Management tools harmonized for the Group

After several takeovers, the family business founded in 1936 formed the Thommen Group at the beginning of 2020 with 23 locations spread across Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Italy. The Swiss recycling business is represented by the Thommen brand with its 10 rebranded sites, the international trading business by the Metallum brand and electronic scrap by the Immark brand. CEO Dr Tobias Thommen (TT) explains the background to this decision. And Quality Manager Rolf Sonderegger (RS) describes how the group-wide management system was implemented.

How did it come about?

TT: It was a long process of weighing things up, because on the one hand there were companies anchored in the region whose affiliation to the Thommen Group some customers were not aware of. On the other hand, I wanted to make sure that all Thommen companies worked according to Thommen standards. Our aim is to dispose of recyclable materials properly and to return them to the production cycle as secondary raw materials. By restructuring and standardizing the software applications in the areas of ERP, finance, time recording and management systems, I was finally able to launch a change of name with a clear conscience. The new branding was launched in September 2019 at the employee event in Kaiseraugst.

What are the effects of the new company structure?

TT: The examples below illustrate the transformation:

• Ownership: Thommen is still a family limited company, managed by the third generation of the Thommen family.
• Management: Historically established and local responsibilities were standardized and harmonized across the Group, which resulted in a significant strengthening of the Group feeling. The Thommen Group is managed by a Group Executive Committee consisting of six representatives of the three brands.
• Logistics: Within the Thommen Group, customers can have their material recycled by the shortest route. They have only one contact for their various waste problems. With the change of name to Thommen, we have, for example, centralized and standardized the dispositions in the Bern region. This enables us to respond more quickly and efficiently to customer enquiries and to circulate containers optimally.
• Market presence and communication: The affiliation of the Thommen sites and the three brands is now clearly signalled both internally and externally. Central marketing ensures a level playing field throughout the Group. The marketing communication, the websites and the CI of the Thommen brand have been standardized. Those of the other two brands will be gradually adapted. In future, an internal communication app will promote group understanding and simplify communication with and between employees.
• Sales: Here we created specific positions with different requirement profiles. These job holders act like product managers or division managers who make the final decisions for their division.
• Controlling: With the introduction of a group management system, the various existing systems were replaced by the ConSense QM tool. In the future, this will allow the processes (especially the value creation processes) to be compared and, if possible, standardised. The same applies to documents (work instructions, checklists, etc.). In addition, new processes and documents can be addressed directly to the employees concerned and confirmed by them.

What does the new, Group-wide management system offer?

RS: It is crucial for the system architecture and all associated workflows to first consider exactly how the company structure, the process landscape and the role of the function holders are to be defined. Until now, the processes and documents for the management system were maintained in a variety of applications (Word, Visio, Intranet, etc.) and stored in a wide variety of locations. With the introduction of the new software, this has now come to an end. All processes and documents are stored centrally in one tool and can be accessed very easily. We use the tool not only to map the processes and for the controlled documents, but also to manage verification documents, training documents, manuals and reports.

Your first experiences with the new software?

RS: With practical training courses, Con- Sense created a solid foundation for the further development of the largely self-explanatory system. In addition, the audit and measures management modules were introduced at the beginning of 2020, which enables efficient management of these instruments. Measures can also be assigned to a responsible person. This facilitates the monitoring of implementation. Excel pending lists no longer exist ....

How was the project realized?

RS: In the autumn of 2018, the Executive Board gave the order to set up a group management system for the ISO standards 9001, 14001 and 45001. In a first phase, all locations in Switzerland were to be integrated. With external support, a preliminary project was developed in December 2018, for which the Executive Board gave its approval at the beginning of February 2019. However, the project could not be implemented with the existing software solutions. We therefore drew up a catalogue of requirements and sent it to seven providers of QM tools. After a careful evaluation, the software of ConSense GmbH was chosen. The main arguments for this were: modern and future-oriented software, simple application for the users, multilingualism with integrated translation program as well as simple handling for the person entering the processes and documents. The software was ordered in June 2019. A four-day training session took place at the end of July 2019. Together with the management, we developed a completely new process landscape and defined the main process topics. The basis for recording in ConSense's QM tool was thus laid. What effects did the software have on the recertification of the company? RS: By the time of recertification in mid-March 2020, around 600 processes and documents had been recorded in the new tool and the employees involved in the audit had been trained. The certification was subsequently successful. Our next goal is to have all processes and documents recorded and all employees trained by the end of 2020. We involved the SQS auditors in the project right from the start. On the weekend before certification, the unexpected Corona lockdown set in. After consultation with the auditors, the first part (1.5 days) was carried out with a reduced programme on site in Kaiseraugst. We were able to complete the second part of the certification (4 days) by means of remote assessment via video conference. This procedure, created for emergency situations, made it possible to successfully complete the certification.