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Need to convince stakeholders that you need a QMS? Want to test your quality management maturity?

Need to convince stakeholders that you need a QMS? Want to test your quality management maturity?
Read what our customers say

Don't take our word for it. Read what our customers say on Gartner Peer Insights.

Join our 1-hour online demo to get a clear impression of how AlisQI could help you work smarter.

Smart automation and omnichannel integration recipe for succes

Customer case study: Kompak Netherlands B.V.

 

Integrated QMS at Kompak

An automated and integrated quality management system was a must-have for companies such as Unilever and Ecover, but future customers also see it as a big plus. 

  • Kompak replaced a few hundred Excel and paper forms
  • Customer relations improved after using better reports and analysis
  • Dashboards provide real-time information on line state and performance
  • SPC and OEE overview enables Kompak to continuously improve
  • Implementation has been done internally

Kompak has recently completed roll-out of all visual checks and weight controls. This marks the end, finally, of paper-based Quality Management at Kompak.

QESH Manager Kompak

Edwin Wekking

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A platform for Quality

In 2018, Kompak overhauled the direction of its home and personal care division. A new CEO and a new QESH manager were appointed as part of this shake-up.

“We were in a hurry because Quality Management was not up to scratch, and our customers were looking for a marked improvement at all levels, not only documentation and LIMS, but also registration and insight into deviations and the actions taken,” they said.

The QESH manager’s original conception was to orchestrate Quality Control with two discrete systems: one for LIMS and one ‘ERP-like, slash MRP’ tool.

However, when AlisQI came in to demo for the LIMS requirement, it became clear that the Platform had a reach far beyond Quality Control. 

It could build databases, integrate easily with production and documentation systems as well as dashboard a lot of shop floor activity, and create insightful reports. 

‘A huge part of what we had planned to do in a new ERP system, AlisQI could do for us,’ the QESH manager says. So it was a no-brainer, particularly as ERP systems typically involve a lot of customization and have long implementation trajectories.

But there was no time for that ‘We decided there and then that we’d go for just one tool, and that was AlisQI.’ 

The timeline was swift: two weeks after the initial demo, Kompak had signed for Quality Control. A month later, the company gave the go-ahead to roll out the Documentation Managements and QESH functions.

We decided there and then that we’d go for just one tool, and that was AlisQI.

QHSE Manager Kompak Netherlands B.V.

Edwin Wekking

 
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Multiethnic group of young people sitting in conference room and brainstorming on business meeting

3 easy steps to convince everyone that you need a QMS

On this page, you’ll find all the necessary resources to build a strong business case
for Quality Management and convince stakeholders that you need a QMS.

Pain-free implementation

Testimony to the user-friendliness of AlisQI is that the shop floor workers at Kompak, who often have limited proficiency in Dutch or English, grasped the system very quickly.

Laboratory staff tends to have a more technical background, so re-categorizing ‘the tangled spaghetti’ of LIMS analyses took just under a month. 

The QESH manager enjoyed the pragmatic approach of the AlisQI team: the Platform went live more or less from day one, and customizations – in as far as they were needed – were developed quickly.

‘You get going in no time,’ he says. ‘The system is intuitive and robust. You try this, you try that, you play around with it, and before you know it, the Platform is working exactly the way you want it to work.’

Once the LIMS analyses had been inputted, the AlisQI solution began to reveal its full potential. For instance, the generation of COAs (and coupling the certificates with the right batches) was suddenly almost automated.

To maximize the potential of the platform, the organization decided on three owners: one for production, one for the laboratory, and one for QA. 

The system is intuitive and robust. Before you know it, the Platform is working exactly the way you want it to work.

QHSE Manager Kompak Netherlands B.V.

Edwin Wekking

 
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Transformed relationships with customers and suppliers

Kompak mixes and packages for big brands such as Unilever and Ecover, who – like its other customers – want insight into the product release process.

Every year, 25,000 batches with ​hundreds of different formulations are despatched from the factory in Etten-Leur.

‘So of course, our customers want to have data on the release of their products,’ says the QESH manager. And not by fax, paper, or email, but instantly and 24 hours a day, by logging into AlisQI.

‘So if there are complaints further down the line from any of their buyers, they know at once if there were any deviations in the batch: yes or no.’

The QESH manager also wants to give his suppliers access to the AlisQI platform, so the COAs for Kompak’s raw materials can be coupled seamlessly with the batches in production. ‘That’ll save a lot of time,’ he says. 

How much time? On the supplier side, 8 hours a week, they estimated. The problem that arises at the moment is that the right COAs are not available when the raw materials have to be mixed.

‘That means a lot of looking around in your systems, a lot of phone calls, all very frustrating and time-consuming.’

With AlisQI, this sort of issue is a thing of the past. Kompak will know if the raw materials going to Etten-Leur have the appropriate COA – and alerts will be set up in AlisQI to make sure that any missing COAs are uploaded. 

‘Checking batch histories for customers was taking a lot longer,’ he continues. ‘I’d say 20 hours a week.’

So that is a time saving of 28 hours, almost a working week, once Kompak customers and suppliers are fully integrated with AlisQI.

So that is saving 28 hours, almost a working week, once Kompak customers and suppliers are fully integrated with AlisQI.

QHSE Manager Kompak Netherlands B.V.

Edwin Wekking

 
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Using AlisQI dashboards

Production checks and processes are registered in AlisQI, and visualized in dashboards that are proving very popular and useful on the shop floor.

Each order is dashboarded, so performance metrics such as time idle and OEE are instantly available in real-time. ‘We look at that a lot internally. We rely on it a lot.’ says the QESH manager.

There is work to be done to link different sets of insight. A short-term ambition is to connect time registrations within AlisQI to production diagnostics, such as labor times for a specific batch and the time idle on that batch.

Coupling these metrics will drive further improvements in Quality Management. 

AlisQI is a marketing tool

An automated and integrated Quality Management system was a must for the likes of Unilever and Ecover, but prospective customers also see it as a huge positive.

This is a benefit of the AlisQI platform Kompak had not anticipated. 

Customers are particularly interested in how AlisQI aggregates Quality data to describe trends, making it possible to fine-tune the formulations.

Deviations are correlated to either the mixing process or the raw materials supplied for a specific batch. ‘And all that happens in two seconds as if by magic.

Data, graphics and statistics describe your processes and deviations from different angles, giving you 3D insight into Quality. Customers love it.’

Each order is dashboarded, so performance metrics such as time idle and OEE are instantly available in real time. We look at that a lot internally. We rely on it a lot.

QHSE Manager Kompak Netherlands B.V.

Edwin Wekking

 
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The future with AlisQI

Kompak has recently completed roll-out of all shop floor controls like visual checks and weight controls. ‘A pretty big file’ says the QESH manager. This marks the end, finally, of paper-based Quality Management at Kompak.  ‘And we’re 90% there,’ he adds.

A medium-term ambition is to make more data sets meaningfully available to customers, such as source documents with specifications for each product.

For the moment, Kompak checks internally if recipe adjustments or changes in the product labeling have been carried out correctly, but the plan is to also roll this data out to customers.

Production regulations and working practice rules are still to move to digital, but very soon, everything will be documented and up to date in AlisQI.

Wekking is beginning to implement the projected MRP system, but only the standard functionalities because a lot of the heavy lifting has been done in AlisQI already.

‘So we save a lot in licensing costs and implementation is much shorter, saving us even more.’

Kompak has recently completed roll-out of all visual checks and weight controls. This marks the end, finally, of paper-based Quality Management at Kompak.

QHSE Manager Kompak Netherlands B.V.

Edwin Wekking

 
 
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Conclusion​

What were Kompak’s goals for the AlisQI project? To connect all our fragmented data, make it more easily accessible to the shop floor, feeding us insights that are raising the overall level of our Quality Management every day.

Have those goals been realized? ‘100%!’, the QESH manager said.

He wants to highlight two things in particular. AlisQI is adaptable. ‘You can steer it towards your own processes without relying on endless IT projects over which you have no control.’

The other is the sheer range of its capabilities. Before implementing AlisQI, Wekking was looking at a huge ERP project with a lot of customization and a two- to three-year implementation horizon.

But most of what Kompak was looking for in an ERP system they found in AlisQI, saving them a lot of time and money.

‘After the first demo we realized that AlisQI could do so much more than Quality Control. And that has been the story throughout: the platform is improving Quality Management faster and in more ways than we had anticipated.’

Not surprisingly, Kompak is now considering implementing AlisQI for its food packaging division at its factory in The Netherlands.

The platform is improving Quality Management faster and in more ways than we had anticipated

QHSE Manager Kompak Netherlands B.V.

Edwin Wekking

 
 
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About Kompak

Kompak mixes and packs home and personal care products for brand owners and producers of industrial cleaning products throughout Europe. Over 60 years of experience in handling A-brands makes Kompak a fast and innovative contract packer of liquids, tablets and powders.

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