Business Process Management in the Manufacturing Industry Jörg Becker, Nico Clever, Justus Holler, Maria Neumann

INTRODUCTION

Introduction Medium-sized family-owned manufacturing company in the area of Computer Numeric Control (CNC) underwent change of management Dynamic market environment and increasing competition required improvement of production processes as well as compliance with modern quality standards Support in structuring and organizing modernization activities needed Identification and documentation of existing business processes to initially manage the complexity of these activities

SITUATION FACED

Situation faced Number of problems uncovered during transfer of management from one generation to the other Prevalence of tacit knowledge Inefficient decision-making Outdated IT system support Need for certification of production processes according to quality-assurance standards (ISO 9001) Thorough documentation of as-is business processes to guide improvement activities needed

ACTIONS TAKEN

Action taken Modeling of company’s process landscape during initial workshop to ensure valid communication medium character of the models Semi-structured interviews with employees in all departments of the company Incorporation of process weaknesses and potential improvements during the interviews Depiction of as-is and to-be process models with the help of the icebricks modeling method and the corresponding tool

RESULTS ACHIEVED

Results achieved Explication of the company’s knowledge and good-practice processes during modeling phase Process landscape as basis for well-informed decisions regarding implementation options of a new ERP system (SAP Business One) ISO 9001 recertification of production processes

LESSONS LEARNED

Lessons learned Simple deployment of process models in the company’s intranet not necessarily leading to desired comprehension and use Employees need to be trained to use process models as means of communication and that these are subject to change Definition of process owners necessary to take responsibility for adjustments to the process environment beyond such a project’s lifecycle Appropriateness of the icebricks modeling method and tool for the manufacturing domain although originally designed for the retail industry