Increased production reliability thanks to extended quality management

A good year ago, we reported here on Walzenhausen-based Herrmann AG. The family-owned company produces 650 million plastic closures annually, especially for pharmaceutical companies. Since 2011, the IQSoft quality management software has been responsible for the central maintenance of several databases with numerous interfaces and 4000 article specifications, which can change daily.

On to new deeds

Thomas Baselgia, Managing Director of Finance & Administration at Herrmann AG, states with satisfaction: "Some major pharmaceutical customers go into raptures because they can call up all the specifications from us at the click of a mouse during audits."

And yet that is not enough for him: "The quality requirements are becoming ever more stringent. After we had the specifications, training, audits and so on under control, it was high time to also improve our test documentation.

"Every quality manager's nightmare: 20-year-old versions of Excel."

on a sound footing. Specifically, the issuing of certificates for our products should become simpler, faster and more secure."

A lot of effort, insufficient flexibility

Baselgia's initial situation reads like every quality manager's nightmare. First of all, there was a 20-year-old Excel version that could not be renewed, let alone continuously validated, because of the risk of updates - a system that worked ever more slowly. No wonder, with 3000 products, 9000 certificate pages and 200 to 300 adjustments per month. Networking of the individual pages? Not a chance. And last but not least, due to the excessive amount of data, a maximum of three quality measurements per batch could be recorded.

The new beginning

It is a tribute to the team at Herrmann AG that they were able to produce their test documents accurately at all under these circumstances. The software environment just described is not an isolated case, as Hans-Peter Kost, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IQS AG in Zofingen, confirmed to us: "Under such conditions, it is difficult for companies and institutions to quickly select the required data as test results and to display them precisely at a glance. Often, the only thing that helps is a fresh start."

Thomas Baselgia agrees: "Something had to happen. The certificates could not be extended under Excel, although this is increasingly required. Reprogramming made no sense. And our ERP couldn't offer what we needed. But we had already had good success with IQSoft. I asked in Zofingen if the program could serve us."

In 24 h to the working beta version

Michael Kiel, Head of Development at IQS AG, gratefully accepted the challenge set for him. He drove to Walzenhausen and asked not what, but why. He listened and let himself be shown the task in detail. He then designed a beta solution - all within 24 hours. Hans-Peter Kost comments: "We are known for our speedy work. And it is also good when our customers see after a very short time how flexibly IQSoft can be used as a solution. We always look for the most economical solution for our clients. But such a quick result for such a complex individual task is only possible if a customer can clearly formulate his processes and needs."

Special case Walzenhausen

Kost's call to be cautious about schedules that are too fast may be true, but it is nevertheless somewhat restrained. After all, IQSoft works with a head start: all essential interfaces to third-party programs such as Abacus are already available in the SQL version and are implemented according to the customer's needs. In Walzenhausen, moreover, after the successful "first round" (central maintenance of several databases with numerous interfaces and daily comparison of all product specifications), numerous hurdles had already been cleared. So it was a matter of expanding what was already good and trimming it to peak performance in a precisely defined environment.

The result

Auditors who only know Excel environments are experiencing a digital quantum leap at Herrmann AG. Only six months after Michael Kiel's first beta version, Herrmann AG's certificates now display everything the auditor's heart desires within seconds.

Thomas Baselgia: "Test data are now available in IQSoft's product specifications as separate ta

"Auditors experience digital quantum leap"

belle, recorded with the external tools. This is done via our interfaces. The certificate is the exact, error-free direct print of the existing. Everything is now only available ONCE, as a supplement to the existing." "Today we document the measurement results per job as often as we wish or the customer requests. Five designated 'live' measurements or would you prefer 20? No problem. And we can finally produce long-term statistics. We can constantly see how the tolerances are developing. This then shows us, for example, at an early stage when a revision will be necessary for a production tool."

"And it goes further: we have precisely dated versioning. We now no longer print our certificates in two languages, but automatically in German or English as required and - according to the definition from the customer master interface. Certificates can be designed individually and according to customer specifications. I can select orders, integrate data from raw material suppliers and much more. And as with the product specifications, everything is synchronized every night via eight interfaces between all systems. That's thousands of data, really large amounts, and it only takes 90 seconds."

Baselgia's balance sheet

"It was enormously fast how this was set up. I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of integrating interfaces. I thought that would be a problem. But as I have now seen, with an expert programmer and IQSoft, it goes very quickly. I experience traceability and logging in everyday life. Time saving: about one 25% digit. But much more important to me is the second main result achieved: maximum production reliability."