Webinar Recap · Nico Roepnack · April 21, 2026 · 9-minute read
Anyone managing a project portfolio across multiple plants in the automotive supply industry is familiar with this scenario: fifteen Excel files in seven SharePoint folders, three conflicting status reports per project, and the steering committee arguing over which figure is currently valid. The FEW Automotive Group has left this exact pattern behind. In our webinar on February 19, 2026, Konstantin Gross, Head of Project Management at FEW Automotive, demonstrated live how his team built a Smartsheet PMO for five plants across three continents. This is the same solution we presented together at Smartsheet ENGAGE 2025 in Seattle to an international audience of industry professionals.
This post is the long version: it covers industry context, architecture, change management, and a mini-framework that you can apply directly to your own PMO.
Watch the webinar recording
Industry Context: Why Project Management in the Automotive Sector Works Differently
A brief overview for readers outside the industry, because it is precisely this context that explains why generic project management tools often fail in the automotive sector.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers like FEW don’t just supply parts; they provide development partnerships. Every new component for an OEM (VW, Porsche, Ferrari, and others) goes through the APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) process, which includes mandatory gate reviews. The end result is PPAP approval, the Production Part Approval Process: a dossier consisting of measurement reports, process documentation, risk analyses, and sample approvals that the customer signs before the part can go into production. No PPAP, no revenue. For the PMO, this means: every project has strict regulatory gates, parallel customer cycles, and a single lost approval email attachment can delay a launch by weeks.
Automotive project management is therefore not a Kanban board for features, but a stage-gate process with audit-ready documentation. That is precisely where it differs from a standard software PMO, and that is precisely where conventional tools fall short.
The situation at FEW: Growth outpacing the infrastructure
The FEW Automotive Group is a hidden champion in the automotive glass industry: five production sites (two in Europe, two in China, and one in Mexico), around 600 employees, and customers such as VW, Porsche, and Ferrari. After COVID-19 came the surge: a sharp increase in new parts, new projects, and new locations. The existing system—a mix of emails, SharePoint folders, and homemade Excel spreadsheets—could no longer keep up.
Konstantin describes it matter-of-factly in the webinar: If you wanted to know the status of a project, you had to ask three people, and even then you couldn’t be sure the answer was up to date. Information was scattered, different versions competed with one another, and files disappeared into folder hierarchies that no one could make sense of anymore.
Why Excel and SharePoint Fail Structurally—Not Just Annoy
A common objection is: “We already have Excel; it’s been working for years.” That’s true—until a certain threshold is crossed. Excel and file-based structures fail not because they’re bad, but because they rely on three structural assumptions that no longer hold true in a scaling PMO:
- One truth per file: Every copy creates a new truth. By the third version, no one is sure which one is the correct one.
- Humans as integrators: Numbers are consolidated manually. This scales linearly with the amount of effort required and breaks down at the latest during weekly portfolio reviews.
- No process logic: A table does not know that Gate 3 follows Gate 2, or that an escalation must be triggered if a milestone is 10 days behind schedule.
Smartsheet addresses exactly these three issues: a single source instead of multiple files, automatic consolidation instead of manual integration, and built-in workflow logic instead of relying on gut feelings.
The Architecture: Three Views, One Standard
The FEW-PMO is structured across three interconnected levels, all of which are mapped in Smartsheet:
- Portfolio View for C-level executives. A consolidated, real-time overview of all projects, all locations, and all continents. The foundation for strategic decisions by the executive board.
- Project Manager View for management. Thanks to the “Current User” filter, each project manager automatically sees their own projects without having to maintain twelve separate reports.
- Project View for day-to-day operations. Tasks, timelines, gate statuses, and health indicators at the component and milestone levels.
Behind this is Smartsheet Control Center, which provides FEW-standard projects as blueprints: every new project is created from a template, including a stage-gate structure, standard KPIs, and reporting integration. This is the real game-changer, because standardization isn’t imposed as a rule, but becomes the default. The simplest approach is also the right one.
- Company size: starting at approximately 150 employees, typically 300 to 2,000.
- Project scope: more than 20 concurrent projects using gate logic.
- Locations: two or more plants, ideally located internationally.
- Regulatory requirements: APQP, PPAP, ISO, MDR, or similar mandatory processes.
- The problem: management reporting takes more time than the actual project work.
Change Management: How Konstantin's Team Actually Achieved Adoption
“Involving people early on” is easy to say. The real question is: how exactly? In the webinar, Konstantin’s team identified three mechanisms that go beyond standard change management phrases:
1. Start with the tedious tasks, not the important ones
The team didn’t start with the portfolio report for the board, but with the PPAP workflow: the very process that annoyed project managers the most. Email ping-pong, lost attachments, unclear status. Within a few weeks, the workflow was automated. Users adopted Smartsheet not because it was mandated, but because it took work off their hands. Adoption without a battle for acceptance.
Konstantin says: “Ask people what annoys them most about the current process, and fix that first. Then the rest will fall into place.”
2. Health status based on formulas, not opinions
In FEW, the project health status (red, yellow, green) isn’t set by project managers but is calculated based on the budget, timeline, and task completion. This removes the political element from reporting. No one has to justify a red light to the steering committee that they themselves selected. If a project turns red, Smartsheet automatically triggers an escalation, typically before the problem becomes apparent at the next meeting.
3. Corporate Identity as a Driver of Adoption
What looks like a cosmetic change is actually a matter of psychology. Dashboards in FEW colors, standardized icons, consistent terminology: when a plant in Mexico sees the same interface as a plant in China, a standard is established without anyone having to say a word. That’s cheaper than any process roadshow.
Handling Objections: Three Phrases We Often Hear
“We already have Excel; it works.”
Excel will work until the moment a second system is introduced or the first external audit asks who approved which version and when. By then, the migration will cost ten times more than switching over in a timely manner. The question isn’t whether Excel is sufficient today, but whether it will still be sufficient in 18 months.
“Our team is resisting new tools.”
Every team does this because a “new tool” usually means extra work on top of their regular duties. FEW turned this around by designing the first Smartsheet workflows to replace—rather than add to—tedious tasks. If the first release eliminates work, the second release is a surefire success.
“We’re too small for a full-fledged PMO.”
A PMO isn’t a matter of size, but of complexity. Three plants, ten concurrent projects, and a customer with PPAP requirements are more than enough. The difference between structured and unstructured work is often greater with 80 employees than with 800, because small teams feel the impact of every minute lost to reporting.
The Mini-Framework: Three Steps to Clear the Fog Around Your Project
Based on FEW and about 40 other Smartsheet implementations, we’ve distilled a simple approach that works without a consulting contract. Three steps—that’s all.
- Count your data sources. Count the places where your project data is stored today: Excel, SharePoint, Outlook, Jira, ERP exports. Every additional location compromises accuracy. Anything more than three is too many.
- Identify the one pain point. Ask your team, not yourself. The process that draws the most complaints is your first release. Not the most important one, but the most annoying one.
- Calculate health metrics instead of estimating them. As soon as a KPI is derived from formulas, politics disappears from reporting. If you change nothing else but that, you’ve already won.
This framework is intentionally simple. Anyone who uses it seriously will see results within 90 days. Those who need more will reach out to us anyway.
A Stopover: Two Low-Threshold Ways to Get More Involved
Before you decide on a project, here are two good next steps you can take without any sales pressure:
- Learn the methodology in a structured way: LHC Academy with our Smartsheet and PMO courses.
- Professional networking with peers: the LinkedIn Intelligent Work Management community.
Why this is relevant even without a background in the automotive industry
Continuous improvement, stage-gate logic, audit-ready reports: these aren’t just niche concepts in the automotive industry; they are the building blocks of any serious portfolio management. Mechanical engineering, medical technology, pharmaceuticals, energy, aviation—any industry with regulated product launches is familiar with these patterns. The difference between the winners and the rest is not the tool, but the consistency with which processes are standardized and then integrated into a single system.
That is why FEW is the case study we presented on the ENGAGE stage in Seattle: because it shows that a small-to-medium-sized supplier can achieve the same level of portfolio transparency as a large corporation, provided the architecture is right.
FAQ: Smartsheet PMO in the Automotive Industry
What is a Smartsheet PMO?
A Smartsheet PMO is a Project Management Office that manages its portfolio, project, and gate control within the Smartsheet platform, including automated KPIs, dashboards, and workflows. It replaces the traditional Excel-plus-SharePoint combination with a single source of truth.
How does Smartsheet differ from a traditional MS Project PMO?
MS Project excels at individual project planning but falls short in portfolio consolidation and workflow automation. Smartsheet is rooted in spreadsheet logic, scales natively across locations, and offers a true portfolio view through Control Center. For regulated product development involving gate reviews, Smartsheet is significantly more adaptable.
How long does it take to implement a Smartsheet PMO?
An initial productive loop (portfolio view plus an automated pain process) is typically up and running within 8 to 12 weeks. A global rollout across multiple plants, as in the case of FEW, is carried out in phases over a period of 9 to 15 months. What matters is not the duration, but the release cadence during the first 90 days.
Is this also suitable for companies with fewer than 200 employees?
Yes, provided that multiple parallel projects are running with gate logic. We scale the architecture to match the size of the project. This is often where the greatest impact is felt, because smaller teams feel the effects of every unproductive hour directly.
How much does a Smartsheet PMO cost for a small or medium-sized business?
Platform costs scale with the number of power users, not with the number of viewers. The largest cost component is the one-time implementation: architecture, blueprints in Control Center, and change management. A realistic starting point is in the five-figure range, while rollouts in large companies can reach six figures. We offer a free potential analysis that calculates the business case for your specific context.
Similar situation? Let’s crunch the numbers for your business case.
In a free potential analysis, we assess where your PMO stands today, identify the three steps that will have the greatest impact, and determine whether Smartsheet is the right solution. No sales pitch, no generic demo. Your portfolio, your numbers.
Additional Resources
- The FEW Automotive Reference in Detail
- Project and Portfolio Management with Smartsheet
- Smartsheet as an enterprise platform
- Learn methodology at the LHC Academy
- The ENGAGE 2025 session on smartsheet.com
About the Author: Nico Roepnack is the founder of Lighthouse Consultings, a Smartsheet Gold Partner, a member of the Forbes Business Council, a lecturer at DHBW, and a speaker at Smartsheet ENGAGE 2025. Structure. Clarity. Impact.
Source: Webinar “One Standard, Three Continents,” Lighthouse Consultings, February 19, 2026. Speaker: Konstantin Gross, Head of Project Management, FEW Automotive Group.
