Merck Facelift Project: One Global Headquarters Merck Project

The Merck Facelift Project aims to create an innovation center that will generate new technologies and businesses that would surpass what the company has achieved in the past. The project will provide a built space that is located at the heart of Darmstadt for innovation that will also allow for the connection of the employees and external setups through other initiatives that will be introduced prior to the completion of the project. The project is led by two individuals; Steven and Mark and supported by other five project managers namely Claire, Peter, Frank, John and Lilian.

Running Head: Project Charter 1
One Global Headquarters Merck Project
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27th Friday 2020

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Project Background
The history of Merck is traced back to 1600’s when Jacob Merck set up this chemical
factory in Darmstadt. Decades later (in 1891), George Merck who had developed deeper roots in
the united states moved and established the company in New York. The company was
confisticated in 1917, during the World war I and was made independent. In the early 1930’s, the
company kicked off pharmaceutical researches. Merck merged with another pharmaceutical
company called Sharp and Dohme in 1953 to create MSD (Merck Sharp and Dohme. By the end
of 2004, the company was raked to be among the top ten globally in the pharmaceutical markets
and had set up 31 factories worldwide having over 62,000 employees all from 120 countries
worldwide (Meng, 2017). Due to its well-known prowess when it comes Scientific creativity and
excellence, Merck has been on the fore -front when it comes to the delivery of medical novels as
well as journals for more than five decades. The company being founded about 350 years ago,
Merck is on the look out to find ways and different approaches that will enhance if not foster as
well as drive innovation. We found out that one of the aspects that will boost our focus on
innovation is the architecture of the building. The company is focused on curiosity, greatly
focused on strong partnerships with the brightest of the companies and students which answers to
the company’s focus on external innovation. This is with the general aim of the company to
jointly advance the human medical approach, performance materials alongside life sciences.
Purpose of the Project
This idea came of as the company was going to celebrate its 350th Anniversary that is
planned to held in 2018. This was on the fact that the company needed something to appeal and
contribute to the society in future. The innovation center will be a center that will not only
generate new technologies but also businesses that would surpass what the company has
achieved in the past. The innovation center would also be an instrument for the transformation of

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the Company’s culture to usher in a new era of Innovative culture that will provide spaces to
actively promote, think and test ideas that will surpass the daily normal routine (The living core,
(2020). Also, within the heart of this transformation lies the urge to connecting the company to
special networks. The new building will act as the main headquarters of Merck in Darmstadt,
Germany as well as the entrance to its University.
Project Objectives
The main project objectives of this project are to:
 Provide a built space that I located at the heat of Darmstadt for innovation
that will also allow for the connection of the employees and external setups through other
initiatives that will be introduces prior to the completion of the project (Premier
Construction, (2018). This also includes the facilitation of the innovations by various
groups of employees as well as the startups
 Open up the closed company site both visually and in gestures. This
entails to gradually transform it into a campus for attraction, structured and more open for
the employees and the public
 Build a new innovation center with a new world of work in terms of
architecture
Project limitations
The main challenge that the project will have is time since the company will require the
project to be complete and the new center of the company that will also serve as is headquarters
open. The company was also at risk of deviating from their financial targets of the given period.
though the company has placed measures I place that will enable them to securer their intended
targets for the given period of time. Other challenges were that given managers of the team was

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tasked with then aspect of innovation; they were required to spur innovation in this business as
well as pool expertise that will be of great help in facilitating the different forms of innovation
that will be offered in the new innovation center upon competition (MTi2, 2020).
Leadership of the Project
This project is led by two individuals; Steven and Mark and supported by other five
project manager namely Claire, Peter, Frank, John and Lilian. Steven is a program and project
manager that been in the field for more than 30 years and he is also a PhD holder by training in
chemical engineering. He however moved to join the company’s management of major projects
20 years ago. On the other side Mark is an architect and joined Merck shortly before the program
was initiated by the directive of the company’s CEO. Mark has long career history in the
construction sector with a vast experience in construction in Germany apart from being a lead
architecture in the same. The two are the overall project manager who in turn chose their team to
help manage the project. Claire who was a qualified architect too was made the project manager
for the Innovation center and the employee restaurant since she was an independent architect
before she joined Merck 20 years ago and she has been tasked with such management task in the
past which were successfully led by her. Peter was made the overall architect project leader and
his responsibility is the designing of all the buildings and the overall construction management.
John was structural engineer deployed from one of the best construction companies in Germany
and was tasked with making the ideas of Peter feasible and affordable wile also be in compliance
with the building regulation. He heads the Berlin office of his engineering company that is
known to a wider experience when it came to the challenging designs. Frank is the procurement
manager for the company since he haves a deeper background in engineering as well as Lilian
who was a civil engineer and quality surveyor forms part of the external team with the

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Consultancy Drees and Sommer. She and her team were required to complement all the required
to competencies of the company’s program.
Project Risk and Mitigation
The major project risk for this case was the deviation from the company’s financial
targets that was to be affected if any part of the construction project will not go on well. This was
assessed and managed earlier with the Internal control system for the group that head all the
accounting processes; implemented controls that provided assurance to the project team that the
financial statements are well prepared and that they are in compliance with the accounting
standards and laws. To add on that was the challenge of breaking up of the existing structures
and processes that are in place but this was mitigated another approach that offers protected
ecosystem.
Project stakeholders
The company has partnered with a number of startups that have proven to be good
stakeholders to the same. The media, regulatory agencies, employees and their representatives,
scientists, healthcare systems, NGO’s, the Federations, suppliers and our esteemed customers all
play a part in this project because they are our key funders of this project therefore it is critical
that the end result must e of good quality and appealing.
Project Vision and Team Culture
The vision of the project is to set up a creative and agile environment that will be helpful
in the offering spaces where the creative minds can converge and share their ideas and create
new ideas as well as technologies that that will change the business of tomorrow. This project
will offer not only the physical aspect of construction but the center will be much more than
what it is perceived. It would act as an instrument that will labour for the transformation of the

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company’s process- oriented culture and take towards the next generation culture of innovation
that comes with the breaking free from routines, predetermined processes and rigid attitudes in
order to come up with sufficient space for reflection and as well foster the enthusiasm for
novelty. The center will also innovate new technological approaches, offering and ideas that will
serve the Merck alongside the community and most importantly is that most of these new
technological advances will lie from the external environment. This is also with the inclusion of
connectivity through an ambassador network that will be created to connect both the internal and
external innovators and as well offer support that will strengthen their innovative skills.
As the organizational culture of the project is an essential factor that has been recognized
as an influencing factor that will determine the success or the failure of the given project by a
company, it is my wish that we all work towards the success of this project. I would like the team
culture to be based on the company’s mission, vision as well as that of the project itself. Our
leadership aspect will be polite and pass in of facts or ideas that will oversee the qualities of the
project and also ensure proper completion of the project. The external forces that form part of the
taskforce should also be beneficial in holding up our hardworking culture thus this will help us
perceive the success of this project and also be a source of the urge of perfection (Suda, 2007).
To sustain this culture, the project managers assigned to each section of the project =ion will be
offering weekly reports on the progress of the project and thus will help us know of what areas
will need improvement and what arear are complete. We also be conducting ground checks and
inspections on the site and also try to reinforce the work hard cultural aspect through the
emulation of the leadership of the company.
Conclusion

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I could generally say ever since from the begin of the first set up of the company in the
16oo’s, I could say that Merck is a company that focuses on the innovation aspect that will shape
the future way of business as well as proceed its activities that have impacted the success of the
company for this longer period of time. This project will mainly be initiated to offer company
with the space that will allow for more innovation as well as to inspire the society if not
satisfying their needs. The project was faced a few limitations that were resolved earlier to allow
the project to kick as the estimated time when the project will be coming into a halt when the
company will be celebrating 350 years since its establishment in the 1600’s. it is important we de
deliver quality work as our stake holders expect quality work that will be not only be great but
also a new center that will be able to provide sufficient space for the sharing of innovative ideas
by the employees of the company as well as the students that the company will have since the
center will also be a university.

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Reference
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Meng, (2017). Case Study: R & D Strategy at Merck,
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merck/
Merck KGaA, (2018). Annual report on n Risks and Opportunities, <
https://www.emdgroup.com/en/annualreport/2018/combined-management-
report/report-on-risks-and-opportunities.html>
MTi2, (2020). MERCK: Building an innovation powerhouse, <https://www.mti2.eu/merck>
Premier Construction, (2018). Merck Innovative Center
https://premierconstructionnews.com/2018/12/12/merck-innovation-center/
Suda, L. V. (2007). The meaning and importance of culture for project success. Paper presented
at PMI® Global Congress 2007—EMEA, Budapest, Hungary. Newtown
Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
The living core, (2020). Merck Innovation Center as Enabling Space
https://www.thelivingcore.com/en/merck-innovation-center-as-enabling-
space/
Thomas Fundneider, (2019). MERCK Innovation Center: Free mind, space and innovation, <
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/merck-innovation-center-free-mind-space-
thomas-fundneider>