From Maintenance to Enterprise Asset Management solution
The cloud transformation of Recticel with IFS Ultimo and SAM&more
What started as a Maintenance Management solution has now evolved into an Enterprise Asset Management system from which other departments (including Production, Quality and Safety) also benefit. Dieter Bervoet, International Maintenance Manager at Recticel, talks about his challenges, the transition from IFS Ultimo to the Cloud, the way he was helped with this and what it has delivered to the organization.
The challenge
For over 15 years, Recticel has been a loyal user of Ultimo. In 2022, Dieter was appointed as International Maintenance Manager. This is why his journey to the cloud began: 'We have four main sites in Belgium, England, France and Finland, in which cultures exist that differ from each other. That also meant that the subject of Maintenance was approached in multiple ways. My assignment quickly became clear. What needed to be achieved is that all factories must be able to produce as much as possible: downtime costs a fortune after all. It simply meant that we could not afford not to carry out or monitor certain facets of maintenance. There was also something else of importance. We serve customers all over the world, but in today's rapidly evolving world, customer requirements are constantly changing. You have to stay alert and be able to respond extremely quickly. In order to work uniformly and be able to produce more effectively, I decided to focus on standardisation of the maintenance processes. IFS Ultimo in the Cloud proved to be the right solution for this.'
The request for additional support
Dieter continues his story: 'What I also had to deal with was that the maturity in the field of maintenance and cloud was not the same at every site. The first cloud version of IFS Ultimo, in which our maintenance materials and activities were entered, looked excellent. However, I realised that not all sites had sufficient knowledge and expertise. Moreover, to make my mission succeed, I also needed someone who is able to facilitate the change process from on-premise to the cloud.
The help of SAM&more
IFS Ultimo has a partnership with SAM&more, based in Merelbeke. One of the founders, Miquel Simson, is a Maintenance Consultant. 'We were put forward by IFS Ultimo at Recticel because we know both the added value of IFS Ultimo's Enterprise Asset Management system and the daily processes on the client side. In my role as consultant, I always try to address the client's needs in a practical way and translate this to the end users with a standardised approach. After all, every organisation needs structure, tidiness and orderliness to be able to make the right decisions. What steps you need to take to achieve this? That's what I help with on a daily basis', Miquel explains.
A system for this, a system for that, no longer exists for us. With the help of both IFS Ultimo and SAM&more, we have realized one central Enterprise Asset Management system from Maintenance Management that benefits the entire organization.
International Maintenance Manager at Recticel
The results at Recticel
What has the collaboration with IFS Ultimo and SAM&more yielded? Dieter provides a comprehensive answer to that:
- Improved collaboration because production and maintenance employees work in one central system, they also speak the same language amongst themselves and there is understanding of where potential pain points are.
- The emergence of cost advantages the various sites have insight into each other's warehouses. By analyzing where which materials are used, we can optimize our inventory management of maintenance materials and centralize where desired.
- Less human errors because all maintenance materials for each site have the same naming convention. Moreover, this prevents unnecessary searching.
- A better allocation/planning of maintenance employees through standardization, it is easy to cover each other's work. Additionally, we also analyze with IFS Ultimo how and where we can deploy our employees as optimally as possible.
- Continue working on quality uniformity also means that you can compare sites with each other and, above all, learn from each other. For example, why one site performs the same work faster than another or what you can do to prevent a Health & Safety related incident.
- Compliance by recording all information regarding maintenance, production and quality in one central location, better conversations with auditors are created.
- Flexibility standardization also means that a blueprint exists if new locations were to be added. The processes are known and can be rolled out in a short time.
About Recticel
Recticel focuses on the production of polyurethane solutions, with applications in mattresses, insulation, and automotive. The company strives for sustainable and innovative products, with a strong focus on energy efficiency and comfort. Recticel operates worldwide and plays a crucial role in various sectors by delivering high-quality foam technologies.
About SAM&more
SAM&more is a consultancy firm that provides additional support to IFS Ultimo customers to optimize the technical service. Our name stands for Support, Advice, Maintenance & More they do this with the conviction that there is more than implementing a software system and help in a pragmatic way with managing and guiding change processes.