Cristina joined the PCB in 2006 and is one of the employees who has worked in more areas: the Animal Facility, supporting Scientific Services management, Finance and now Clients. She is a veritable PCB encyclopaedia and a point of reference for many of her colleagues. Among her many tasks, she is now in charge of one that is fundamental: it is likely that the table and chair where you are seated reading this interview was part of a furniture order placed by Cristina.

How is the Clients Area organised?

My job has evolved a lot as the PCB has grown, but, in a nutshell, the Clients Area serves the client who moves into the PCB, the client who moves out and the client who moves around internally. The Area has two main branches: marketing, which is led by Sílvia Cambra, and operations, which I usually manage, under her supervision. I organise and follow up on all processes related to the client life cycle, from the moment they arrive until they leave. We are a very cross-cutting area and part of our work is to identify a task that needs to be done or a problem that needs
to be handled and pass it on to the areas in charge: Works, Health and Safety, Cleaning, Maintenance, Legal or Warehouse.

And what does your job mainly involve?

I manage all the documentation once the client arrives, ensuring that their space is ready: purchases and changes in furniture, handling clients’ internet and telephone
needs, managing access cards, presence on the website, notification of new arrivals, those leaving and changes in location, and key handover. I also help any external and internal clients with questions or requests. We are the client’s link to the different areas of the PCB.

You also work a lot with furniture…

When a client arrives and finds everything in its place (chairs, tables or curtains), it’s because a great deal of work went into coordinating operations and processes. With 100,000 m2 of floor space, imagine the amount of furniture and curtains spread over seven buildings. And all these items need to be maintained and updated. Any time furniture is moved, this has to be traceable and recorded in the system. The fact that a chair moves from one space to another involves a whole process that the client is completely oblivious to and that keeps track of where
things are. Last year alone, we recorded 3,636 asset movements: furniture transfer due to space being occupied or freed up and replacements due to breakdown or obsolescence.

And how do you all stay organised?

According to location: those are sacred, our Bible. Each space is a location with an associated code, and each piece of furniture also has a code linked to it to track its movements. Updating furniture is also complex because of furniture obsolescence. New trends appear, and suddenly a wood colour that has been dominant for a few years becomes obsolete and is difficult to find again. Over time, we have learned that the more particular the piece of furniture, the more complicated it is to replace. That is why we look for standard and functional furniture.

How many operations per year do you manage to carry out?

Last year alone, we reviewed more than 7,000 m2 of space to define the improvement actions to be carried out by the different PCB areas in order to leave the spaces ready for when a client moves in, changes location or leaves.