With emphasis on certification: FSSC project

The introduction of electronic quality management is a major challenge. What motivates a very successful Freiämter meat and sausage producer like Braunwalder AG in Wohlen to undergo this procedure? A company which, it should be noted, already has a proper quality management system - even if it is not digital?

The answer is actually quite clear: If you don't continuously improve, you will eventually fall behind. That's why Braunwalder AG decided to proactively optimise quality at the beginning of 2016. The aim was to get ready for the highest certification in the food industry: FSSC 22000 (Food Safety System Certification).

Managing Director Stefan Strebel recalls: "When I started here at the beginning of 2016, it was already clear that we really wanted FSSC, and in a very short time. Digital quality assurance was not available. The problem: FSSC is not feasible without electronic quality management."

Aborted early retirement
Stefan Strebel hired Andreas Hunziker, who had already certified 20 other companies before Braunwalder: "I persuaded him to come back from early retirement at 63 and gave him 15 months to plan and implement the project."

Hunziker began his work in the spring of 2016, evaluating various electrical quality managers for a workload of 60 % and presenting his favorites to Stefan Strebel after a month. IQSoft from IQS AG in Zofingen won the race.

Strebel comments: "Evaluate different offers in an unencumbered manner. Be clear about your goals, but keep the level of detail 'down to earth' in the best sense of the word. Be aware: No one simply goes from zero to hundreds! You don't just buy a software and everything runs by itself."

18 federal folders with requirements
Strebel is fully aware that Andreas Hun-ziker's vast experience saved him many a detour: "Before we started entering the data, our man first built up 18 federal folders and thus determined what we had to consider in terms of quality for certification. This process was completed in September 2016.

"What also served us very well: a site assessment and preliminary examination by a specialist from our later audit company. Also good: The 'test auditor' encouraged us. He knew and appreciated IQSoft."

For all those who would like to switch to electronic quality management themselves in the near future, Stefan Strebel has clear words at this point: "Determine what has to happen in what time and who is responsible for it. Free up resources for project implementation - 40, 60 or even 100 % of a workload. Mostly this means: Don't try to do everything yourself. You'll come under too much pressure if you do."

20 pages with pending issues
The next few months were dominated by the digitization of the 18 federal files. By the end of 2016, all the necessary data had been entered into IQSoft. The progress of the work was checked weekly in the core team and bi-weekly at the management meetings: "We had a check-list with pending items. At the beginning it was 20 pages long. It was often about building work and investments - for example, for air pollution control or for new cleaning machines to FSSC standards. But of course we also wanted to record training courses, maintenance contracts and more in IQSoft. And, of course, to map all customer or supplier relationships. Staying on top of that all the time - that was a big challenge for all of us."

"Every single employee is responsible for quality."

Is everything really retrievable now?
The test came in February 2017, when Stefan Strebel and his team sat together in the office and "we called up all the content via IQSoft at the click of a mouse. The entire content of the 18 folders is now always up to date in IQSoft and can be called up in just a few seconds.

IQSoft is there for everyone
Stefan Strebel appreciates the fact that IQSoft can be individually tailored to each user. In addition, the program is easy to learn and the training required is limited - for administrators as well as for individual employees: "It is very practical that you can assign tasks to different people. Especially since the system also has to function when someone is on vacation. And if we get stuck on a detailed question, we ask IQS AG. The company's support works reliably."

Developing knowledge, passing on knowledge
At the beginning of the project, Strebel made an unmistakable stipulation to the FSSC specialist Hunziker: "He knew from the start that he was not allowed to perpetuate himself with us. On the contrary: his commitment was to end in May 2017. From then on, the entire new quality system, including IQSoft, had to run without him." Did it work? "Absolutely. One of our food engineers has been looking after the system since June 2017 in a 30% stint."

The riddle of the rusting machines
If you ask Stefan Strebel about the "tangible" benefits of IQSoft, he likes to tell you how recently some Braunwalder machines suddenly started to rust. Thanks to IQSoft, he found out that each of these machines had been cleaned with a very specific product at a certain point in time. The cleaning product was changed. The rust is history. And all quality managers now nod sagely and think: "Yes, those are the advantages of complete traceability. You can find out exactly what was done when, how and where."

Target achieved
In other words, a capable and well-run electronic assistant such as IQSoft can show in a flash what a company has done to achieve the best quality, both in detail and on the bottom line, and what it has done right.

This is exactly what counts in every audit and this is exactly why IQSoft was put into service at Braunwalder. The result is impressive: The company passed the FSSC certification mentioned at the beginning of this article in April 2017 at the first attempt and with very good success.

The nuts and bolts of success
Looking back, Stefan Strebel wouldn't do anything differently: "Everything worked out well throughout the entire project. However, he emphasizes again and again that his success is the success of all employees: "Without your employees, you cannot sustainably put your quality management on a digital footing, let alone improve it! Believe me: you absolutely want to have your people on board, from the very bottom to the very top of the hierarchy. Every single employee is responsible for quality. He or she has to live the system!"

So where do we go from here?
Stefan Strebel: "Our next goal is the repeat audit in February 2018. On the way there, we want to consolidate, improve and anchor more deeply what we have achieved. We want to make as few mistakes as possible. We continue to discuss potential for improvement on a regular basis. IQSoft supported us on this path and continues to be our neutral quality monitor. With a program like this, it is always clear what needs to be done.
is going."