A global innovator of synthetic turf systems, TenCate Grass is a leading manufacturer with more than 300 years of experience. Using AlisQI, the quality team noticed significant improvements. One of the most impressive – they managed to improve the entire spectrum of a process, decreasing the time spent on manual tasks by 86%. Let’s find out more about this achievement.
Unclarities and the pain of manual work
Before the change to digital, TenCate Grass faced multiple challenges. Their production process was very complicated. Products were grouped under one collective name while the machine settings for their fabrication could have been more specific. Important details such as settings per product line, per polymer or color combination were kept in a comment box. And, when producing more than 200 products, retrieving those settings, filtering through outdated ones, or asking for them via email was eroding productivity.
Logistical employees had to dig through data and connect the right settings to orders before they were able to start production. Not using a naming convention between departments also made things more cumbersome. Operators used Excel for product validation. With that came the burden of manual work. Not only did every product line use a different Excel document, but also working on and maintaining the documents was very prone to error. Making adjustments in the process was very time consuming, while bringing new people on to the team was almost impossible because of the lacking background information, exceptions and therefore unclarities.
"Unlocking efficiency with AlisQI: TenCate Grass embraces the power of digitalization, optimizing their synthetic turf production and paving the way for future improvements."
Emre Kaya
Research & Technology
Clear overviews with 1 click only
By digitalizing their processes, TenCate Grass experienced a boost in efficiency and significantly improved their process control. But how has AlisQI helped with the challenges above? The smart Quality Management System recognizes the product orders, including all the missing details, and couples these with the correct machine settings so that they are immediately ready for production. This means no more looking up information and digging through the comment box. Miscommunication is also yesterday’s problem, since the system generates unique names that refer to all the attributes per product and product line.
TenCate Grass is also using the AlisQI API to automatically input order information. This means that should the system recognize a new product color combination; it automatically adds this combination to the machine settings table while prompting the R&D team to fill in its machine settings. When the settings are filled in, the logistical employees are notified. In contrast to the times when they were using Excel, they can retrieve and track the information they need with one click only – and so, daily operational tasks that previously took 15 minutes are now performed in merely 2 minutes.
Another advantage of using a QMS is that a lot of the information can be reused. With AlisQI, technology engineers don’t need to reenter that data. For instance, when creating new versions of machine settings, they don’t need to start over. Instead, they can copy old settings and replace the values they need to. Should the operator and production leaders spot opportunities for improvement, they can suggest these to their team lead via a QESH form through which the technology engineers can analyze and approve the suggested change.
"Unlocking efficiency with AlisQI: TenCate Grass embraces the power of digitalization, optimizing their synthetic turf production and paving the way for future improvements."
Emre Kaya
Research & Technology
Implementing a smart QMS contributed to a nurturing a Culture of Quality - it raised awareness within the organization, prompted teams towards action and put people in control. Operators can now access the information they need when they need it, while collaborations between departments run smoothly.
The tip of the iceberg
With the above-mentioned changes, TenCate Grass has set the foundation for further improvement. Their digital journey continues, and they are looking forward to seeing what more process control, increased traceability and cultivating a culture of quality will bring them.
Do you want to learn more about AlisQI and the advantages that this can bring to your organization? Please feel free to reach out and discuss your case.
