Establishing and anchoring process management at MH Wirth

The traditional machine and plant manufacturer MHWirth GmbH, which currently has 650 employees and an annual turnover of around 180 million, has been a subsidiary of a globally active Scandinavian equipment supplier to the oil and gas industry since 2009. The products (including hoists, flushing pumps, and rotary tables) are important components for the extraction of fossil fuels. The company was faced with the challenge that the ambitious growth targets could only be achieved through qualitative growth – coordination efforts and quality costs were growing disproportionately due to pure volume growth. As part of the development of the objectives for the further development of the product portfolio and manufacturing concept based on the corporate values and objectives at the Group level, a stronger focus on processes was identified as a decisive lever for the successful development of the company. 

Qualitative growth by aligning processes with customer requirements and managing processes in line with corporate goals – how can consistent process orientation effectively support this challenge? The Head of Quality and Process Management turned to BPM&O with this question. Almost three years later, the company has been recertified to ISO 9001:2008 based on the new process management system without any deviations. The management, process owner, and process manager control the processes using the first version of a process-oriented balanced scorecard. 

myBPM 

After an intensive clarification of the assignment with BPM&O, the necessary foundations for process orientation and a target image for implementation were developed with the management team. The new ‘myBPM’ project was implemented in two phases: 

Phase 1: Building understanding and foundations for process management 

Based on the objectives, the management team developed process maps and dependencies as well as potential improvements to the processes. The roles of process owner, process manager, and process consultant were described and assigned with clear responsibilities. For the first wave of implementation, 28 processes were defined according to the criteria of process control, improvement potential, influence/risks on the company’s success, and frequency of implementation/capacity commitment. 

Process consultants, process team members, and process and line managers were prepared for their new tasks through specific in-house training. 

A new BPM tool for modeling and publishing the processes was selected and introduced with a lean BPMN modeling convention. 

A pilot process was used to test the basics and a business case was developed based on available studies and internal estimates of the quality and coordination costs that could be reduced. 

Phase 2: Anchoring process management 

The process teams got started with a delay of 3-4 weeks, accompanied by internal process consultants. From the process objectives and the identification and evaluation of potential improvements to the target process and implementation planning, requirements and Group specifications were systematically taken up and converted into target processes. 

Following a successful API Q1 audit, the decision was made to proceed with recertification (DIN ISO 9001:2008) based on the new processes. By the time of the system audit, the previous QM system had been transferred to the new process portal (approx. 40 value chain diagrams, approx. 160 BPMN diagrams) and approx. 220 other applicable documents were made available via SharePoint document management. 

The assignment of the company to a new subgroup with a new strategy and new branding pushed the project to its limits – consequently, SAP harmonization was suspended and provided the necessary relief. The process portal with its simple navigation, clear process roles, and interfaces was a very good basis for work and discussion – both internally and with Group colleagues.