“When we started the cooperation with Citec, we agreed that Citec would have a representative at our premises. From our earlier cooperation with India we were aware of the problems which may occur when operating in different locations”, says Senior Manager Magnus Andersson at the business line for Forklift Trucks within Kalmar, a business area of Cargotec.

According to Andersson, a big challenge when outsourcing jobs to consultants is to limit the time an assignment will consume of the company’s own resources. The more you must control, correct and give guidance to the subcontractors, the smaller the benefit of outsourcing becomes.

Citec and Kalmar have developed a model together to ensure that a substantial part of such problems are eliminated. Citec has a project manager working at Kalmar’s office in Lidhult, in the south of Sweden. Both companies were involved in the recruitment process during the last time this position was filled.

“After more than a year of cooperation, we can see that the model works well – we have been able to continuously transfer more and more work to Citec. I have even promoted the model to other business lines of Cargotec”, says Andersson.

He believes that the biggest reason why the cooperation has been so successful is that the areas of responsibility are clearly defined.

“Citec takes responsibility for the work from start to finish, which facilitates our job. Citec’s project manager becomes a natural part of our team and as he is present at our office the communication between us runs smoothly.”

What is then required from a project manager to do a good job?

“You have to be self-reliant and know how to find the information needed. Since you are in touch with so many people, it’s also an advantage to be sociable, at the same time as being structured and organised.”