Ramp-up that stalls
A system signed off on a clean test profile still has to reach sustained output under real orders. Without someone driving it, the curve flattens early.
Home Consulting Project management and rescue
Consulting · Project management and rescueProject management through to acceptance
For projects in delivery, commissioning or ramp-up and for projects that have stalled. I create transparency on open items, assign clear responsibilities and lead the project on a structured path to acceptance and full performance.
Starting point
Acceptance and full performance are different milestones
The distance between them is volume the business case has already counted on. It's where many automation projects lose their return.
Open items that won't close
Software and mechanics each waiting on the other. A punch list that grows faster than it shrinks. Closing it takes an owner.
Claims and penalties in play
Once milestones slip, contract terms decide who pays for the delay. Managed early, that exposure can be closed without penalties.
What you gain
Transparency, clear responsibilities, a path to acceptance
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Transparency on open items
An independent stock-take of what is really open, on the software and the mechanical side, and what blocks what.
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Clear responsibilities
One owner for every open point and progress tracked against a plan the team believes.
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A structured path to acceptance
Functional, availability and final acceptance worked through in order, with claims settled along the way.
Deliverables
What you receive
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Project assessment
Real status on the software and the mechanical side, the critical path and the risks to acceptance.
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Prioritised action plan
Every open point with an owner and a date, ordered by what blocks acceptance.
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Coordination
Progress monitoring and reporting, supplier and subcontractor management, change management with cost and schedule impact made visible. P&L responsibility where the mandate calls for it.
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Ramp-up
Sustained output under real orders. Resident IT, PLC and mechatronics team built and led where needed, teething problems fed back into equipment and software.
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Acceptance support
Functional, availability and final acceptance managed, the project closed and the system handed into the service phase.
Approach and collaboration
From open items to final acceptance
I take over project responsibility or, where the mandate is narrower, the oversight of ramp-up and acceptance. On site where it matters, working directly with software and mechanical teams.
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Take stock
An independent read on real status: what is open, what blocks what and where the critical path runs.
Step 1 -
Drive open items
One owner per open point, software and mechanics worked in parallel, progress tracked against the plan.
Step 2 -
Ramp to performance
Sustained output under real orders, the resident team built and led.
Step 3 -
Accept and hand over
Functional, availability and final acceptance closed, claims settled, system handed into service.
Step 4
Project examples
Commissioned, ramped up and closed
Customers are anonymised.
Final acceptance within three months, with no penalties
- Situation
- An automated deep-freeze channel storage system had not reached final acceptance. Open items remained on the software and the mechanical side.
- My responsibility
- Took over project responsibility from the project manager and worked directly with the software and mechanical teams on every open point.
- Result
- All open items closed within three months. Final acceptance reached and the project closed without penalties.
Technology: Automated high-bay warehouse with channel storage, pallet conveying system, WCS.
A first-of-its-kind case-picking system taken to full performance
- Situation
- A prototype distribution centre: the first fully automated case-picking system the supplier had delivered, with technology that had not run in production before.
- My responsibility
- Managed commissioning and ramp-up of the entire system and solved the problems of the new technology. Hired and led the resident IT, PLC and mechatronics team of 16 and fed lessons learned back into equipment and software.
- Result
- Ramped up to full performance. Final acceptance on schedule and on budget.
Technology: Automated multi-level shuttle, delayering robots, case wheelers, case stacking robots, WCS, pack-pattern generator.
Two distribution centres for 800 stores, accepted on schedule and on budget
- Situation
- Two large fully automated distribution centres at two US sites, supplying 800 stores in total.
- My responsibility
- Managed commissioning and ramp-up of both systems and built the resident maintenance organisation of 70 FTE across IT, PLC and mechatronics.
- Result
- Ramped to full performance and beyond. Final acceptance on schedule and on budget, followed by two years of profitable after-sales operation with spare parts and change requests.
Technology: Automated high-bay warehouse, automated receiving with decant and tilt-tray sorter, miniload with zone picking, GTP picking with carousel storage, automatic tote stacking, WCS.
Project management and rescue
A project to deliver or one that has stalled?
Both start the same way, with a clear view of where the project stands. The first conversation costs nothing.
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