A cross-site yet integrated organisational management system for ABB

So alike, yet so different

ABB is one of the world’s leading technology companies, opening up new technological opportunities by combining the fields of electrification, robotics, automation and drive technology with software solutions. However, this complex offering and global interaction also presents the company with challenges and the question:

“Who does what, where and how, under what rules, with what tools, and under what opportunities and risks?”

Answering this question in a globally operating group like ABB is not always easy due to the complexity involved. It quickly becomes clear that a cross-site yet integrated organisational management system is needed. However, many solutions available on the market proved to be too rigid to flexibly map the diverse requirements from the different business units and legal frameworks across organisations.

Wanted: A tool for high-speed information exchange between locations throughout Germany.

Found: Quam!

Quam, as a solution for flexible organizational management, ultimately provided the appropriate technical basis for the “SmarterPro” system, which was tailored specifically to ABB’s organisation. On the basis of this system, ABB today maps the processes of the Ratingen, Lüdenscheid, Heidelberg and Sasbach sites as part of a Germany-wide pilot and links them to organisational structures, roles, standards and directives. In this way, a unique integrated information network is created, via which a wide range of use cases can be mapped, such as:

Seamless SharePoint integration

Other important selection criteria were the flexible integrability into Microsoft SharePoint–environments and the support of multilingualism. Since Quam integrates seamlessly with SharePoint technology, “SmarterPro” can be used embedded in the organization’s intranet without media discontinuity. The support of multilingualism also gives ABB the opportunity to offer content to employees in the respective national language in an intuitive way.

Process variants

In order to find the appropriate balance between process harmonisation and individuality of the sites, a variant management was implemented on the basis of Quam. This ensures that each process is located exactly once in the ABB process landscape and is easy to find. Nevertheless, sites and organisational units have the possibility to implement and live their own variants of these processes by defining a scope for the process variant. This makes “SmarterPro” the ideal basis for continuous improvement for ABB.

“Our working world is constantly in flux, driven by technical innovations and rapidly changing framework conditions. To master this, we need a model of our organization, a digital twin that makes interrelationships transparent and thus helps us find the right measures to remain fit for the future. We succeed in this with Quam.”
Lisa Brückner, ABB process manager

For more information and details about Quam’s success story at ABB, read our project report.

Would you like to learn more about the possibilities of Quam and find out how Quam can be used in your company? Then visit our  Quam product website or contact us directly.