Rotelec: 5 years of manufacturing project planning with GanttPRO
“Simplicity was one of the key criteria we based our software choice on. That’s why GanttPRO fits into our daily workflow so naturally.”
A story about managing long-running manufacturing projects with GanttPRO’s scalable timeline, fast task handling, and easy team adoption.
Company overview
Company: Rotelec
Roles interviewed: Samir Khoucha, Project Manager
Project types: long-lasting, complex manufacturing projects
External pressures: strict deadlines, multiple layers of tasks inside each activity, client reporting
Tool history: Microsoft software
Problems hinted at: lack of flexibility in switching between yearly overviews and detailed planning, as well as in user and license administration in previous tools
Summary
Company Background
What does your company focus on?
Rotelec is a manufacturer of electromagnetic stirring and induction heating systems for the steelmaking industry, designed to control steel flow, solidification, and temperature throughout the production process. Due to the complexity of its products, the team handles a few projects annually, with each lasting on average of three to four years.
“Simplicity was one of the key criteria we based our software choice on. That’s why GanttPRO fits into our daily workflow so naturally.”
Simplicity is definitely the stand-out component for us, especially compared to other tools on the market.
Struggle
How did your approach look before GanttPRO?
The team started using GanttPRO to address a few key challenges: meeting deadlines, which in a client-oriented manufacturing workflow is crucial, and presenting long-running projects with multiple layers of tasks in a single space. Samir also shares the progress with the client as part of regular reporting, which also required a high level of transparency and detail from the project management software.
Solution
Due to the long production cycle, it is important to be able to review the project at different scales – both on a yearly level and in more detail.
“GanttPRO is very effective at giving us an overview of all activities by year, which is not as convenient in other software. Being able to zoom in and out helps us quickly understand the overall scope and where we currently stand within it.”In the context of such large-scale projects, repeating activities is a regular part of the practice. As Samir explains: “Copy-paste in GanttPRO is designed very smartly. It’s not just a basic copy-paste function – you can paste an activity exactly where you need it and connect it to other activities as needed. Thanks to this, we can create a much more detailed commissioning schedule. I’m not sure if any other software can do that.”
“Another part worth highlighting is how quickly new tasks can be added. One of the most challenging stages we work with is equipment, installation, and testing, with multiple stages of its own within each phase. Many tasks are not necessarily linked to one another, and when one activity includes 100–200 tasks, being able to add them quickly is essential to avoid slowing down the entire process.”“Simplicity is definitely the stand-out component for us, especially compared to other tools on the market. Our team members have different software backgrounds, and not everyone is an experienced user. With GanttPRO, we were able to make the adoption process very smooth.”
Another aspect Samir mentioned was account management : “As we have to extend licenses quite frequently, I appreciate how easy it is to change or add new administrators, operators, and team members. It’s totally different from, for instance, Microsoft software.”
Impact
What does your work look like now with GanttPRO?
For the past five years, GanttPRO has supported Rotelec's project planning, scope estimation, and client reporting in a single workspace. Used by the team’s project managers, the tool remains part of the daily workflow, with key features such as easy adoption and administration, a scalable timeline view, and smart task creation.