HARTING wins Manufacturing Excellence Award

By News Release | January 05, 2013

HARTING Electronics won the “Manufacturing Excellence (MX) Award.” The company belonging to the Espelkamp-based HARTING Technology Group was recognized in the information technology category for its highly effective deployment of state-of-the-art IT structures in production and supply chain management. An intelligent customer relationship management (CRM) system and a universal enterprise resource planning (ERP) system are used to ensure optimal customer care, process transparency, and the direct integration of support systems in production. The award also took into account the internal communications structures deployed for knowledge management.

“This award provides us with confirmation that we are on the right track in our pursuit of excellence. Winning the MX Award proves that we also occupy a pioneering role in the field of information technology,” said Torsten Ratzmann, senior vice president, production and logistics at HARTING.

HARTING launched an internationally standardized IT system 10 years ago, which ensures optimal error avoidance and process optimization worldwide. “We call that providing consistency from customer to customer,” said Ratzmann. The HARTING learning and improvement system (HARlis), a management system deployed to establish a problem-solving culture, in which emphasis is placed on the employees, while state-of-the-art IT structures support them in creating the transparency required.

Projects and problems, for example, are discussed directly by production at daily staff meetings. Relevant information, such as product images, procedural instructions, areas of responsibility, and deadlines can easily be made available on site through intelligent IT-based tools. IT offers support through leading-edge tools that provide direct access to SAP. All relevant information, such as areas of responsibility and deadlines, can be managed in one place and made accessible internationally. Knowledge management is administrated via an in-house “HARTING Wiki.” All employees can actively work on this digital, interactive documentation driving forward process optimization.

Dr. Michael Baumeister, head of production at the Espelkamp site, said, “Our focus is on our employees. Highly efficient, automated processes in the background enhance employee capabilities in reacting quickly to reported target deviations, information, or possible problems instead of having to deal with the IT systems themselves. Thanks to the universal, cutting-edge IT structure, staff obtain only the information actually required for their daily tasks.”

The MX Award has recognized best-practice companies in production since 2005 under the maxim “identifying strengths — setting standards.” The objective is to recognize and promote innovative solutions and to make them universally available. The establishment of a network where best-practice companies can present their solutions to other members plays a key role.

Visit HARTING online.

News Release
Get the Latest News
On TTI’s podcast the Distribution Download, our interconnect expert Bob Hult discusses the fiber optics.
eBook 2023 The Age of Connected Technology
x