Siemens Gamesa 4.X prototype: Teamwork and collaboration across legacies made it possible! 

Hamburg / 16 de junio de 2020

After being nominated as a Hero for his drive, kindness, hardworking attitude, and his respect for his colleagues, regardless of their legacy, we had a chat with Carlos Erro to get to know more about him and his participation in the site execution of the first Siemens Gamesa onshore prototype to be installed in Hoevsoere, Denmark: the SG 5.0-145.
Internal Communications Specialist
Carlos Erro is the Construction Platform Manager of the Siemens Gamesa 4.X, our Onshore platform for medium and high winds. After several years working for Siemens outside his hometown Pamplona, he came back home to join Gamesa’s construction department in 2007. Since 2016, he represents the reconstruction department in new turbine development projects. He defines his job as “working with the rest of the stakeholders from the early design phase to define solutions for market demands, taking into account the different stages of the product lifecycle.”

Last year, Carlos became part of a big challenge and a huge step for our company, the execution of the first Siemens Gamesa onshore prototype in Denmark. You might ask yourself why this project was so important; being a turbine manufacturing company – this should be just another job. But it wasn’t, this was something new. “I was used to installing prototypes in Spain where we know each other and how to proceed. In this case, we were repeating what we did one year earlier with the installation of the first prototype of this platform in Spain, but with new product sourcing, extended scope, and a regional execution team. This was new for me, but really positive and valued,” explains Carlos.
For this project, there were two main challenges. On one side, the technical aspect, as he explains: “We are moving some activities from the factory to the site, so this project has a particular and more complex setup than normal projects. It was important to validate the prototype before serial production and to get lessons learned for the new products to come, such as the Siemens Gamesa 5.X.” On the other side, “How to manage all the prototype particularities with our colleagues in NE&ME, who were used to a different product, a different documentation management system, and sometimes a different way to do the same things,” describes Carlos.
“It’s not a matter of just installing a machine, and it’s even less about teaching anything to skilled people that perfectly know the business. The purpose of a prototype is to validate what has been defined, gather all the findings, learn from them, as well as look for improvements. Finding the balance between those parts and listening to experienced people with other perspectives without stopping anything is the key point,” explains Carlos 

For these reasons, collaborating with the NE&ME team was a journey of learnings for everyone from the Spanish team. “We were a bit lost about the ‘structure’ of people on each side. Even though it wasn’t simple, we were all open-minded and willing to learn how the other team manages the projects. This helped us to understand what is needed from each of us. When it was clear, we went for it as one team. This was also happening on the site. Daily alignment meetings and good preparation before starting the activity were really positive,” affirms Carlos.
The project continues, and the team needs to keep pushing the legacy boundaries. “The way to understand the mix of both legacies is to get the good elements from each other, understand them and then combine them in the best way to improve. This sounds good, and now it’s on us to integrate this within the framework that we already have,” explains Carlos. The success of this prototype is very important for the way we will keep working in the future. “It is like an intermediate test of what is coming very soon, with the new wind turbine designs developed after the merger,” affirms Carlos. 

Carlos is a good example of how to embrace new challenges with a positive mindset and always try to improve the way we do things. It is all about development, feedback, and teamwork. Actually, when he was nominated by his team as a Hero, the news was really surprising for him: “We have just done the job,” he said. He’s one of those heroes who thinks they are simply doing their work and don’t realize the positive impact they have on their team.

As an exemplary team player, he doesn’t take all the credit: “The real value comes from those who really made it possible. From the design, through the project management, manufacturing process, trials, challenging logistics, and an outstanding site team that performed exceptionally,” affirms Carlos.

Thank you to Carlos Erro for being a Siemens Gamesa hero, but also to the team of this challenging project, especially Henrik Bie Hansen, Site Manager, and Project Managers Maite Beorlegui, Inga Riemer and Siegfried Flohr, who all made it possible.

Share

Further information about data protection can be found in our privacy policy.