Ramp-up Ilsenburg Service Excellence

With RISE, ILG specifically aims to raise service quality to a new level. The optimal service experience begins with a convenient ordering process and ends with a reliable and on-time delivery of the ordered plates. The subproject "Electronically Connecting and integrating customers" establishes the foundation for transparent processes. Here, the team around subproject manager Frederik Hütt is working on the electronic connection of partners and customers, from the quotation to the final documentation, in order to offer the best possible service.

For example, thanks to automatic EDI data exchange between their system and the system of Ilsenburger Grobblech, stockholders are always up to date with the latest information on their expected delivery. Time-consuming printing and filling in of delivery bills are a thing of the past when systems communicate with each other automatically. This speeds up cooperation on both sides for a sustained good delivery performance and improves the warehouse utilization. Integrated control mechanisms also reduce administrative effort and are a prerequisite for a pleasantly smooth cooperation.

Excellent service experience is the goal of our RISE subproject "Mapping customers digitally from end to end". At Ilsenburger Grobblech, customers and employees should be able to easily and conveniently comprehend the current status of orders and receive information on the order context.

By converting the eService to real-time, customers and employees receive an online overview of the exact order status. A complete and punctual delivery on the customer's requested date can thus be assessed at any time. Thanks to the transparency gained in order processing, our employees can identify impending delays in good time and proactively intervene in the interests of the customer.

This goal can only be achieved by digitizing the essential sales processes. The focus is on the digital customer file, based on which the experiences of the various departments are collected and used to further develop service quality.

The RISE project "Starting Orders Right" takes a close look at the order initiation and processing. Among other things, a new order and sales planning software is being developed under the direction of Doreen Jürgens, which will provide both customers and ILG employees with the greatest possible transparency regarding the order status and key deadlines, as well as more precise planning of the process from order to delivery.

An early and continuously updated projection of delivery dates to quotations and reservations will support the communication with customers. Optimized scheduling of orders will result from the consideration of all time influencing factors in the plant as well as at the customer.  

Here in subproject 3, a reliable sales process will lay the foundation for a smooth start to orders, accompanied by a robust statement of a delivery date. To this end, the process steps currently in use will be analyzed and, if necessary, adapted.

Supported by fast and convenient IT systems, both the speed of order processing and the satisfaction of customers and ILG employees are to be increased due to simplified coordination processes.

Project 3 consists of the two subprojects "Starting orders right - processes and roles" and "Starting orders right - sales systems".

From steelmaking to punctual rolling of the slab, acceptance, sampling and labeling to transport of the finished plate in the truck to the customer: The aim of the RISE project "Making the product flow maneuverable" is to ensure the greatest possible transparency across all processes at Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH. The aim is not only to analyze and control the past and future capacities and utilization of various areas of the plant, but also to integrate the individual orders and even pieces into this consideration.

As part of this project, various dashboards were created to present these processes in a uniform manner for all colleagues in the company, thus enabling rapid strategic and planning decisions.

In addition, analysis tools and operating aids were created that provide clear and quick information on the inventory and capacity utilization situation for each area throughout the company's value stream, from the pre-material warehouse to shipping, enable traceable prioritization, make individual pieces easy to track, and thus significantly facilitate control at the operational level.

Particularly in regular appointment meetings, it is thus also possible to quickly identify and solve isolated problems and eliminate their causes. In addition to increased efficiency, it helps the company to further improve adherence to deadlines and increase customer satisfaction.

The product quality of ILG’s heavy plates enjoys an excellent reputation in the industry. Nevertheless, isolated product defects due to rework or failure lead to vexatious time delays in production.

In order to effectively counter such problems and fully exploit the technology potential, an entire RISE subproject is dedicated to failure and rework analyses and aims to reduce defect rates even further.

Project manager Dr. Thomas Brecht and his team are analyzing the top errors in subproject 5 "Avoiding and controlling rework" and deriving causes and countermeasures from them. In this way, errors can be identified at an early stage and counteracted quickly with suitable steps in the event of quality deviations.

RISE aims to identify situational bottlenecks across departments along the entire value chain, reduce friction losses, and thus sustainably improve delivery performance and service quality.

Project 6 "Pulling from the customer and delivering", managed by Dr. Enrico Steppan, is working on tasks that accompany the value chain: Shipping and logistics processes, inspection, and approval processes, both physical and digital.

6.1 Shipping and logistics

How can the finished plates reach our customers more quickly? Where is an additional external warehouse worthwhile? How can shipping routes be coordinated with the customer at an early stage? These are some of the questions addressed by the shipping subproject led by Veith Sperber. The team uses center-of-gravity analyses, looks at the capacity utilization of rail cars, and seeks targeted exchanges with colleagues who control the shipping routes.

6.2 Approval

Customers appreciate the high quality of Ilsenburger Grobblech's products. This is ensured by the demanding and varied approval and quality tests accounted for in-house.

In this field, Armen Klisch is developing mobile acceptance procedures, modernizing workstations and integrating measurement optimization procedures.

6.3 Testing laboratory

An essential part of the approval process is the determination of mechanical-technological material parameters in ILG's accredited testing laboratory. A prerequisite for this is among others the machining of notched bar impact, tensile, round tensile and hardness specimens in preparation for materials testing.

Specimen processing and material testing are determined by material quality, customer specifications and acceptance criteria.

In order to optimally align the shipment release, the process data to date was analyzed and evaluated under the responsibility of Carsten Rudolf, and possible courses of action were identified. Important findings emerged with regard to the control of throughput times in order to exclude time losses in sample transport to the sample workshop