E. Luterbach AG: bringing structure to technically demanding projects with GanttPRO
“People ask us, ‘You do really good project management and planning. How do you do it?’ And I tell them about GanttPRO because it supports communication and helps optimize the project flow, while offering a similar level of structure to Microsoft Project. This is especially important for companies looking for an alternative tool.”
A story of moving beyond Microsoft Project without losing the structure the team relied on.
Company overview
Company: E. Luterbach AG
Roles interviewed: Lukas Riechsteiner, Head of Automation
Project types: industrial engineering and coating systems
External pressures: schedule and cost commitments, integration into ongoing production, supplier coordination
Tool history: Microsoft Project
Problems hinted at: need for a new Gantt-based solution after Microsoft Project was no longer possible to use
Summary
Company Background
What does your company focus on?
E. Luterbach AG is a team of specialists developing customized solutions for modern coating systems and implementing systems for material pretreatment, conveying technology and material logistics, as well as liquid and powder coating. Each initiative brings together a number of interconnected systems, project partners, and stages, from early engineering to installation and commissioning. As changes become increasingly costly further into implementation, keeping the activities accurate and aligned with ongoing changes is particularly important.
Lukas Riechsteiner, Head of Automation, shares his experience with GanttPRO and explains what made it the team’s tool of choice.
GanttPRO saves us about at least 2 hours a week.
Struggle
How did your approach look before GanttPRO?
Before GanttPRO was implemented, the team used Microsoft Project, which was close to exactly what they needed but still lacked some important capabilities.
“Microsoft Project was almost exactly what we needed. But they discontinued the version we were using, so it was no longer available under the new model. That’s when we started looking for a new tool through Google and AI search and eventually found GanttPRO. We tried quite a few options, but we were leaning towards a Gantt-based approach because it gave us the most transparent view and made planning from scratch easier.”
Solution
For Luterbach AG, a Gantt-based approach is the best project management solution due to their workflow nuances. Each initiative brings together multiple interconnected stages, technical systems, and external partners, creating a layered system of planning, production, installation, and commissioning stages. A visual timeline shows how changes in one area affect the entire project, which helps keep deadlines under control and maintain the best overview of the implementation process.
Another important factor is how project management software can be accessed, as even feature-rich tools can fall short if they are difficult to use across devices or environments. For Lukas and the team, one of GanttPRO’s main advantages, besides the Gantt chart itself, was how easy it was to access the tool.
“I came to GanttPRO and found it really easy to use. It’s web-based, easy to open, easy to handle, and easy to make changes. For me, that’s really important because our plans need to stay up to date. If adding changes takes too much time or effort, they are less likely to be made regularly. In GanttPRO, you just open the timeline in the browser and make the changes easily.”
Impact
What does your work look like now with GanttPRO?
“People ask us, ‘You do really good project management and planning. How do you do it?’ And I tell them about GanttPRO because it supports communication and helps optimize the project flow, while offering a similar level of structure to Microsoft Project. This is especially important for companies looking for an alternative tool.”
“This is also how GanttPRO has established itself within the team’s own workflow. For Lukas and his colleagues, the software became a strong alternative to Microsoft Project, bringing a timeline-based approach that suits the technical and coordination demands of their work."