Overview

From the paper age to the digital age

WEIDMANN switches sales and shipping to digital files

Previously, WEIDMANN – a specialist in cellulose-based insulation – had organized its sales and shipping documents in paper dossiers. These were replaced by digital files based on the ECM product suite top xRM, which were introduced together with top flow. WEIDMANN has not only reduced costs in this way. The entire sales process is now much more efficient and quality has increased.

They are often bright green, stand at the side of the road and are hardly noticeable. But they are extremely important for our lives. Because these transformer stations ensure that electricity comes out of the socket at the right voltage at home or in the office.

A number of transformers with different outputs are installed along the route between the power station and us end consumers. They all convert electricity – which is always a risky business. That’s why the inside of transformers is extremely well insulated. With oil. And with cellulose-based elements that coat the copper cables and windings and, together with the oil, form the electrical insulation. WEIDMANN Electrical Technology AG manufactures such insulation solutions for high-performance transformers. The company is headquartered in Rapperswil, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1877 by Heinrich Weidmann – back then as a pressboard and cardboard factory. Today, WEIDMANN has more than 30 production and research sites in Europe, North and South America and Asia. Almost 3,000 employees generated a turnover of 332 million Swiss francs in 2015. Its customers include manufacturers of power and distribution transformers, energy suppliers and industrial companies.

Comprehensive documentation on sales and shipping

“We have been working closely with most customers for years or even decades,” says Stefan Truniger, Head of Corporate Development at WEIDMANN. “Nevertheless, every project is different because specific framework conditions have to be taken into account for every transformer. These include the respective design and the dimensions of the individual components. But it is also about environmental factors – for example, the exact location – and transport restrictions.” WEIDMANN therefore manufactures most insulation solutions in batch size 1 according to the customer’s individual requirements. This requires the responsible sales employee to first record all the technical details of an inquiry – usually including drawings. The documents are then forwarded to the technical department for review, which reports back to the sales department as to whether the project can be realized and what expenditure is to be expected. Based on this information, the sales employee calculates a price and prepares an offer for the customer – which is either accepted immediately or after a few adjustments. Numerous documents are created during the ordering process. Even more are added when the insulation is produced and can be sent to the customer – especially test reports and certificates.

Seamless SAP integration was mandatory

Until now, all documents at WEIDMANN have been organized in dossiers – as paper printouts, stored loosely in a folder, each about half a centimeter thick, around 15,000 per year. If all the dossiers were stacked on top of each other, it would take two years to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower. “In 2013, we began to systematically review and further develop our organization and processes. It quickly became clear that our paper dossiers had some disadvantages,” says Stefan Truniger. The search for information was time-consuming. Dossiers could only be used by one employee at a time. And handing over the cardboard files involved a lot of effort – especially when different locations were involved in a process. There were also unnecessary costs for the many printouts and archiving.
WEIDMANN therefore decided to completely digitize the sales and shipping documentation. For one thing, it was important to the insulation specialist that employees should be able to file documents easily and close to the process. Secondly, it had to be possible to process all document types – i.e. documents created in the SAP ERP system used, as well as emails, Office documents, CAD drawings and so on. Stefan Truniger: “With these functional requirements, it was clear to us from the outset that we needed a solution that offered high-performance integration of SAP, Lotus Notes and Microsoft Office. Finding suitable ECM (Enterprise Content Management) software was a real challenge. Because hardly any solution had a convincing SAP connection on board.” Almost all providers – including very large players – suggested connecting their own ECM software to SAP via interfaces. However, WEIDAMNN did not want to go down this route. The high cost of implementation and maintenance was offset by a rather mediocre result.

Good handling was important for employees

WEIDMANN finally became aware of top flow through the recommendation of an IT provider – and thus also of the ECM solution top xRM. “After a fruitless search, we were very impressed by top xRM because the solution is directly integrated into SAP ERP – exactly what we wanted,” says Stefan Truniger. This seamless integration not only means that data can be exchanged without any problems. It is also possible to jump from the top-xRM view to the corresponding transaction in SAP ERP and vice versa. But there was even more to the top flow software. For example, the high level of user-friendliness. Users quickly find their way around the interface, and various functions – such as moving documents using drag & drop – make handling convenient. This aspect was crucial for WEIDMANN because some employees were concerned about the changes to their usual procedures. To win them over, the solution had to actually make daily work easier. In addition to the convenient handling, the workflows that can be set up with top xRM should also contribute to this. Employees can transfer the next task in the process to the responsible colleague with just one click – including the deadline. They can keep an eye on the status and follow up if necessary.

top flow consultants are critical advisors

At the beginning of 2014, a team of WEIDMANN employees and consultants from top flow began implementing the digital files for sales and shipping based on top xRM. An important task here was to map the many individually configured transactions and processes in SAP ERP cleanly in the files. In addition, order-related procurement had to be integrated. WEIDMANN began training key multipliers in the specialist departments while the technical implementation was still underway. The aim was to convince them of the new solution and for them to take on the role of “change agents” internally. At the beginning of September, top xRM went live at the headquarters in Rapperswil, followed by the locations in the USA and Mexico, Croatia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. The roll-out should be completed by 2017.
“top flow provided us with excellent support in all phases of the project: from technical implementation and change management to the international roll-out,” says Stefan Truniger. “We particularly liked the fact that the consultants critically questioned some of our ideas – even if that meant foregoing additional business for them.”

Amortization after one year

WEIDMANN’s employees, some of whom were initially skeptical, very quickly came to appreciate the ECM solution – because it is easy to use and brings a lot of benefits to each individual. And WEIDMANN as a company also clearly feels the benefits: by consistently dispensing with printouts, the company saves between 30,000 and 40,000 francs a year. The costs for archiving and transporting dossiers have also fallen. What’s more, it no longer takes time to search for a dossier. This used to take an average of 15 minutes.

Stefan Truniger: “Thanks to these effects, the introduction has already paid for itself after around a year. What is almost more important for us, however, is that we were able to increase the quality of sales: We now prepare quotations much more quickly and absolutely correctly because all the information is always available in full. Our customers are very positive about this. The digital files set us noticeably apart from our competitors.” Due to the overall excellent experience with top xRM, WEIDMANN also wants to expand the use of digital files to other areas. For example, the quality dossiers for complaints management are to be digitized in the future. And top xRM will also be used in purchasing in the future.

“With the top xRM ECM software, we have leapt from the paper to the digital age at a rapid pace. And with considerable effect: we have significantly increased quality in sales and at the same time massively reduced project throughput times. In addition, the elimination of paper has noticeably reduced costs.

Stefan Truniger, Head of Corporate Development at WEIDMANN”

 

 

 

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Overview