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, that curve flattens early and stays flat.
Home Project Management
Project ManagementAccepted is not the same as performing.
I run automated warehouse projects through commissioning and ramp-up to full performance — and take over the ones that have stalled. Owner-side, vendor- independent, with P&L discipline and a bias for closing open points rather than logging them.
Why the last mile is the hard one
The gap between acceptance and performance is measured in months
Final acceptance and full performance are different milestones. The distance between them is volume the business case has already spent — and it is where most automation projects quietly lose their return.
Open points that will not close
Software and mechanics each waiting on the other, a punch list that grows faster than it shrinks and a project that cannot reach final acceptance. Closing it takes an owner, not a coordinator.
Claims and penalties in play
Once milestones slip, contract terms decide who pays for the delay. Managed early and firmly, that exposure can be closed without penalties on either side.
Scope
What I take on
Delivering a project
Execution
- Progress monitoring and reporting against a real plan
- Supplier and subcontractor management
- Change management, with cost and schedule impact made visible
- P&L responsibility where the mandate calls for it
Commissioning and acceptance
- Commissioning and ramp-up to full performance
- Functional, availability and final acceptance management
- Building and leading the resident IT, PLC and mechatronics team
- Transition into the service phase
Rescuing a stalled one
Taking over
- Independent stock-take of what is actually open, in software and mechanics
- Project responsibility taken over from the incumbent manager
- A single owner for every remaining open point
Driving it closed
- Working directly alongside the software and mechanical teams
- Vendor and claim management to close exposure without penalties
- Final acceptance reached and the project closed
- Oversight of a ramp-up that has flattened
How it works
From open points to final acceptance
Whether the project is starting commissioning or has stalled halfway, the path to a closed, performing system is the same shape.
-
Take stock
An independent read on real status: what is open, what blocks what and where the genuine critical path runs.
Step 1 -
Drive open points
One owner per open point, software and mechanics worked in parallel, progress tracked against a plan people believe.
Step 2 -
Ramp to performance
Sustained output under real orders, the resident team built and led, teething problems fed back into equipment and software.
Step 3 -
Accept and hand over
Functional, availability and final acceptance closed, claims settled and the system handed cleanly into service.
Step 4
Evidence
Commissioned, ramped and closed
Project rescue · Deep-freeze producer · Belgium
Three months from stalled to accepted, with no penalties
The situation. A deep-freeze installation that had not reached final acceptance. Open points across both software and mechanics, with a project that could not be closed.
The work. Took over project responsibility, then worked directly alongside the software team and the mechanical team to drive every remaining open point to closure.
The outcome. All open points closed within three months. Final acceptance achieved and the project closed with no penalties.
- Asset
- Automated deep-freeze channel storage, Belgium
- My role
- Took over from the incumbent project manager
- Technology
- High-bay channel storage, pallet conveying, WCS
- Outcome
- Final acceptance, closed without penalties
Two fully automated distribution centres serving 800 stores
Managed commissioning and ramp-up of both systems across two sites and built the resident maintenance organisation — 70 FTE across IT, PLC and mechatronics.
Technology: Automated high-bay warehouse, decant and tilt-tray sorter, miniload with zone picking, GTP picking with carousel storage, WCS.
Outcome: Ramped to full performance and beyond. Final acceptance on schedule and in budget, then two years of profitable after-sales operation.
The first fully automatic case picking installation of its kind
Managed commissioning and ramp-up of the entire system, solved the problems that come with unproven technology and led the 16-strong resident team.
Technology: Automated multi-level shuttle, delayering robots, case wheelers, case stacking robots, WCS, pack-pattern generator.
Outcome: Ramped to full performance. Final acceptance on schedule and in budget.
The other services
Project Management
A project to deliver or one that has stalled?
Both start the same way — a straight read on where it actually stands. The first conversation costs nothing.