In an environment as dynamic as ALMA, where multiple critical activities occur in parallel, the Planning & Coordination area plays a key role in ensuring that everything runs safely, smoothly, and in line with the observatory’s priorities. The team, made up of Stefan Gairing and Octavio Hernández, both Planner/Coordinator of Operation and Maintenance, acts as a meeting point between operations, engineering, science, and maintenance.

“More than planning, our job is to coordinate, integrate, and anticipate with a global view of the observatory, transforming technical needs into clear and executable plans, helping to organize complexity, align agendas, and facilitate informed decisions”, says Stefan.

“In addition, as an ongoing responsibility, we have the role of recovering the observatory after a power shutdown event, organizing and conducting the different stages of this process in conjunction with Supervisors and Operators to safely and quickly recover science observations”, adds Octavio.

Day-to-day work is dynamic and requires flexibility: it combines medium- and long-term planning with daily coordination and the ability to react to changes or contingencies. A good example of this work was the preparation of the February Maintenance Plan 2026, developed under a new structure that incorporated risk analysis and mitigation plans from early stages, allowing all areas involved to align around common objectives.

Another important challenge during the year was Cycle 11, working to minimize the impact of bad weather conditions and adapt antenna revocations to plans that would allow projects to be executed safely, maintaining a higher than usual number of antennas and preserving the balance between preventive/corrective maintenance and astronomical observations.

Finally, the project to integrate the Band-2 receiver into a defined number of antennas allowed us to meet the objectives within the stipulated timeframe, adjusting the removal and installation of FrontEnds so that the impact on the availability of antennas for scientific observations was not affected.

Looking ahead to 2026, the team seeks to continue moving toward more integrated, data-driven planning, promoting automation, traceability, and the systematic use of OKRs and KPIs to better measure the impact of its work and strengthen decision-making.

If there is one thing that defines the Planning & Coordination area today, it is the trust and collaboration built with the different ALMA teams. Their ongoing commitment, adaptability, and comprehensive approach have made this team a reliable, visible, and highly valued player within the observatory.