05 Aug 2026 – As investment in gigafactories continues to grow, the demand for deep Electrical, Instrumentation and Automation (EIA) expertise has never been greater.
These flagship projects are often described in terms of their size and technological sophistication. They are often highly interconnected operating environments, with tens of thousands of I/O points, hundreds of PLCs, drives and network nodes, and multi-layered power distribution systems. This technological complexity increases nonlinearly as the project scales.
Yet from an EIA perspective, when projects encounter difficulties, the root cause is often not technology itself. More commonly, it is a shortage of the right skills, insufficient planning, poor communication or inadequate control of quality. While every facility has its own technical requirements, the same lesson emerges repeatedly across large industrial EIA deployments: successful delivery comes down to a combination of strong technical expertise and disciplined project execution.
The lessons Insta Globe has learned from working on some of Europe’s largest industrial developments reveal a simple truth: whether the project involves semiconductor manufacturing, battery recycling, wood processing, or pulp and paper facilities, delivering EIA works at scale is not merely a technical undertaking. Ultimately, it is a management challenge.
Giga projects are not fundamentally different from an EIA perspective
There is a tendency to view gigafactory developments as a completely different category of project. Yet experienced EIA professionals often see things differently. Regardless of the facility size, the fundamental building blocks remain largely the same. Cables, sensors, control systems, instrumentation, power distribution equipment, automation networks and lighting are still installed using the same known principles. What truly changes is the scale of execution.
As projects become larger, coordination becomes significantly more demanding. This is not only a question of managing interfaces between various engineering disciplines. It is also about efficiently coordinating very large EIA teams.
At this scale, a minor coordination issue, documentation gap or quality deviation that would remain manageable on a smaller project can quickly multiply across hundreds of workers, thousands of installation points and several contractors.
A major industrial project may involve dozens of electricians working simultaneously across multiple areas, installation teams operating alongside commissioning teams, and several EIA contractors sharing responsibility for different parts of the facility. All must work to common standards, follow the same documentation, maintain consistent quality levels and deliver according to a single project schedule.
The challenge is ensuring that hundreds of interconnected activities, often performed by multiple organisations, progress in a coordinated manner without compromising quality, safety or schedule.
As project scale increases, effective communication and coordination become key success enablers.
The cost of workforce misalignment
One of the most common causes of project disruption is the assumption that all electricians are interchangeable.
They are not.
Many industrial projects rely on labour sourced through recruitment agencies. While this approach can quickly increase headcount, it often fails to address more important questions: does the assembled workforce possess the specific skills required for the task? Can they work as a coordinated entity to deliver to the required quality standards?
A technician capable of installing lighting and power outlets may not necessarily possess the skills required to address complex electrical integration tasks. When the wrong skills are deployed, the consequences quickly become visible. Productivity falls, quality issues emerge, and schedules begin to slip.
Eventually, many clients find themselves facing a familiar problem: the project is running out of time and specialist teams must be brought in to recover the situation.
Perhaps the most important lesson from large industrial projects is that success is rarely the result of individual expertise alone. It comes from teams. Teams that have worked together for years. Teams that understand each other’s strengths. Teams that communicate effectively. Teams that share responsibility for quality, safety, and project outcomes.
Large industrial facilities are built through thousands of individual actions. Yet what ultimately determines success is whether those actions are coordinated effectively. Transparency, accountability, and clear ownership of issues become essential factors influencing outcomes.
Commissioning requires a different skillset
The importance of expertise becomes even more apparent during commissioning. Installation is about executing according to design. Commissioning is about understanding how the entire system functions and its individual components interact under real operating conditions.
When a system does not perform as expected, the challenge is rarely solved by looking at a drawing alone. Commissioning technicians must understand cause-and-effect relationships, diagnose root causes and identify corrective actions. This requires a fundamentally different skill set from installation.
It also requires continuous learning. Industrial technologies continue to evolve, equipment manufacturers introduce new solutions, and automation systems become increasingly sophisticated. Effective commissioning personnel must constantly expand their knowledge to remain effective. In commissioning work, experience matters because it accelerates problem-solving when project schedules leave little room for error.
Quality cannot be left until the end
Another lesson from large industrial projects is that quality cannot be inspected into a project during final commissioning. By the time a major issue is discovered at the end of construction, correcting it is often costly and disruptive. The most effective quality management strategies rely on continuous verification throughout the project lifecycle.
Intermediate inspections, systematic checks and ongoing supervision allow issues to be identified while corrective actions remain relatively simple. This approach reduces rework, improves productivity and significantly lowers project risk.
Technical excellence and execution discipline must work together
Industrial projects are becoming larger, more automated and increasingly demanding. Clients are no longer looking for EIA contractors that simply provide labour. They need partners capable of understanding complex systems, supporting commissioning activities, maintaining rigorous quality standards and helping manage project risk. Achieving this requires more than manpower. It requires experienced personnel, strong technical leadership, robust quality processes and effective project execution.
The most successful projects are those where technical expertise and operational discipline reinforce one another from the first installation activity through to final commissioning. In large industrial EIA projects, neither is sufficient on its own. Both are required to deliver safely, efficiently and on schedule
The future of industrial construction will undoubtedly involve more automation, more digitalisation, and more advanced technologies.
But the fundamental challenge will remain unchanged. Delivering complex EIA projects is not just about cables and sensors. It is about teams, communication, accountability, and execution.
ENDS
Jonathan Collings enquiry@alesia-communications.com
Alesia Communications – Europe’s Expert Renewable Energy PR and communication agency