Discover how Stevanato Group streamlines product roadmapping to scale global pharmaceutical innovation. Learn how they align strategy, resources, and execution for smarter product development.
Stevanato Group is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of pre-sterilized glass EZ-fill® solutions (vials, syringes and cartridges), delivering integrated drug containment and delivery systems across more than 700 customers globally. Headquartered in Piombino Dese, Italy, and operating in ten countries with over 5,500 employees, Stevanato is a quiet giant in the pharma industry.
In 2024, the company was managing more than 100 concurrent projects. Many were at different levels of maturity, involving various departments, stakeholders, and regions. Resources were constantly in flux. Data were scattered across different systems that required synthesis and integration. It was evident that a centralized, trustworthy view of what was going on was a need, due to the complexity of the pipeline and of the portfolio.
“We had no shortage of talent or ideas,” explains Alessandro Martini, Head of Project Portfolio Management. “But the ability to track those ideas, prioritize them effectively, and allocate resources in a way that supports our broader strategic vision, that’s where we needed help.” That help came in the form of Planisware Orchestra.
From its beginnings in glass manufacturing, Stevanato has evolved into a full-spectrum partner in the pharmaceutical value chain. Its offerings now cover everything from drug containment and delivery systems to analytical services and in-vitro diagnostics. With such breadth, the company needed more than just project management—it needed portfolio orchestration.
The Case for a Unified PPM System
The pressure to innovate, deliver faster, and meet rigorous quality standards had never been higher. Yet Stevanato Group’s internal project management tools hadn’t kept pace with the organization’s evolution. The company struggled with the usual challenges fast growing companies have:
- Lack of visibility across the portfolio
No consolidated view of what was in the pipeline or what value it represented, being each area of the company managing projects as per their current practices. - Resource allocation
Resource planning coming from different departments and business units were difficult to manage/prioritized in a coherent way. - Prioritization
Without a single system or shared vocabulary, it was difficult to prioritize projects based on technical, scientific, and financial value.
That’s why, as Alessandro Martini pointed out “we needed to start connecting the dots, without losing speed and agility that are part of Stevanato Group’s style and DNA”.
Four pillars were identified to drive the transformation:
- Value: Ensure project resources are aligned with strategic value.
- Priority: Allocate capacity based on financial, operational, and scientific impact.
- Culture: Foster a company-wide mindset of continuous evaluation and improvement.
- Truth: Maintain a single source of data that is reliable, real-time, and accessible.
This vision led to the implementation of Planisware Orchestra, a cloud-based platform flexible enough to accommodate as pilot for Stevanato Group the R&D-centric workflows start designing and the enterprise-level portfolio needs.
The Orchestra Rollout
This vision resulted in the implementation of Planisware Orchestra, a cloud-based platform with sufficient flexibility to accommodate the pilot for Stevanato Group's R&D-centric workflows, which are pivotal in designing the enterprise-level portfolio requirements.
Orchestra introduced a central platform that connects:
- Project pipeline & industrial plan
Projects are now tracked with WBS codes and milestone schedules aligned across departments. - Cost tracking
Budget, forecast, and actual expenditures—both OpEx and CapEx—are integrated and aligned with the company’s AFC processes. - Resource planning
FTE-based capacity plans are now linked to actual hours reported. The system also captures “last estimate updates,” allowing for dynamic reforecasting. - Issue management & milestone status
Project leads can flag issues early, track delays, and conduct root-cause analysis using Orchestra’s native dashboards. - Reporting
Power BI was layered on top of Orchestra to visualize data and generate performance KPIs across categories, project types, and business units.
A Culture Shift in Accountability
One of the most impactful changes has been the adoption of structured issue management. In the past, project setbacks, such as missed milestones, were never tracked formally, thus visibility of real progress to project completion was missing.
Today, issues are logged, categorized, and monitored within Planisware Orchestra. Stakeholders can distinguish between:
- Issues that need help
- Issues currently being addressed
This has created a shared language around project risk. And, more importantly, it has encouraged teams to surface problems earlier, before they spiral into delays, to properly identify solutions and to escalate when needed.
Powering Innovation, Together
Today, Stevanato Group’s R&D infrastructure supports better decisions, faster course corrections, and more effective use of time and talent.
