CLARIANT, HPPM-BETRIEB IN DER GESCHÄFTSEINHEIT PIGMENTE
Load securing using an app enables legally compliant documentation
What is the specific challenge?
Clariant's Pigments business unit produces a wide range of organic colour pigments for various applications and industries. In the HPPM plant at the Frankfurt-Höchst site, the high-performance pigments, insoluble coloured powders, are mixed and ground for further processing.
These processing steps result in waste products that are classified as dangerous goods and must be shipped in steel containers for disposal. The transport and load securing documentation, which is necessary for these dangerous goods and complies with the relevant laws and regulations, has so far been carried using a time-consuming analogue process. A laborious, multi-stage process that wasn't viable anymore.
In practice, the documentation process looked like this: at the beginning of each mailing, the relevant paper form was printed, filled out by hand, scanned and then digitally filed. Using a digital camera, they took additional photos of the load and the load securing process were taken. Subsequent information processing or manually merging this data was time-consuming and caused many errors.
What is the solution?
Today, the employees in HPPM record all load safety data with a self-created checklist app from smapOne. In the digital documentation, they can record all data without disruption to the flow of information, automatically create a complete report and store them correctly using Microsoft Power Automate. Mandatory fields ensure that the information is complete and uniform and complies with all official requirements for shipping dangerous goods. A digital signature completes this process.
What has improved?
Thanks to the digital solution, the creating reports has become much more efficient. Instead of using paper, pen and digital cameras for documentation purposes, proof of load securing is carried out in a single step thanks to the integrated photo function in smap (self-created app with smapOne). A half-hour documentation process now only takes 5 minutes.
Another important benefit is the legal certainty that complete documentation creates. Information collected is stored in a folder and electronically available as a complete data set - anywhere and anytime. This is essential for keeping in line with official requirements for dispatching dangerous goods.
How does digital transformation work in the company?
The simple and intuitive handling of the tool was enough to convince employees of the application'S benefits. Their work was hugely simplified and saved plenty of time. Since then, they have digitized other processes using smaps. Exchanging ideas and optimising smaps is now an integral part of the company's weekly jour fixe.
Florian Gerke, a master of logistics and processes, recommends developing a "just-do-it mentality". Getting started means just that: starting straight away and not thinking too long about whether or not it will work. Instead, it's best to take small, manageable steps. These initial, quickly achievable successes then increases the employees' trust and motivation to venture into more complex topics. Regular training courses on how to use smapOne and specially created internal tutorial videos promote further integration and acceptance in the company. "We still have many ideas for future smaps that will allows us to gradually get closer to our goal of 'paperless operation'", says Gerke.
