"We are well positioned for a cross-divisional project"

With around 4,700 hours of work, 20 employees involved from the fields of automation, industrial and office IT and the in-depth expertise of overall project manager Raffael Hänggi, the major Bacthera project has shown that it's not only our customers that benefit from the one-stop solution. Raffael Hänggi explains why.

Raffi, this was your first major cross-divisional project, what was your experience?

Raffi Hänggi: With the order from Bacthera for the implementation of an IT/OT infrastructure and production DCS, it was clear that we had to put together a team involving different experts. Thanks to our matrix organisation, I was able to find the optimal team for the project based on the customer's requirements.

A total of 20 employees from different areas with specialist expertise were involved. The collaboration worked very well and we had an active exchange with each other.

The project has shown that we are well positioned for a cross-divisional project. Not only were we able to learn from each other internally, but the customer also benefited

What are the specific benefits for our customer?

RH : Thanks to our one-stop solution, we were more efficient overall thanks to the few interfaces. When problems arose, our short internal paths allowed us to solve them more easily independently with the help of the various experts in the team. Another advantage was our clearly defined internal communication channels. We always tried to be represented by a SPOC in the higher-level meetings.

Thanks to centralised progress monitoring, the work from all internal departments could be displayed at a glance and made available to the customer as a report.

But surely there are also challenges to overcome in a major project?

RH: The biggest challenge was the tight time frame. On the one hand, we had to overcome delivery difficulties for hardware. On the other hand, we had to organise a lot of manpower within two months. Right from the start, 10 employees were involved, working flat out on the project.

In addition, cross-divisional work in itself is a source of challenges. Collaboration had to be well coordinated, as automation and IT were working on various issues and challenges at the same time. There were also various inputs from other departments, some of which were very difficult to predict, but at the same time had a major impact on schedule and costs. Wearing all hats at the same time as overall project manager was certainly the biggest challenge.

So do you consider the project a success, also from CTE's point of view?

RH: Absolutely, because we achieved the goal and delivered the relevant deliverables on time. Despite the last-minute request, we were able to plan and install a functioning infrastructure for Bacthera on time.

What have we learned in view of future projects?

RH: Professional internal controlling is the most important tool for such a large project. As a result, we always had deadlines and costs under control. In future, we intend to carry out more projects from a single source. I am convinced that we are well equipped for this.