Certification in one year

Blaser Swisslube was founded in 1936 by Willy Blaser. Developing products that add value for customers while protecting people and the environment has been the driving force behind the Emmental-based family business since day one. Peter Blaser made Blaser Swisslube a globally active company in the field of cooling lubricants for the metalworking industry. Since 2010, Marc Blaser, the third generation, has been committed to the principle of being a reliable cooling lubricant partner who helps customers to optimise their machining processes.

Pragmatic project approach

The introduction of an integrated quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management system is a challenging project. To ensure that such a system is "kept alive" by the employees even after the project has been completed and that it does not remain a paper exercise, a change process must be set in motion,

Anything but a paper exercise

which includes structures, processes, leadership, culture and especially the behavior of all employees. (Image 2)

On the basis of successfully implemented projects, Innosphere GmbH developed a pragmatic guideline for the introduction of process management, which was also applied at Blaser Swisslube. On this basis, the project called "compass" could be completed within one year from the tool evaluation to the successful certification according to ISO 9001, 14001 as well as OHSAS 18001.

Phases 1 and 2 - Preparation and initialisation

The definition of the operational goals of the "compass" project was based on the strategic goals of Blaser Swisslube. In addition to successful ISO certification, the main focus was on increasing transparency and optimizing processes through defined interfaces, clear and unambiguous regulation of responsibilities, increasing quality awareness and thus increasing customer satisfaction.

The project organization was consistently aligned with the scope of the project - internal employees from all departments from research & development, product management, sales to customer service ensured that the necessary technical know-how to achieve the goals was available at all times.

In addition, care was taken in the preliminary phase to select project participants who would be available after the end of the project as a single point of contact for process and tool questions in the context of ongoing operations for the respective area.

"compass" - an ambitious project

The company's internal auditors are responsible for the management of processes and standard documents. This measure led to a smooth transition from process to operational organization. To ensure a manageable and controllable course of the project, a phase and milestone planning was available, which was regularly reviewed during the course of the project.

In selecting the tool, emphasis was placed on the following factors:

• easy usability for process owners, process visualizers and employees of all hierarchy levels 
• Orientation to standards of notation
• software-supported workflows (design, check, release) for processes and standard documents
• Full text and keyword search
• Multilingualism in terms of user interface, processes and standard documents.

After a thorough examination of several tools, the Blaser-Swisslube project team decided on the QM-Pilot management system from abel-systems in Basel.

In parallel to the tool evaluation, the necessary description levels were defined depending on the scope of the project and the level of detail. The processes were detailed in the form of a four-level concept, from the process map (general overview with all management, core and support processes) to main processes (flowcharts with descriptions, interfaces and responsibilities), sub-processes (for hierarchical structuring and better clarity) and specification documents (checklists, directives, legal foundations).

The "compass" project was formally launched with a kick-off meeting. The project team was also trained in process management, methodology and tool know-how.

Phase 3 - Realisation

In addition to recording the current status, the interdisciplinary project teams determined the strengths, weaknesses and potentials in workshops. The mapping of all management, core and support processes was essential for the consistent process-oriented alignment of the entire company. To this end, the project team reviewed a four-digit number of existing standard documents and ultimately reduced the content of the management system to just under 200 processes and standard documents.

Improvements that are already achieved through minimal organisational and procedural measures have already been implemented in the course of the project. More complex adjustments that require coordination in the management were recorded in the topic memory as improvement measures and will be processed after project completion.

The project management focused in particular on the interfaces between the divisions. The aim was to avoid interfaces as far as possible by bundling tasks or at least to standardize them by means of defined agreements, thereby giving them stability.

It is a truism that key performance indicators for process improvement 

Four-level concept

are indispensable. As a general rule, only what can be measured can be optimized and controlled. In order to control and optimize the processes, both key figures that serve the continuous improvement of the processes (e.g. reduction of throughput times) and result-oriented key figures (e.g. customer satisfaction) have been defined.

Based on the work in the realization phase, the process flows could be developed and modeled in the tool. A notation guideline defined at an early stage was available as a guideline for the work in order to ensure a uniform and qualitatively appealing visualization.

As an additional quality assurance measure, the project staff were prepared for the certification audit in the form of internal pre-audits, which simulated the external audits.

Phase 4 - Introduction

Potential fears, anxieties or even resistance were countered throughout the project with an open and active information policy. At the same time, all employees received target group-specific training that conveyed the new, process-relevant knowledge and thinking.

Team performance shapes the image

ted. The focus was on ensuring that employees use the process management tools in their day-to-day business and are motivated to submit suggestions for improvement. (Fig. 3)

The eagerly awaited audit confirmed the good work of the project team: "Thanks to the comprehensive integration of the topics of quality, environmental protection, occupational health and safety, and risk management, a management tool has been created that comprehensively describes all relevant processes, enjoys a high level of acceptance among employees, and provides good support for the existing know-how," was a key statement from the audit report of 10 September 2012.

Project completion and what now?

Following the successful completion of the project, we are moving full steam ahead with the continuous improvement process. In addition to the further development of processes based on the pending items in the topic repository, the KPI system is being expanded, the BMS is being extended to international locations, global certification is being sought and the management tool is being integrated into a SharePoint environment.

Learnings from the project

For Markus Liechti, Head of Business Development at Blaser Swisslube and head of the "compass" project, the decision to use an intuitive tool, the implementation of step-by-step process reviews and the internal pre-audit were guarantees of success. Experience has shown that the commitment of the management, the early definition of the operational organization and the use of the leeway of standards according to the motto "only as much as necessary" are extremely important in order to actually get the continuous improvement process underway.