CAQ User PSZ electronic: A Quality Network

Whether forklifts in the logistics industry, agricultural machines, or construction machines: when it comes to cable assembly, electromechanical assemblies, or system components, virtually every major global manufacturer relies on the products and expertise of PSZ electronic GmbH. Leading manufacturers in medical technology, heating and air conditioning technology, as well as mechanical and plant engineering also rely on the products of the company from Vohenstrauß in Bavaria. Founded in 2003, the company’s portfolio of services is rounded off with products in the areas of switchboard assembly, plastics technology, and rapid prototyping. In order to be able to fulfil its own high quality standards throughout such a wide range of industries and products, the company with its 2850 employees and 6 locations in 4 countries, relies on CAQ AG’s CAQ.Net software solutions from Rheinböllen in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Quality at Work

Mr. Wendelin Geißler, Global Director Quality & Integrated Management Systems, and Mr. Sven Burkhardt, Head of Quality Assurance & Quality Planning and ESD Coordinator, are in charge of quality at PSZ electronic. Their mission in 2020 was clear and would easily be dubbed "mammoth task" for many: implement a unified global quality management solution to support all production sites and employees in their common pursuit of quality and continuous improvement. The well-rehearsed quality team chose CAQ AG’s CAQ.Net software. For Mr. Wendelin Geißler, this decision was rather self-evident, as he had already successfully implemented CAQ.Net in numerous companies since the mid-nineties of the last century and had always developed it into a leading quality instrument for overall company management. This professional in all matters relating to CAQ software was assisted by Sven Burkhardt, a future CAQ key user, who probably knew the manifold quality aspects and processes of PSZ electronic better than anyone else. The first task of this team initially consisted of a simple equation: turn 18 into 1.

Turning 18 into 1

Data transparency was the primary focus at the beginning of the CAQ project, because PSZ electronic wanted to move away from its countless Excel spreadsheets and the isolated applications distributed over 18 databases toward one central database, a "single source of truth". Divided into 5 designated tenants, it was possible to assign information to each individual location and thus lay the initial infrastructure for the software. In January 2021, the implementation of the first modules of the CAQ software began. After 2-3 days, the installation was completely finished, and after less than 3 months, the first solutions for gauge management, maintenance, and complaints management were live and in productive use. CAQ.Net’s interface module for system integration supported this rapid implementation by enabling automatic data transfer from existing Access databases and Excel spreadsheets.

Comprehensive Quality Management

Following these first steps, the next modules were brought to life, in order to implement PSZ electronics entire QM and QA in a paperless and centralized manner using CAQ.Net. With the document management module, for example, all work instructions or raw material records were quickly transferred - thanks to full MS Word integration, it was now possible to edit the more than 2000 initial data sheets with familiar software solutions, while all control processes and archiving steps were mapped via CAQ.Net.

A Focus on User Acceptance

Parallel to the implementation of the individual modules, the team took a close look at the topic of user acceptance and selected appropriate tools from the CAQ.Net portfolio. The functions for centralized quality control in CAQ.Net played a central role in this regard. They offer the possibility to select persons, customers, suppliers, items, machines, processes, or attributes and to receive real-time feedback about the existing data in the CAQ system for the respective entity. If relevant information is contained in the system, affected modules are highlighted in colour. When one of the correspondingly highlighted modules is now selected, the software precisely displays the applicable data, which can then be conveniently edited, printed, or forwarded – perfect data centralization instead of scattered structures.

All Aboard

The integrated web applications of CAQ.Net played another important role in terms of user acceptance. These applications offer module-accompanying functions, which are designed for internal use via the companys intranet. This makes it possible to, for example, view process structures and procedural instructions, perform document control steps, complete actions, or book training courses from right within the browser. The web applications mean that every employee always has access to exactly what he needs, when he needs it, and where he needs it: regardless of whether the employee is using a tablet, smartphone or desktop system, and regardless of whether he is using keyboard, mouse, or touch entry. During the development of the web applications, primary attention was paid to making the interfaces as simple as possible so that no in-depth knowledge of the actual CAQ.Net software is necessary for the individual operating steps. Thus, all 2850 employees in the various locations worldwide can be integrated into their individual processes and actively participate in cross-company quality assurance, while the administration of the system is performed by individual CAQ key users in each location.

Make it Your System

The diverse configuration options in CAQ.Net also contributed to the high level of user acceptance, as they make it possible to freely adapt field names, descriptions, or field properties in the software and even define them in a mask-, user-, or workstation-specific manner. Thus, for example, the assistants in the complaint management module could be precisely adapted to PSZ electronics needs in terms of content and colour. The form system could also be freely adapted and the original formats of APQP forms could be aligned with in-house processes. It is important to emphasize that all adjustments were made completely independently by PSZ electronics internal team, since all necessary tools are automatically included in CAQ.Net.

IMS - Integrated Management System

Whether ISO 9001, ISO 14001, IATF 16949, or ISO 56000: since the entire world of standards in the company is managed by the software, CAQ.Net is used at PSZ electronic in the truest sense of an integrated management system. CAQ.Nets software also directly supports other operational aspects, as the modules for initial sample inspection as well as those for the implementation of APQP/PPAP processes or CAD stamping, for instance, make it possible for PSZ electronic to go from the initial idea to the finished serial product in only 6 weeks - some companies need a whole year for this. The CAQ software manages and controls important operational processes and thus enables a level of performance, efficiency, and effectiveness that would not be possible without such a system.

Growth Ahead

The sixth tenant in PSZ electronics CAQ system is already being implemented, and considering the company’s impressive growth, this will probably not be the last location that Mr. Geißler and Mr. Burkhardt integrate into their CAQ world. Thanks to CAQ.Net, the well-rehearsed quality team clearly enjoys providing their employees worldwide with a software solution and information landscape that they like to use and that moves the company forward in giant steps towards completely digitalized business processes.