From "It's your fault" to "It's better this way."

Digital quality assistants are quickly acquired, but they disappear - the introduction would be a bit time-consuming, wouldn't it? - but they soon disappear from the consciousness of users here and there. And then someone comes along and says, "Just what I need!" Someone like Reto Schürmann at Bosshard + Co. AG.

Look, we got IQSoft!
Schürmann has been with the Rümlang-based wood and architectural coatings specialist since 2010. Initially he was head of logistics, later also head of quality and environment as well as a member of the management board. When he examined "his" company in terms of quality, he discovered: "Ten years ago, we already had an old IQSoft version, but it was no longer used after a few years.

Quality control? Yes, but...
Schürmann's second observation: the quality of service at Bosshard was good, but difficult to track: "Errors were recorded on tally sheets. Each department had its own methods. A sam-melsurium, which we somehow sorted. It was possible, but difficult, to find out case-related details. Information on claims was only available at a late stage."

Software in Sleeping Beauty
In line with the Bosshard management, Reto Schürmann woke IQSoft from its slumber, initially as a key tool for the continuous improvement process (CIP): "I wanted a tool that would allow us to keep a consistent record of what happened when and where in all departments."

The goal: precise data and exact error rates instead of gut feelings and diffuse blame: "It's not possible to simply change a conveyor because it 'seems' to make a lot of errors. You have to record that. And then maybe a single driver is unreliable, but the haulage company as such is first-class."

Rethink, please!
A challenge familiar to many quality managers: the changeover to digital process management meets with resistance from the workforce.

Main reason one: entrenched structures. "It worked without them until now". Continuous improvement, however, requires complete recording. Nothing is settled casually anymore: "What is not recorded can even be dangerous if it comes to a legal dispute.

The second main reason is fear. As an employee, you feel like you're being watched. Reto Schürmann emphasizes: "A big task is to change our thinking from 'It's your fault' to 'It's better this way for everyone'.

Come time, come measures, come consent
The IQSoft-KVP module is considered a proven tool for identifying optimization potential. At Bosshard, for example, they recognized: "We make too many setup errors." Since then, all products have been scanned during packing. And it turned out that, although their own mistakes happened, some of the products that were claimed had simply been ordered incorrectly.

It took three years for the "new" thinking to take hold. Today, Schürmann hears from once skeptical teammates: "I can hardly imagine how it ever worked without IQSoft!"

Trends, tendencies and individual errors can be clearly distinguished. The number of errors is clearly minimized. And a welcome side effect: "We now also know exactly where we are particularly good. That helps our sales force. It creates argumentation security.

Verifiability and a sense of proportion
Can electronic case recording go too far? Schürmann differentiates: "I mean: First of all, record everything! This creates transparency for GL in every respect. They need to know what is happening. But then - thanks to IQSoft we have a complete history - we can also say with a clear conscience: You don't have to record this or that anymore.

Are we making more mistakes than before?
With consistent data capture, everything that was previously handled on the side and never captured comes to light ("You got the wrong product? I'll quickly send you a new one."). The Boss-hard team experienced this in 2012. Did they make more mistakes? Of course they didn't. Even without IQSoft, people took mistakes seriously and solved problems by taking immediate action. But they didn't have an overview. With IQSoft, everything was registered for the first time - and comprehensively.

Reto Schürmann: "IQSoft allows attachments to any document. Let's take an application error. Suddenly there is a complaint report with data from the laboratory, from the sales manager, from the field service, from the office service, from the technical department and so on. We could see much better: Did we make the mistake? If so, where? Or was there a fault with the customer or transporter? We had and have all pending cases present."

High initial outlay
It is one thing to successfully place an improvement process on a digital foundation. And quite another to achieve comprehensive process control at the same time. Especially when certification is planned. Schürmann recalls: "We combined our quality and environmental manuals into one management system. To do this, we first designed our processes with the help of IQSoft BPM (Business Process Modeling). The result was a digitized management manual."

To do this, we first designed our processes with the help of IQSoft BPM (Business Process Modeling). The result was a digitized management manual.

Practical process templates from the software manufacturer
"Next, we looked at processes in detail. It was like pulling on a corner and four doors opened at once. If I had it to do over again, though, I'd go back to that. You have to go through it."

During this time, Reto Schürmann was happy to rely on the know-how of the software developer IQS AG. The team from Zofingen provided process templates that could be adapted to Bosshard's own processes.

The state of affairs
After five years with IQSoft, a lot of good things have happened and yet Reto Schürmann sees that more is possible: "The appetite for new applications comes with use. For me it's nice that IQSoft is used intensively. Even people who haven't had much to do with IT for 20 years have arrived in the digital world thanks to IQSoft. And the young people have no problems with electronic process maps anyway."

Successful certification
At the moment, IQSoft EDUQ is used to record everything related to training. After that, among other things, contracts, asset management and the audit module are to be activated.

The expansion of the digital assistant is therefore continuing. On the other hand, ISO 9001/14001 certification has been achieved since January 2018 and is definitely a motivating factor to "keep up" in terms of quality.

Schürmann's experience: "For certification, you need a tool. And you have to anchor the use of the software. For the training of complex things, I therefore appreciate an IQS specialist on site.

Motor and control
Reto Schürmann sees digital ERP as the engine and Q management as the control of a company. It will therefore be interesting to see how IQSoft develops at Bosshard + Co AG. His conclusion: "IQSoft ensures continuous digitalization with a management tool that is the same for everyone, maintained centrally and used decentrally". And somewhat less formally: "You can introduce everything in individual steps. I build my pizza out of slices instead of the
Pizza the slices."