Revision history: first published 2002-04-04

Change@CERN - the Way Ahead

“We need to adapt and change, and with your full support I know we can do it”, Director-General Luciano Maiani told the General Staff Meeting on 4 April, when he mapped out the Management’s Draft Plan, developed in response to the crisis that arose last year from the revised cost-to-completion of the LHC. He believes that the crisis has offered an opportunity for change, from which the Laboratory should emerge healthier and stronger.

The staff meeting followed on from the meetings of the Committees held at CERN on 18-21 March, where reports from the External Review Committee (ERC) and the internal Task Forces were presented, together with the Management’s Draft Plan. At the meetings, the first ideas for redirecting 500 MCHF to the LHC were announced (see Box). Council agreed to unfreeze 20 MCHF from the 2002 budget, and the Swiss delegation showed their confidence in CERN by offering an advance payment of 90 MCHF.

Professor Maiani began his presentation to the staff meeting with the conclusions from the interim report of the ERC. (The final report will be presented to the Council meeting in June.) He said that the ERC had made strong positive comments in which they recognised the world-wide support for the LHC project and its sound technical foundations, as well as CERN’s “best asset possible: a competent and dedicated staff”. However, the ERC had also diagnosed problems at CERN, and recommended strong medicine for all the Management. In general, the ERC concluded that the present problems are the “consequences of lack of appropriate adaptations to the LHC challenges”, and that their solution requires a broader remedy, rather than isolated short-term measures.

Professor Maiani then thanked the staff for the hard work that had gone into the reports from the internal Task Forces. “They have made an important contribution in defining the way ahead”. The findings of the Task Forces, which are to be summarised on the CERN web site, point in the same general direction as the ERC’s interim report, and were appreciated by the Committees in March. The findings form the basis of the direction for the Management’s Plan, to be presented in June

Professor Maiani outlined the preliminary orientations for the plan to the staff meeting, stressing that he believes that the Laboratory should not wait until the outcome of the June meetings, but should grasp the opportunity now and take action. “I want to go to the June meetings with more than just a Medium-Term Plan”, he told the meeting. “ I want to demonstrate that we have turned a corner on this difficult road.”

The plan that Professor Maiani outlined rests on the following actions:

To reschedule the LHC to start up in 2007, a date which takes into account the delay that is already forecast in delivery of the superconducting cable.
To refocus resources on the LHC, as this project is the Laboratory’s future. 40 MCHF a year will be reallocated to the project. This means change but also opportunity with a new base-line programme to grow from. 50% of this reallocation will come from non-LHC activities; the remainder will come from a reduction in the projected future level of spending on Industrial Services, which will eventually return to the level of spending during the LEP era.
To complete a restructuring of the Accelerator Sector by the 1st January 2003 (other possible changes in the structure are to be decided after June).
To review policies in Human Resources and prepare for the introduction of Locally Recruited Staff; to review Industrial Resources contracting policies and re-tender certain contracts.
To set up stronger financial monitoring controls, with clearer responsibility and accountability at the correct levels; to introduce the concept of “Earned Value”, and to prepare the way for real integrated Personnel and Materials accounting and reporting.

Professor Maiani concluded by reiterating that the foundations of CERN are solid. He believes that the Laboratory can meet the challenge of the present crisis and overcome it, just as it is meeting the technical challenges of the LHC. Communication will be an important key to the way ahead. “I plan to go round the Divisions to listen to you”, Professor Maiani told the meeting, “and you can send me your comments and suggestions via the link ‘Suggestions for change’ on the CERN users’ web page.”