Case Study Phoenix Contact Finito Digital Shift Book. 1/6

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1 Case Study Phoenix Contact Finito Digital Shift Book 1/6

2 Project data: Customer: Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH Germany: Germany Branch: Electric engineering Employees: Company: Phoenix Contact is a worldwide market leader for components, systems and solutions in the field of electric engineering, electronic and automation. The product range contains components and system solutions for energy supply including wind and solar energy, apparatus as well as mechanical engineering and switchboard construction. The family business, which was founded 1923, employs more than 14,000 employees worldwide and made a turnover of 1,77 billion Euro. The headquarter is in the Westphalian Blomberg. Ten companies belong to the Phoenix Contact group in Germany, among them the Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH in Bad Pyrmont and more than 50 own distribution companies. The worldwide presence is condensed through 30 representative establishments in Europe and overseas. Task: A software solution for shift incidents and optimizing the documentation as well as for the staff and shift planning is needed. Solution: Finito Digital Shift Book is used as standard software for the administration of information, incidents, tasks and instructions. Additional requirements could be met without further developments through the extension modules, e.g. staff and shift planning and the abo module.» We are operating in a three-shift system in the circuit board production. Communication and accurate documentation are the most important things. Thanks to the electronic shift book our employees are completely informed about the status quo of the production, upcoming tasks like reparations or cleanings and other things. They always know what to do next. «Kay Petermichl Project manager at Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH Case Study Finito Digital Shift Book 2/6

3 Shift planning at the push of a button Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH uses the electronic shift book Finito Digital Shift Book for documentation and transfer of shift incidents as well as for staff and shift planning. The software solution is in pilot application in the circuit board placement (SMTproduction) since January. Further production teams at Bad Pyrmont already showed interest. Bad Pyrmont, 5:45 am: Morning shift in the SMTproduction of Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH begins. The employees inform themselves on the plant computers about upcoming tasks: a wear part of a machine is defect and needs to be replaced. A production line needs to be inspected again as there was an unplanned shut-down during night shift. Apart from that: no special incidents. In a lot of companies those things are still written by hand or transferred verbally. Since beginning of the year this happens with the help of a software in the SMTproduction of Phoenix Contact: the shift workers record and archive information out of the shift operation in an electronic shift book. The input is supported by text modules and the automated monitoring and recording of measured values (Watchdog). After the shift is finished the employees put a digital signature to the report and it is automatically transferred to the next shift. With this process they are always up-to-date; says the project manager Kay Petermichl: We are operating in a three-shift system in the circuit board production. Communication and accurate documentation are the most important things. Thanks to the electronic shift book our employees are completely informed about the status quo of the production, upcoming tasks like reparations or cleanings and other things. They always know what to do next. Multiple requirements, one solution Kay Petermichl, responsible for programming the automatic optic inspection system (AOI) at Phoenix Contact, knows the difficult search for information in handwritten shift books and the paper crowd from his own experience. Also the circuit board of Phoenix Contact used to transfer information by lose slips of paper or verbally from shift to shift before introducing this new solution. Back then not only one or another important information got lost. The most deficiency was that there was no history for previously found solutions, according to the project manager. We could never look back and had to reinvent the wheel all the time, which cost time and money. The electrical engineer started to search the internet for an electronic shift book solution about two years ago. The idea was to get a more efficient information flow for and with all pre-defined requirements in the production processes: The software should establish a central data base for the production process to bring the information from the lines to the management. Furthermore, the electronic shift book should save time and improve the communication quality on all areas from the shift worker up to the department manager. Kay Petermichl quickly found what he was looking for. After various meetings and tests the decision was for Finito of New Solutions GmbH in Burghausen in Petermichl s conclusion on the software choice: The most essential thing for us was the following: We wanted to have a tool which can do everything and if necessary, is able to be expanded with additional modules for new requirements.» The most essential thing for us was the following: We wanted to have a tool which can do everything and if necessary, is able to be expanded with additional modules for new requirements. «Case Study Finito Digital Shift Book 3/6

4 Hub for communication and data exchange The electronic shift book software Finito is in use at the circuit board production of Phoenix Contact Electronics in Bad Pyrmont with a pilot operation since the beginning of employees are recording the daily shift incidents with the software: check the progress of tasks, read the latest instructions and check any changes in their personal shift plan. The daily shift reports are sent automatically from shift to shift and to the managers. The dashboard is the personalized entry point for every employee and serves as an anchor point for further orientation. By selecting a date and an area the chosen element opens, e. g. daily shift reports which can be followed up seven days back or current tasks and instructions. A search function supports the user to locate information quickly. Every authorized employee can use Finito via a standard browser on a computer. Even foreign colleagues won t have a problem with the software as it is available in seven languages and available on all stationary and mobile devices if required. The individual access to the electronic shift book is password protected. Therefore, the information is safe from unauthorized access. Furthermore, it can be tracked who recorded or changed which data. Individual functions like shift handovers at shift transfers can be assigned to the shift manager for example. All entries are saved audit-proof in a central data base. So that they can be reproduced at any time and used for recurring instructions: The employees can look for earlier records and use already found solutions. Thanks to Finito we are going to establish an error collection which is production-related, says Kay Petermichl. The staff is able to reduce research times by referring to existing solutions and the circuit board production can decrease unplanned down-times. Information base for lean management project Not only the shift workers but also the managers of the circuit board production know the value of the new tool: The shift reports are sent automatically to the team managers every morning and if required also to the department manager. Thereby we always have an overview what happened in the last shifts and we can react promptly. The function is comfortable as the colleagues on business trips have access to the reports as well, explains Kay Petermichl.» The shift reports are sent automatically to the team managers every morning and if required also to the department manager. Thereby we always have an overview what happened in the last shifts and we can react promptly. The function is comfortable as the colleagues on business trips have access to the reports as well «The reports are also used for every morning s day walk, which the managers do at the plant within the shop floor management. The team and department managers visit the individual producing stations well informed due to the electronic shift reports and talk to the employees personally and offer support. Evaluations about quality-related abnormalities flow into the quality management which is production-related and serves as input for the continuing improvement process. Case Study Finito Digital Shift Book 4/6

5 Create holiday and shift plans in a few seconds One of the additional modules which was on the wish list of Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH from the beginning was a comprehensive shift and staff planning. This could be offered by the electronic shift book software Finito in a very short period of time. For this purpose, the three-shift system was deposited in the system. The employees are assigned to the several shift groups A, B, C, D, etc. and these are assigned to the different shift types morning, late and night shift (beginning and end is defined as well). The rest is only routine: In the past we planned our shifts and holidays with self-made Excel lists. Today we are planning shift and holiday plans for the next year/quarter within the push of a button; this doesn t take longer than a few minutes, emphasizes Petermichl.» In the past we planned our shifts and holidays with self-made Excel lists. Today we are planning shift and holiday plans for the next year/quarter within the push of a button; this doesn t take longer than a few minutes. «It is easy to see who is when working where with the electronic shift book: Shifts, holidays and absences are structured in colors per organization unit or lines. Employees can switch shifts with the software and if necessary, can be assigned to another shift group. The program takes care of the minimum staffing per shift. It also considers bans on leave. So every employee gets his own electronic shift plan. Expand over the whole plant Until now the electronic shift program is a pilot operation in the circuit board production at Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH. Kay Petermichl, who is a Finito key user, already presented the solution for eight other production teams. Also there is a lively interest, says the project manager. Case Study Finito Digital Shift Book 5/6

6 Technical overview: Finito Digital Shift Book Finito Digital Shift Book, a product of New Solutions GmbH, is a software solution based on the latest generation of Microsoft technologies. The modular structure of the application enables customer-specific extensions without affecting the update ability. Latest development methods in connection with quality assurance and test tools guarantee a high above average software quality. Contact: New Solutions GmbH Marktler Str Burghausen Tel info@new-solutions.com Photos: Phoenix Contact Case Study Finito Digital Shift Book 6/6