OFFSETDRUCKEREI SCHWARZACH GMBH

Industry

Print/Paper/Packaging

Department

Production, sales, purchasing, logistics, finance, controlling

Region

Schwarzach, Austria

The customer

The Offsetdruckerei Schwarzach, with its approximately 335 employees, specialises in the production and finishing of fine cardboard and labels. Around 25 000 tonnes of cardboard and paper are processed annually on the company's seven printing presses. The export share of the company, which was founded in 1913, is 70 per cent. Above all, companies in Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein and Germany rely on the fine packaging from Schwarzach.

Initial situation

To evaluate production data, the printing company previously used an OLAP-based solution, which, however, no longer met the company's increased requirements in terms of processing speed and user comfort.

"On the one hand, the procedure was very cumbersome," explains Arno Amann, Controlling and Project Management, Offsetdruckerei Schwarzach GmbH, "on the other hand, data access to the live systems took a very long time. We sometimes had to wait a whole hour for the query result."

The Offsetdruckerei was looking for a powerful business intelligence solution that could automatically retrieve and link data from all required source systems. These include the ERP system proALPHA, an in-house production data acquisition system and a warehouse management system for the high-bay warehouse. The Offsetdruckerei Schwarzach also attached importance to the greatest possible flexibility in the creation of analyses.

Solution

While searching for the right solution, the print shop was tipped to take a closer look at QlikView software. "We saw QlikView in use at a company in our region and were quickly convinced that it was the right solution for us."

Both the uncomplicated connectivity of various data sources and the straightforward creation and customization of analyses were convincing. The BI solution's memory-based technology enables the consolidation of relevant data from various sources in a single application. Users can examine data in all directions in a self-service process and evaluate it independently.

Offsetdruckerei Schwarzach placed the BI project in the experienced hands of ppmc AG. The Liechtenstein IT service provider is a certified QlikView solution provider and has already carried out numerous projects for companies in the Vorarlberg region.

In addition to ppmc's expertise and professionalism, the close proximity is appreciated. "The direct joint work 'eye to eye', the quick understanding of the problem and the solution-oriented approach of ppmc have led very quickly to initial results. It also gave me the opportunity to look over the expert's shoulder and learn how to use QlikView. Today, I do 90 percent of new application development or customization on my own. For very complex requirements, ppmc supports me," says Amann.

Within four weeks, QlikView was implemented, the data model was created and the first analysis application was deployed.

Areas of application and benefits

Four applications are now productive and are used by ten employees in the production, sales, purchasing, logistics, finance and controlling departments.

To control production, key figures such as throughput, utilization rate, reject rate, and quality rate are generated and analyzed - for example, to identify unused potential or performance shortfalls at an early stage. At the sales level, revenue and sales analyses are available according to criteria such as 'agents' or 'customers'.

Another application includes evaluations of inventories according to turnover frequency, number of storage locations, delivery delays, delivery reliability, etc. In the context of cost accounting, QlikView is used for analyses of operational data and cost unit sheets.

"Every morning, I get an overview of the key performance indicators, incoming orders, orders on hand, inventories, and sales in fifteen minutes. This means that I am very quickly up to date and can deal with any discrepancies directly," says Amann.

Inventory analyses and key production figures across all departments, as well as ad hoc evaluations on special topics such as risk assessments or more in-depth analyses, are communicated to the management in report form on a regular monthly basis.

The Offsetdruckerei benefits from much faster data provision, as Amann confirms: "For example, our inventory analysis used to take two hours before we had a result. With QlikView, the current data is imported overnight; the next day, one click is enough and the information is there."

In addition, data from any system can be analyzed in one platform, which has significantly increased the range of analyses. In addition, QlikView's drill-down/drill-through functionalities allow for much more detailed analysis.

Future

In further project steps, the existing applications will be further expanded. In addition, a complete dashboard for management is planned, containing the most important current figures as well as those of the last two years for comparison purposes.

Furthermore, QlikView is to be used in the area of finance in order to be able to process the month-end closing more quickly.