Software as the lubricant for success

"It is no coincidence that 'quality' is at the forefront of our core values of quality, precision, inventiveness and service," reports Abnox CEO Matthias Iseli. A comprehensive understanding of quality is of paramount importance in the company's business areas. "The overall package has to be right," adds Roberto Bernich, Quality Manager at Abnox. "This includes our high-tech products, consulting and services, delivery reliability, after-sales service, packaging and permanent employee training," he explains.

Focus on dosing and clamping
Abnox AG was founded in 1946 as a lubrication press factory. For a long time, lubrication technology was at the heart of the company's performance. "Today, we still achieve a share of around 30 % in sales with this," says Matthias Iseli. For some time now, Abnox has been focusing on metering and tensioning technology. "Our solutions and products are used wherever large series of mechanical components are assembled," explains Q-Manager Bernich. At its core, Abnox sees itself as a process partner for customers. "In doing so, we always seek standardization, because it is central for us to guarantee the customer requirements of 'process capability and reproducibility'," says the 50-year-old. In dosing technology or with the Abnox dosing valves, this generally results in semi-automatic or automatic solutions for the customised greasing of components within assembly lines; where desired and appropriate, manual applications remain possible.

"Simplicity and cost"
In mid-2015, Abnox felt the need to concentrate the handling of the diverse Q matters in a special software and to simplify the corresponding processes. "In addition, the tool we were looking for had to be able to support the company's growth and support internationality in terms of functions and languages," says Roberto Bernich. In the strongly export-oriented Abnox, Germany is considered the showcase market; other important markets are Asia and the USA, where the company has a sales office. The growing number of products (now over 600), sales partners (about 100), customers (about 500) and supply partners (about 230) is another factor that calls for greater efficiency in quality management. After evaluating three tools, the decision was made in favor of the QM software Improve from Synprovis: "Simplicity and costs were the decisive factors," says the QM manager. In terms of costs, the fact that the update installations are part of the maintenance contract was also a factor. After the introductory phase, the company has been working with Improve since January 2016.

"Simple comme bonjour"
The simplicity of the tool amazed and delighted the Abnox decision-makers right from the start. "I open the software and get to grips with it straight away," says Matthias Iseli. The CEO is also very pleased with Improve's convenient reporting functions: "Every Monday, I now know exactly and reliably what to expect in terms of Q during the week. The low-threshold access to the tool also ensures a high level of acceptance among employees, a basic prerequisite for achieving the targeted optimizations. At Abnox, access to Improve is ensured from all 28 PC workstations.

Proven model
The basic model "ERP plus modern QM special solution" corresponds to a basic conviction of the Improve provider Synprovis. "Event-based, immediate display of events such as error messages on the user interface, and the consistent four-step process structure mean that we are miles away from complicated drawing trees," explains Synprovis CEO Hubert Geisseler. Since its launch in 2002, several hundred Improve customers have been working successfully with this approach.

At Abnox, CEO Iseli also reports the perfect integration of Improve into the ERP system. The article master, customer master and supplier master are mirrored in Improve and updated every night. Changes to article numbers or their central data are therefore completely eliminated.

Optimizations and savings effects
Abnox uses the QM tool in areas such as complaint management, as a pool of ideas in the proposal system, in risk management, for supplier evaluations, audit management, test equipment management and training plans. According to the Abnox managers, the following concrete benefits have been achieved:

• Complete transparency at all timesalso thanks to a complete change history of work instructions, checklists, etc. Significant reduction of search times.
• Even better secured adherence to deadlines thanks to automated reminder e-mails in connection with the monitoring of pending items.
• Efficient reporting, for short-term reports or the annual management review. "Pulling numbers out of Improve is simple," says Roberto Bernich.
• Complaint management with savings effects. All descriptions, photos, documents or emails are consolidated in one place, research is history. Abnox handles customer, supplier and internal errors via Improve. Since the introduction of the tool, error costs have fallen by 27 % (as a percentage of turnover) and the average time taken to process complaints has been halved.
• Systematic risk management. Mapping of relevant risks, accessible to all employees involved. As a result of simplified preparation and implementation of audits.
• Pool of ideas as a driver of innovation. Abnox systematically collects ideas for improvement, even if they concern operational details. This pool of ideas is periodically evaluated and concentrated into measures.

"When we have change requests, we receive quick assistance from Synprovis support," says Q manager Bernich, "or even a plausible explanation for requests that cannot be implemented. Synprovis boss Geisseler emphasizes a "speciality of the company", according to which every software developer is also a project manager. This gives the practical relevance and customer proximity that the software house always strives for.