A BILA pre-project is a good investment when a complex solution is needed
- Commitment from stakeholders
- Decisions based on facts
- Ensuring joint success
When you, a BILA customer, want a complex solution, many questions will soon arise. Therefore, BILA offers to make a pre-project together with the customer. A pre-project mitigates risks at an agreed price and schedule.
Both the customer and BILA invest in testing and analysis at a critical stage of project start-up, which typically forms the basis for 80% of project costs. Making informed decisions in the initial phase usually results in a successful project outcome. The results of a pre-project: an analysis, a test of specific tasks and a report with budget and time schedule for the task itself, all done in close cooperation with the individual customer.
The whole idea of a BILA pre-project is to thoroughly prepare and process the project to give the customer peace of mind. There are multiple examples of projects that fail to deliver the right quality, capacity or functionality. And the delivery often fails to meet the agreed deadline or price. In many instances, this is because the scope of the task was not clearly defined from the outset which is precisely what BILA wants to avoid with a pre-project.
A pre-project might conclude that the project does not have an attractive ROI, that the technology is not available or that other prerequisites prevent the main project from being implemented. This limits the ‘harm’ to a minor sum, and the decision is based on facts – not assumptions.
One company that completed a successful pre-project in close cooperation with BILA is Kelsen Group, world renowned for its cookies. Each year, its two modern bakeries in Denmark sell 25,000 tonnes of cookies produced on a total of 12 production lines.
Kelsen Group wanted to remove monotonous, repetitive and heavy lifting from part of its production process and reduce the workforce at the same time. This is why they joined forces with BILA to develop a new technology that addresses these challenges and helps improve efficiency and boosts competitiveness.
BILA worked together with Kelsen Group to develop a system with a cutting and repalletising process on one and the same system. The system cuts and opens butter cartons weighing 25 kg. Previously, the cutting and thawing process took about three or four weeks, but now monotonous, repetitive tasks are eliminated and the thawing process is shortened to just 36 hours.
The pre-project involved verifying the chosen solution so that it could also run in reality. Specifically, the blade that cut up the butter cartons had to be tested at BILA’s development and testing centre to make sure that the technology worked and that the cycle time and, thus the capacity, could also meet the requirements set by Kelsen.
This pre-project was very successful, which is also why the main project was implemented. Kelsen has become much more competitive as it can deliver orders within a few days, compared with the previous lead time of several weeks. At the same time, occupational health, safety, and quality are significantly improved.
The pre-project teamwork has really steadied our nerves about our choice of solution and ensured a successful project at the same time. Afterwards, we have a running system that fully meets our preferences and requirements, not least in terms of user friendliness. We will definitely do more of this going forward.
Johan Dissing, Teknisk chef, Kelsen Group.
Contact our experts and let us together find the right solution for your company.
