Employees
Approx. 15,000
Annual sales
€ 2.6 billion (FY 2022)
Use cases
Supplier documentation, quality documentation
Complete documentation management in one system
Digital control of supplier documentation
The challenge: Manually collecting technical documents
Dimensional drawings, safety documents, and approvals must be obtained from suppliers in a timely manner and reviewed and approved by different departments. Previously, information was exchanged between project partners and suppliers via e-mail with attachments without a clear filing structure. This resulted in a high manual effort to search for documents, time-consuming communication through different channels and numerous correction loops due to missing information.
The result: Integrating the suppliers into the processes
Approve provides a unified system for document exchange with transparent and streamlined processes.
Accelerated processes
- Automated review and revision processes enable fast feedback and shorter turnaround times
- Suppliers are integrated into the process and receive all necessary information directly
- Significant relief for employees in routine tasks thanks to a high degree of automation
Greater transparency
- Documentation is stored in one place and can be viewed by all authorized persons
- Quick overview of orders, scope of documentation, deadlines and approvals
- All changes from the first to the last revision can be retrieved as needed
Simple operation
- Fast upload of documents via drag-and-drop from any device
- Intelligent functions such as automated document naming reduce the workload
- Browser-based software requires no installation at the supplier side
Better customer orientation
- Improved service through increased quality and short turnaround time
- Automated deadline tracking ensures that documents are delivered error-free and on time
- Efficient collaboration through elimination of media discontinuities
Digital control of supplier quality documentation
The challenge: Reducing the manual effort required to create test plans
In order to meet KSB Group's high quality standards, a wide range of different tests must be carried out and documented. To this end, the QCP (Quality Control Plan) is created on an order-by-order basis, coordinated with the customer, and adapted as necessary. Previously, the many media discontinuities (Microsoft Excel, SAP, e-mail, etc.) made internal and external communication extremely time-consuming. The quality requirements were communicated to the supplier via e-mail, after which the supplier also returned the necessary test certificates by e-mail. Checking the documents and sending them to SAP generated an unnecessarily high manual effort.
The result: Digital end-to-end QA process with interfaces to SAP
With Approve, creating Quality Control Plans takes just a few clicks. There is now an end-to-end workflow for certificate inspection that also includes suppliers.
End-to-end quality process
- User-friendly creation of order-related QCPs, based on standard test scope and order data from SAP
- Structured transmission and control of supplier certificates
- Highly automated data transfer between existing systems
Up-to-date information
- Always up-to-date test plans, as test standards are stored in the data structure
- Convenient, manual enrichment of customer-specific requirements
- Digital recording and use of test results
Reduced manual effort
- Significant reduction in manual effort when creating material and construction test plans
- Minimized effort for assigning test certificates
Traceable communication
- Version security, as all changes can be traced at any time and are synchronized with SAP
- Suppliers have an overview of outstanding test certificates and the respective status
