Interview

Filippo Egualini, Production Area Manager, talks about his role in FPS

May 21, 2021
  • What is the role of the Plant Manager at FPS?

The Plant Manager is responsible for the production area and for organising and planning all the activities necessary for the construction, installation and validation of the system. The coordination of all departments is fundamental for the good execution of projects. In the production planning office, mechanical work is distributed inside our internal workshop and some work can also be allocated to external partners. The schedules for material procurement and stock picking are entered, to match the milestones dictated by the project schedule.

The mechanical & electrical assembly department, builds all electrical and pneumatic systems, makes the final touches on board the physical systems and prepares the isolators for software installation. In addition, they carry out the validation in the presence of the end user. The warehouse is responsible for managing spare parts and all logistics. In this area, in addition to receiving and dispatching, they prepare all the parts to be mounted on isolators. Each machine has one or a few dedicated trolleys that carry the parts for that system. Finally, the Validation department handles all final validations either at FPS during the FAT or on-site after delivery.

  • What are the objectives of the production manager?

My main objective is to meet all internal project milestones of the GANTT chart put together by the Project Manager while never neglecting the care and the quality of the finished product. The other priority is to work in close collaboration with the technical department: this allows us to improve the quality and efficiency of our plants and thus satisfy the customer needs. Sometimes coordinating all departments can be a bit complicated, but many years of experience, in-depth knowledge of the product and teamwork helps us to face every challenge in the best possible way.

  • What sort of project management tools do you use?

In FPS each project is assigned to a Project Manager who coordinates both a dedicated design team and the machine production. The Project Manager assigns resources and times to each project, based on a WBS (work breakdown structure) perfected over time, which is managed by a management software. In addition, the Project Manager monitors and controls the project progress to evaluate the deviations from the baseline in advance and to foresee corrective actions. This activity is demanding, but it allows us to monitor the progress of each project and the entire portfolio. This management tool is useful not only for the Project Manager, but also for the other department colleagues: indeed, they can always be informed and aligned on each project milestones.