Sandvik
Coromant launches some 2,500 new products every year, along with machining
solutions, and invests twice as much in research and development as other
companies in the sector. The manufacturing industry is constantly changing;
research, quality assurance and the development of new innovations are
therefore vital parts of Sandvik Coromant’s business. The company endeavors
always to be at the forefront both in terms of products and solutions, as well
as internal processes and working methods. So when the existing system for
project-related information – an application developed in-house in Lotus Notes
– proved inadequate in several respects, it was clear that a new one was
needed:
-To begin
with we focused on finding a suitable system for portfolio and resource
planning, but we soon realized that we needed a full project management
system, says Per Gustafson, Process Manager at Sandvik Coromant.
As Process
Managers, it is the job of Per Gustafson and his colleague Jonas Wiklund to
ensure that work processes are followed and developed continuously. As
configuration managers, they also make sure that new technology is adapted to
and supports the operation. In the search for a project tool, several options
were initially considered before the company finally settled on Antura. The
fact that Seco Tools, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sandvik, already used Antura
Projects was an influencing factor. But the deciding factor was the assessment
carried out by Sandvik Coromant; a Proof of Concept process lasting almost a
year, which meant that virtually every function in the system could be tested.
-Antura
Projects turned out to be an excellent solution. The system is firmly based in
reality and has been developed by the people who actually run the projects. In
comparison, we found that other systems were large and formless, says Jonas
Wiklund.
Improvement an ongoing process
Shortly
after the Proof of Concept process, Antura Projects was implemented in full
scale and is now used by more than 700 project members in R&D- and product projects. The
company’s ambition is to carry on growing. Coordination is tremendously
important, as the various projects are planned and run from several different
locations and organizational units. Efficient documentation and knowledge
transfer are also crucial to a successful project outcome, and the project
system provides good support here:
-In Antura
Projects everything fits together and the user interface is intuitive, says
Per Gustafson.
Antura
Projects will, without doubt, make capacity planning and resource allocation easier. The
project operation will be more efficient, although not without its challenges:
resource conflicts are always likely to crop up as planning for the R&D
portfolio extends several years into the future, while plans for a product
project sometimes span only a few weeks at a time. Consequently, questioning
and occasionally also re-evaluating process flows and functionality could be
crucial to continued success. Sandvik Coromant and Antura share the view of
improvement as a constantly ongoing process. Here, the key is to link new challenges
to the right tool and solutions.
-Always
working efficiently and transparently with project planning and execution is
fundamental to our product development. That’s how we can assure our own and
our customers’ ongoing success, Per Gustafson and Jonas Wiklund conclude.