Water, sand and daring

Cutting a wide variety of materials gently and efficiently with a fine high-pressure water jet was the basic idea of Walter Maurer, the founder and current main shareholder of Waterjet AG. "The tinkering fever burns in me like gasoline in my blood," says the trained electrician. In 1989 the time had come: the first waterjet cutting system went into operation. The constant development of new machines, cutting systems and concepts led to the advance to the micro level from 2001 onwards and thus to the additional market service "Micro-waterjet". The high precision of the cutting process is impressive, as the micro-waterjet achieves a cutting accuracy of ±0.01 mm and a positioning accuracy of ±0.005 mm. "Such values are indispensable in order to reliably serve markets such as the watch industry, medical technology or aviation," explains Walter Maurer.

Customer orientation and daring are the key words that characterize the path and continuous growth of this medium-sized company. Waterjet cutting remains a niche technology that prevails over laser, gas or plasma cutting where a cold cutting process is crucial. Almost all materials can be processed without deformation and without changing the surface structure, in material thicknesses from 0.01 to 200 mm. Today, Waterjet operates around 40 production plants, 21 of which are in the Microwaterjet sector. This infrastructure enables the high service speed demanded by customers.

Software instead of paper
Waterjet is certified according to ISO 9001:2015 and the medical standard 13485:2016. "At first we had no QA, then simple paper solutions followed," Walter Maurer looks back. This ended in an extensive paperwork that was no longer in line with the size of the company and was only known to two to three employees. The uncoordinated filing locations of documents and manuals also represented a disruptive factor. "The necessity of a fundamental systematization of the quality system was clearly given, which is why we engaged the external quality manager Daniel Müller from Melchnau," says Maurer. An additional reason for buying the software was the upcoming recertification of the medical standard.

During the software evaluation, the decision was made in favor of "Improve" from Synprovis GmbH, "because the tool convinces with its impressive logic," explains Q expert Müller. The menus, which can be designed by the user, also spoke in favour of the tool. "For me, it was also crucial that the software was the perfect fit for my designated successor," adds Walter Maurer. At Waterjet, the next generation is at the start and will be gradually introduced to the overall responsibility in a multi-stage plan. The fact that two family members, daughter Jasmin Maurer and nephew Thomas Maurer, are on board is entirely in the spirit of the convinced family entrepreneur.

"Improve" deserves its name
Waterjet has been using the test equipment management, risk management, defect management and training plan modules since autumn 2017. "The tool has the right name, it has actually brought noticeable improvements for the entire company," says Wal-ter Maurer happily.

"Thanks to the QM software, we were able to reduce the number of documents by two thirds," comments Daniel Müller. The lean document management has proven to be a general advantage, which applies equally to the management manual as well as guidelines, directives, forms and checklists. "We get by with just a few documents, and it works," Müller emphasizes, "plus the search times are close to zero." Acceptance of the software among employees is high; 15 of the 45 employees use the tool. In addition, there is more credibility during audits. "In the end, what counts is that we can support both standards cost-effectively and now have a managed system," concludes Walter Maurer.

Concrete software benefits
The maintenance and coherence of the measuring equipment and thus the measuring equipment control are very important for a company in the high-precision sector. "Before Improve, errors occurred from time to time," recalls Walter Maurer. For example, measuring equipment was used beyond the calibration date and the metrological traceability was not always given. Today, everything is regulated in Improve:

Inspection intervals can be freely defined and assigned to internal or external inspection managers. Waterjet also appreciates the automatic appointment reminder e-mails generated by the system. Orders to external service providers can also be generated from Improve, and the corresponding feedback, such as calibration certificates, is immediately stored in the right place. "You never have to chase after paperwork," says Walter Maurer gratefully.

In the meantime, 65 risks have been identified within the risk management module. The particularly important process and product risks are monitored on an ongoing basis, every two months. The monitoring mode, which can be defined specifically for each risk, is perceived as a great help in Waterjet's day-to-day business. "The fact that the risk management module can be linked to all 19 existing input screens and modules of the software is, of course, the 'icing on the cake'," notes Quality Manager Müller.

The expansion continues
Waterjet continues to expand in its 30th year of existence. A new 900 m2 warehouse is currently being built in Aarwangen, which is primarily designed to meet the high storage requirements of medical products. "The purchase of further modules is also planned with regard to Improve," says Walter Maurer. In addition to the software itself, Waterjet appreciates Synprovis' customer proximity, because every software developer here is also a project manager. "That leads to the speed we need," concludes the Wa-
terjet patron.