Winner's story: Petra Benušová

Petra shared a story about an extraordinary project known as Sequoia, one of the largest and most complex projects she has worked on as a Project Manager. In her entry, she reflects on the scale and challenge of delivering the project.

A memory that still resonates strongly with me today is connected to an exceptionally large project on which I had the honour of working as a project manager. The project took place at John Crane Czech Republic, and its goal was to install a polymer filter for a customer.

What made it unique?
Practically everything. It was not just a “big” project — it was a truly giant one, which is why it earned the nickname, Sequoia. The scale of the project was remarkable, but what was even more impressive were the dimensions and weight of the individual components, which quite literally took your breath away.

In addition, the project represented an extraordinary collaboration across continents. Teams from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, China and the United States were involved. People from different departments, age groups, and levels of experience worked together, and this diversity proved to be one of the project’s greatest strengths.

Why Sequoia? Some of the components reached dimensions of over 120 × 120 cm, which in itself does not sound particularly intimidating. However, their weight exceeded 4.5 tons. To put this into perspective, a single screw weighed more than 16 kilograms - and there were twenty of them. The filter itself weighed 13 tons, while the total assembly reached an astonishing 50 tons.

It was a project full of challenges, both from an engineering and an assembly perspective. A mobile crane had to be brought directly into the hall to assist with lifting.

There were moments of frustration when things did not go according to plan, but above all, there was a tremendous sense of joy and achievement at the end. The project showed us what we are capable of when we pull together. It did not matter which country we came from or which language we spoke - we were united by a shared passion to create something exceptional and to meet the customer’s needs.