A family company with vision
Risse + Wilke Kaltband GmbH & Co. KG, a medium-sized family company based in Iserlohn, has made a name for itself in the production of cold rolled strip in a wide range of grades. With around 350 employees, of whom about 40 work in maintenance, efficient and smooth co-operation between production and maintenance is of crucial importance.
The need for change
The company recognised the need to improve collaboration between Maintenance and Production and to optimise the organisation at an early stage.
‘A few years ago, we realised that there were organisational issues in Maintenance and that cooperation between Maintenance and Operations was lacking,’ explains Nils Kortsteger from the Engineering department.
The search for a suitable solution led Risse + Wilke to MaintMaster, a maintenance software that had the potential to overcome the company's challenges.
The implementation – a collaborative project
The introduction of MaintMaster was not a purely technical process, but a project that relied on teamwork and employee involvement from the outset. Through the active participation of their colleagues, this challenge was successfully met. Training and continuous adjustments ensured that MaintMaster was quickly established in their daily work.
The plant wiki – knowledge transfer made easy
A key advantage of MaintMaster is the ability to create a central knowledge database – a so-called plant wiki
‘We now have the option of using a central knowledge database, where we have started the knowledge transfer, which is also necessary due to demographic change, and are already relatively advanced," reports Schwartz.
This wiki makes it possible to secure valuable knowledge and make it accessible to all employees, which is invaluable in times of a shortage of skilled workers.
Data management rethought – transparency and efficiency
MaintMaster has enabled Risse + Wilke to channel, sort and re-document the previously unstructured amount of documents, data and knowledge.
‘This enables us to pass on and evaluate this information," emphasises Schwartz.
This has not only led to a better overview, but has also supported strategic decision-making. Maintenance intervals can be optimised, causes of faults can be identified more quickly and measures for improvement can be taken.
Spare parts management – everything in view
Critical spare parts management has been greatly simplified by MaintMaster.
‘On the one hand, there is the critical spare parts management, where we used MaintMaster with all its options for parts lists, spare parts lists and interfaces to warehousing,’ explains Schwartz.
The integration with SAP enables a direct query of spare parts on site, which makes the work of technicians much easier and reduces downtime.
Seamless integration
MaintMaster fits seamlessly into Risse + Wilke's existing IT landscape. The integration with the BDE system simplifies fault reporting for machine operators and ensures automatic ticket creation in MaintMaster.
‘The ticket then appears directly on the dashboard of the technicians,’ explains Michael Rindler, IT administrator at Risse + Wilke.
This seamless collaboration saves time and improves the company's ability to respond to faults.
A common goal – success through collaboration
MaintMaster has not only optimised work processes at Risse + Wilke, but has also strengthened collaboration between maintenance and production.
‘At the end of the day, it's not about seeing these two parties, but about the fact that we all have the same goal,’ Schwartz emphasises.
The common goal is to keep the plant running, ensure production and deliver to customers on time. MaintMaster has helped to achieve this goal and make Risse + Wilke fit for the future.
Risse + Wilke's success story shows how MaintMaster can help overcome the challenges of maintenance and production and promote efficient collaboration. Through digitalisation, the central knowledge base, optimised data management, simplified spare parts management and seamless integrations, MaintMaster has helped Risse + Wilke achieve its goals and prepare for the future.
