Pump and valve manufacturer KSB is digitizing quality documentation with Approve on Fabasoft PROCECO. “By using Approve in the creation of test plans and the reviewing of test certificates, KSB saves 3,200 man-hours annually at the Pegnitz pilot plant,” explains Alexander Thumbeck from technical order processing and project manager at KSB. The cloud-based software is meanwhile used at KSB for supplier, customer and quality documentation. A worldwide roll-out is in the planning.
In order to coordinate quality testing along the supply chain, the technical order processing department in the KSB Group draws up the so-called Quality Control Plan (QCP) individually for each order. This specifies the testing requirements that must be carried out for individual product components. It also specifies which tests are to be carried out at the KSB plant or at sub-suppliers.
End-to-end quality process
In the past, these test plans were created manually using Microsoft Excel and exchanged and coordinated via emails. Approve generates the QCPs automatically, in accordance with the applicable standards. Suppliers are also directly integrated into the system via digital testing, coordination and approval processes. The goal was to create a platform with interfaces to SAP in order to create documents automatically and transfer data seamlessly. “It was important to us to implement a continuous end-to-end process in which our suppliers are also integrated,” explains Alexander Thumbeck.