Adels-Contact Elektrotechnische Fabrik GmbH & Co. KG

Slimming down company processes

As an expert in reliable and innovative connecting technology, Adels-Contact has been relying on the same business software for over 20 years: Abas ERP. During this time, the world's largest Abas partner MAIT has twice relaunched the solution. Most recently, the software professionals once again demonstrated their ability to also fundamentally optimize and streamline processes beyond bits and bytes.

Sector Electrical engineering / Connecting technology

Region North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany

Company size 85 employees

Efficient, flexible, easy to use: Abas ERP

For over 90 years, Adels-Contact Elektrotechnische Fabrik GmbH & Co. KG has been delivering the very best connections. The traditional family-run company from Bergisch Gladbach in western Germany develops and sells high-quality electrical connection terminals and connector systems. Almost everything has changed for Adels-Contact over the last few decades: New technologies have replaced old ones, today’s market requirements are fundamentally different to those of the past, and manufacturing processes have been renewed or even replaced several times since the company was founded.

It goes without saying that this constant change also impacts the corporate management. Where once pen and paper were sufficient to reliably document processes and the necessary production resources, increasing complexity and the growth of the company have meant that Adels-Contact has had to continuously modernize its management processes. The electrical engineering experts took a particularly big step into the future in 1998. It was then that the company opted for software-based process management for the first time with Abas ERP—and for MAIT as its software partner. Since then, the high-performance ERP solution has ensured particularly efficient corporate management at Adels-Contact, including genuine competitive advantages.

Sooner or later, processes lose momentum

But even in the best ERP system, there are processes that—when viewed objectively—can be improved over time: "Just because workflows become a generally accepted habit at some point, that doesn't necessarily make them ideal. In fact, the opposite is often the case," says Yannick Berndt, MAIT Project Manager for Abas ERP. No surprise then that MAIT radically updated Abas at Adels-Contact in both 2008 and 2020, ridding the ERP system of outdated processes on both occasions.

MAIT's IT and software experts were tasked with renewing and significantly streamlining the ERP system again in the most recent project. MAIT Project Manager Yannick Berndt and his sales colleague Michael Walpuski were in no doubt about the targets set by Adels Managing Director Andre Rumpff and IT Manager Anja Hochköppler: "Our processes needed to become simpler and more transparent again. Upgrades needed to be carried out smoothly in the future to enable new technologies to be used immediately. To achieve this, we had to restore the default settings and remove all the old customizations," says Hochköppler.

"A significant increase in performance was immediately apparent. All our users were able to work much more efficiently again thanks to more elegant and streamlined processes."

Anja Hochköppler

Head of IT at Adels-Contact

Software relaunch, new features, training courses, and workshops

To meet Anja Hochköppler's exact requirements, the MAIT team first installed a new Abas default client, effectively from scratch and parallel to the existing system.
Test data transfer and "fine-tuning" of the new client then followed. In a final step, the team transferred all the data to the new system. "Based on our tried-and-tested ERP relaunch concept, we were able to carry out the entire process efficiently," says MAIT’s Michael Walpuski. Another advantage: "The employees are familiar with the system and know what structures they need to think in," Walpuski adds.

But that was not the end of it. Because for one thing, the handling of Abas ERP had changed compared to the previous system, as had the masks. And: MAIT also integrated new software components such as a business process management tool, the new document management system including deep Abas integration of Proxess, and the latest technical Abas tools, for example for connecting the existing warehouse management systems. MAIT then prepared the 50 or so users for the new modules in dedicated training sessions.

However, streamlining and optimizing the processes at Adels-Contact in line with the target was not just a matter of polishing up the ERP software. What was actually more important was to take a close look at existing processes so that they could then be optimized, replaced, or even scrapped altogether. To this end, Adels-Contact conducted several analysis workshops, alternately with and without the participation of MAIT. Further expert workshops with MAIT, final fine-tuning of the software, and subsequent test runs brought the project to a successful conclusion, as had been expected.

More performance again at last

Just as in 2008, the result impressed again in 2020: ERP performance increased by leaps and bounds. IT Manager Anja Hochköppler was delighted: "To get away from the outdated customizations, we completely revamped the system and now mostly work with the default solution. Customizations were only incorporated or renewed where necessary. A significant increase in performance was immediately apparent. All our users were able to work much more efficiently again thanks to more elegant and streamlined processes. Process reliability increased and the number of customizations decreased sharply," she says. But it wasn't just the software and process expertise of the MAIT team that impressed the IT expert. She also liked the consistency of the content and the line-up of the project team, the precision of the work, the wide range of consultants for various specialist topics such as DMS, and the high level of training expertise. "Once again, MAIT presented itself as an all-round reliable and innovative consultancy for process optimization," she concludes.

And all of that means that Anja Hochköppler also has every confidence in the current service contract with MAIT. Under this contract, MAIT offers a hotline for Abas ERP and is available on site if required to provide support to the IT team, for example when connecting additional features via new interfaces. One of these is for detailed production planning, which is soon to be integrated into Abas ERP. MAIT is also currently working on implementing a mobile Abas ERP solution, for example for on-site use in warehouse logistics in conjunction with a scanner and tablet. And without question: The project team will again be selecting the leanest processes for this.

How MAIT digitalized here

Abas

Abas ERP

Other technologies

Document management mit PROXESS