CELO, a global leader in high-precision fasteners, operates across multiple continents, including Spain, Germany, the U.S., China, and Mexico. With an expansive manufacturing network and complex, cross-functional teams, managing projects efficiently was a key challenge. In this case study, Bernat García, Engineering Manager at CELO, shares how the company evaluated and selected Profit.co to streamline their Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) processes.
With 20+ years of experience in engineering, Bernat recognized that CELO’s rapid growth and global footprint had introduced significant complexity into their project management processes.
Bernat shared candidly about the evaluation process, where the company compared Profit.co against other tools such as Asana, Microsoft Project, and Trello. After a thorough review, Profit.co emerged as the tool of choice for several compelling reasons:
CELO, a global leader in high-precision fasteners, operates across multiple continents, including Spain, Germany, the U.S., China, and Mexico. CELO manufactures a wide range of engineering solutions, including screws and bolts that cater to industries such as automotive, electronics, electrical and appliances.
Headquartered in Spain, CELO operates multiple factories worldwide. With a global manufacturing network, CELO is well-positioned to provide engineering assembly solutions to customers across various industrial sectors.
With rapid growth and a broad global footprint, CELO faced significant challenges in managing its project portfolio effectively. In this case study, Bernat García, Engineering Manager at CELO, shares how Profit.co helped streamline CELO’s Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) practices, aligning them with the company’s strategic objectives.
Can you introduce CELO and your role within the company?
Bernat García, “CELO is a company based near Barcelona, Spain, with manufacturing facilities around the world. We produce high-precision fasteners used in industries like automotive, electronics, and construction. As Engineering Manager, I lead the application engineering team, providing technical support to our customers, developing new products, and collaborating with various departments to improve our processes. We’ve been undergoing a shift towards a more project-oriented approach to manage our operations effectively.
What challenges did CELO face in managing projects before selecting Profit.co?
Bernat García replied,
- Rapid Growth with Quick Results Focus:
“We were a small company, very oriented towards quick results. We were an active company, and sometimes we jumped into projects without properly assessing them.”
- Lack of Strategic Alignment:
“We were executing things without thinking or reflecting on how aligned those projects were with the company’s strategy. Sometimes we started projects we would never finish, or we finished tasks that were not so relevant for the company’s success.”
- Resource Wastage Due to Poor Management:
“We were very agile and fast in doing things, but at the same time, we were wasting resources because we were not properly managing the projects.”
- Team Heterogeneity:
“We had teams that were very structured and capable of working with projects, but other teams were more reactive and less reflective. This made it challenging to implement a consistent project management approach across the company.”
- Lack of Visibility Across Projects:
“From the top management’s perspective, it was difficult to understand and know what projects were ongoing in our departments. We were not really aware of how many projects we were executing.”
- Overloading Employees and Burnout:
“The lack of visibility led to problems like overloading people with too many things to do, and this was causing burnout for some of our employees.”
- Prioritization Issues:
“Sometimes we started projects that were not as relevant compared to others that were more important, creating issues with prioritization.”
- Absence of a Proper Methodology:
“We were lacking a proper project management methodology, which made it difficult to effectively manage and align projects.”
How did these challenges impact your efficiency and productivity?
Bernat García added, “Lack of prioritization and visibility had a significant impact. Some teams faced burnout due to overburdening. The absence of alignment between projects and strategic goals made it hard for top management to see if we were working on the right initiatives. This misalignment resulted in inefficiencies, poor resource allocation, and, ultimately, projects that didn’t add value to the company.”
What was the major limitation with the project management tools you were using?
Bernat García clarified, “The main limitation was the lack of a consistent approval process. While we were agile and quick, we often executed projects without fully assessing their alignment with the company’s strategy or ensuring proper approval. The tools we used didn’t provide a structured way to prioritize projects, allocate resources, or ensure that each project was properly aligned and approved.”
What criteria did you use to evaluate the project management solutions?
Bernat García replied, “Between the different solutions we got, the most important criteria for us was easy implementation. As I mentioned before, we have a heterogeneous team—some teams are very proficient with software tools, while others have more difficulties acquiring them. One very important thing for us was that we needed a way to link and ensure that these projects were aligned with the company’s strategy and objectives. We knew that there are many project management tools, but what we needed was the ability to integrate the projects from these tools with the company’s objectives and initiatives. Prioritization was also critical, so we wanted to invest resources in the right things, not just any project.”
Who was involved in the selection process, and what roles did they play in the decision-making?
Bernat García replied, “The selection process was a collaborative effort across the entire corporate team. We were at the right moment to start working with Profit.co’s PPM module, and we had the opportunity to train our entire corporate team on the module.”
- Corporate Team Involvement:
“All of our corporate team was involved in the selection process.
- Enthusiastic Stakeholders Across Departments:
“As a result of the training, there were enthusiastic stakeholders from all departments. We had people from engineering, IT, and others who saw the potential of the tool and were excited about it.”
- Human Resources as a Key Champion:
“Human resources played a critical role in this process. They were actively working to align projects with objectives, and they were the ones who introduced and monitored the OKR system within the company.”
- Linking Projects to OKRs:
“For us, especially for HR, the ability to link projects with our OKR methodology was the turning point. This was the key factor that helped us make the decision to move forward with Profit.co.”
- High Enthusiasm Across the Team:
“Most people involved were really enthusiastic about the possibilities of using Profit.co and were keen to explore how it could improve our project management processes.”
What was your evaluation process for selecting a project management tool, and what other tools did you consider?
Bernat García:
“We were considering other tools, especially since some departments were already using project management tools like Asana. However, we found that Asana lacked key features, such as customizable approval workflows. Other teams were using Trello for task management, and some still relied on Microsoft Project. These tools were spread across different teams, but none of them provided the comprehensive solution we were looking for.”
How has your experience been with the implementation and support from Profit.co?
Bernat García:
“One of the amazing things about Profit.co is the support we’ve received.
Responsiveness and solution quality:
“The team has been really responsive, open to suggestions, and quick to implement and fix any issues.”
Challenging assumptions and providing better solutions:
“What stands out to me is that when we propose something that might not make sense, you don’t just say ‘yes.’ You’re honest and open to discuss and challenge our ideas, which ensures we’re on the right path.”
Keeping them focused on outcomes:
“There’s been a really interesting and constructive dialogue on many topics. The key takeaway for me is that the responsiveness and openness to critique have been invaluable.”
What is the current stage of implementation, and how are you approaching the rollout?
Bernat García:
“Right now, we haven’t fully started the implementation yet. One of the main things I wanted to ensure before proceeding was that the methodology we use for project management is simple. If we overload teams with bureaucracy or too many steps, the implementation will fail, especially since we’re moving from almost zero to something structured.
At this stage, we are validating the process with a smaller group of users, particularly those who have no prior experience in project management. The goal is to see if they can learn the methodology easily and if the workload generated by the process is manageable for them. We expect this validation phase to finish by mid-July.
Once this phase is complete, we plan to roll out Profit.co to the entire corporate team, provide training, and start a three-month trial phase to see how the tool is received. After that, we’ll evaluate the results and decide whether to escalate the methodology to the entire organization or keep it limited to corporate and department leaders. We’ll work out the next steps based on feedback and the outcomes of this trial phase.”
What are your personal thoughts on project management, and what do you think are the best practices for managing projects? Do you have any advice for others in project management?
Bernat García:
“That’s a tough question because it really depends on the scope of the projects. Some companies are involved in complex projects with multiple departments, complicated budgets, and timelines that can stretch for months or even years. In these cases, you need a certain level of complexity. You need skilled project managers capable of handling such large-scale projects.
However, in our case, we were thinking about what happens at the user level. When I’m working on a set of tasks with one goal and I’m only coordinating with one colleague or someone from IT, it doesn’t need to be as complex. For these cases, the methodology should be much simpler. It should enable people to work smoothly without too much bureaucracy.
So, we try to keep things simple and empower people to handle their own tasks and personal projects using a straightforward methodology.
To answer your question, the complexity of the methodology should match the scope of the projects being managed. So, if the projects are smaller, a simpler approach works best.”
Conclusion
CELO’s selection of Profit.co as their Project and Portfolio Management platform has helped streamline project prioritization, improve alignment with strategic goals, and enhance overall productivity. As Bernat García emphasizes, “Profit.co has helped us bring clarity and alignment to our project management process, and we’re excited to continue refining it as we scale.
