Investments that can improve working conditions and introduce new production lines that contribute to satisfying the existing and potential market in the region. For this, it is necessary to undertake, in the shortest possible time and with the lowest cost, a series of actions that help to solve these problems, which is why we will rely on the critical path method (CPM)
We will use one of the techniques of wide application, in the evaluation of Projects. Its use gives the possibility of carrying out and planning, programming and controlling projects correctly, serving as a basis for decision-making.
In order to carry out this organizational process, we will expose the use of the Critical Path as an instrument of analysis as well as the way in which the activities belonging to the project and the relationship of precedence between them are defined. Below we list the activities involved in the process:
Investment start.
Completion and Delivery of Civil Works.
The investor will carry out a thorough review of the Work completed by the builder, of all the Work Objects completed with the quality required in the executive projects and will be delivered to the factory management.
Replacement equipment installation.
Once the technological equipment arrives, the usual assemblies of these equipment are carried out.
installation and technical test of the New Lines.
The new production lines will be tested by the equipment supplier in the presence of the approval commission and will be commissioned.
Preparation of new technical sheets from the new technology
After carrying out the technical tests on the new production lines, Technical and Cost Sheets of the new varieties introduced into production will be carried out.
Commissioning of the factory.
When all the activities involved are ready to start production.
There are activities that can be carried out simultaneously, but others must begin once the preceding activities are completed, each of them consumes a certain time and with this the time of the project can be calculated and therefore the way to continue to fulfill the objective pursued.
Following a logical analysis of the activities and taking into account the duration of the investment, the costs for this process and the need to put the factory to produce in the shortest possible time, we have seen the need to assess a route for decrease this time, taking into account the economic implication that this would entail.
TABLE No. 1 NORMAL AND INTENSIVE TIMES AND COSTS FOR EACH ACTIVITY
| EXERCISE | NORMAL | INTENSIVE | ||
| WEATHER
(MONTHS) |
COST
(CUC) |
WEATHER
(MONTHS) |
COST
(CUC) |
|
| 1.2 | 6 | 2,500 | 3 | 3,000 |
| 1.3 | 12 | 20,000 | 10 | 30,000 |
| 2.4 | 16 | 80,000 | 12 | 120,000 |
| 3.5 | 8 | 7,000 | 5 | 10,000 |
| 3.6 | 6 | 15,000 | 4 | 18,000 |
| 4.8 | two | 5,000 | one | 6,000 |
| 5.8 | 4 | 2,000 | one | 3,500 |
| 6.7 | 3 | 6,000 | one | 8,000 |
| 7.8 | 3 | 1,000 | one | 2,000 |
The data shown will serve as elements for the formation of the Critical Route in time, in order to find a way to reduce execution times and with the least possible cost.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- All the activities described in the project based on a sequence of actions and with the application of the applied quantum method can be considered as critical routes, without any remaining time gaps being found in them. Once the period has been intensified, the project can be executed In just 16 months out of the 24 previously planned, the additional cost that would be incurred by the reduction in time would be 62,000 CUC.It is recommended that this promptness be valued taking into account, the time that the factory would be without working and new income that by replacement concept, new lines and better working conditions would enter the finances of the Güines factory, valuing that its annual income currently ranges between 1,400 MCUC and that the recovery of the investment would be in less than 8 months.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
- CRITICAL PATH From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Critical Path Method) Technorati Tags: project management, CPM, critical path Master Project ManagementBuilding and Maintenance ManagementDocuments received in Classes by the teacher Notes from Lecture Notes
