Case study Hauert HBG Dünger AG: ISO 9001 management system modernized within a short period of time

The Switzerland-wide known Fertilizer manufacturer was founded in 1663 at the site of today's headquarters in Grossaffoltern BE, Switzerland. Since the acquisition of the Erlangen-based fertilizer producer Günther Cornufera in 2007, Hauert has also been present in Germany with quality fertilizers. Internationally, they set the quality standards for organic and organic-mineral fertilizers. Hauert employs 180 people at four different sites.

Hauert: Innovation for fertilizing

Thanks to targeted research in plant nutrition and development in fertilizer production, Hauert has repeatedly been able to come up with groundbreaking innovations. The company achieved its latest breakthrough with the development of the Sphero process: the process engineers succeeded in developing a granulation process that allows organic substances to be incorporated into granules of the highest quality. The gardener benefits from dust-free processing, and the plant from a targeted supply of a balanced mix of nutrients. Hauert has been focusing on organic fertilizers since the 1930s - a whole range of its products now bear the Swiss organic label, and with Biorga, organic farming has its own product line. For the company, organic fertilizing is a goal that will be kept in mind in all future development steps. Organic fertilizing is the goal, and Hauert will keep this goal in mind in future steps.

Hundreds of Word and Excel lists

Hauert has had an existing ISO 9001 quality management system for years, which was previously managed using the Viflow/Windream tool and countless Word and Excel documents. The central responsibility lay with the quality manager and was associated with a large expenditure of time, since information had to be updated in a wide variety of systems and documents. In addition, Hauert is required to maintain an internal control system ICS. As the next ICS audit was due, a new, integrated solution for quality management and ICS was sought. In the process, Hauert came across the QM software ELIZA. This cloud-based solution combines processes, organization, knowledge and controlling (ICS) in one clear interface. This sounded convincing and contact was made with Eliza AG. A test installation was then created, with which the project manager and the CEO mapped the existing ICS and the most important processes independently.

The optimal solution

Right from the start, the solution impressed with its ease of use and the linking of all information on risks, processes, measures, organizational units and employees. After a short test phase, Hauert decided to gradually introduce the new QM software and thus replace the existing, unwieldy tool landscape. Important criteria for the decision were:

• Modern solution from the cloud
• Simple to operate
• Combination of ICS, quality and process management in one solution
• Decentralized maintenance by different employees with different authorizations possible
• Local provider (short distances, fast response times)
• Integration into existing IT environment (connection to Microsoft Dynamics Navision, logon with Active Directory, linking of filing system with Sharepoint)

Gradual introduction at Hauert

In a first step, the process map was now created and the ISO filing was transferred to ELIZA. With the construction of the process map, all important processes were newly recorded as BPMN flow diagrams. At the same time, responsibilities for the processes were assigned. The ICS and risk management were implemented in a second step. In addition, the connection to Microsoft Dynamics Navision was activated in order to automatically synchronize all employee data from the ERP system in the new software from now on. Finally, in the third phase, all important contracts were recorded in the ELIZA contract management system. Continuous improvement and customer complaint management were also migrated from various Excel lists to the ELIZA "Q messages" module. With the gradual introduction, numerous Word and Excel documents were eliminated. The Hauert company now has a modern, easy-to-maintain quality management system that is a pleasure to use in daily work and meets with great acceptance among employees. "ELIZA impressed us right from the start. The ease of use and the intelligent links between the information save us valuable time in maintaining the data," says Nicole Kramer, project manager at Hauert.

Import existing data

For Hauert, it was important to import as much existing data as possible into the new software. Thus, all employee data from Dynamics Navision could be migrated automatically. The existing Q messages could also be transferred directly from an Excel to ELIZA. Due to the various interfaces of this software, further data stocks can be imported or synchronized in the future.
The following ELIZA modules are currently in use at Hauert:

• Organization & HR
• Processes and key figures
• ICS with risk, opportunity and target management
• Contract Management
• Q-messages (customer complaints and suggestions for improvement)

Next, ELIZA will be embedded in the new IT environment. In the process, single sign-on will be implemented with Office365. In addition, a solution is now ready for the ISO certification of the subsidiaries, which can be integrated with minimal effort. CEO Philipp Hauert expresses his satisfaction with the new solution. "With ELIZA, we have finally found a tool that can keep pace with the agile changes within our company. It continuously shows me an up-to-date picture of the process landscape as well as the people responsible."

Successful surveillance audit ISO 9001 and ICS

The first test of ELIZA was the ISO monitoring audit. This took place in December 2020 and was successfully completed. The ICS audit followed shortly thereafter. Previously, the ICS report had to be created in tedious manual work. Thanks to the diverse export options of ELIZA, this can now be automatically created as a Word document and made available to the auditors. The Excel exports serve not only the company but also the auditor as working tools. The time thus gained can be used for value-adding tasks.