LEWA’s Digital Flow Assembly
For over 70 years, LEWA has been a leader in precision and innovation, setting technical standards as a trusted manufacturer of pumps, systems, and equipment for liquid metering across various industries. Known for providing efficient, tailored solutions that cater to a broad range of dosing, conveying, mixing, and odorizing needs, LEWA’s commitment to quality is evident in sectors from the sensitive food industry to petrochemicals and refineries. In recent years, LEWA recognized the need for a digital transformation, aiming to enhance efficiency and transparency through a comprehensive digital flow assembly. Collaborating with Workheld, LEWA embarked on a journey to digitize and streamline operations, overcoming internal communication challenges and setting a new standard for digital integration in industrial process engineering.
LEWA Austria GmbH
For over 70 years, LEWA has been setting the technical standard as a manufacturer of pumps, systems and equipment for liquid metering. The focus is on metering and process pumps, metering systems and complete systems for process engineering processes. From the very sensitive food industry to petrochemicals and refineries, LEWA pumps are now used in a wide variety of industries: Efficient and individual system solutions are planned and manufactured for almost all dosing requirements, conveying, mixing or odorizing tasks. Digital flow assembly plays a vital role in these processes.
The Problem
There were some problems with internal communication, as there was chaos and lack of data transparency in the company, which made work processes slow and inefficient.
The Challenge
The main challenge was to organize the data, so it could be used to digitize.
Initial Concerns
There was an initial skepticism about the change process. Technicians should switch from the traditional way of working to digital processes and new devices. There were still uncertainties as to whether digitization would actually lead to an increase in efficiency.
The Solution with Workheld
Our solution with Workheld consisted of a digitization of work processes in combination with a conventional operation. Digitization should create transparency, and the digital flow assembly approach was central to this transformation.
The Goal
Our goal was now to digitize the work processes within the company. An automated exchange of information with the SAP systems already in use should be created.
Our Solution: Parallel Operation & Enormous Increase in Efficiency
From the very beginning, the active involvement of all employees in the implementation project was essential in order to initiate the change process as easily as possible. The employees were equipped with MS Surface tablets with the Workheld app including offline functionality.
Project Schedule
- The Initial Situation
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There was a lack of transparency and the production processes were complicated. Assembly documents were created and printed out at LEWA for each order. This structure made the change process, Track & Trace, difficult and confusing. The digital flow assembly simplified these processes significantly.
- Why Workheld?
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Workheld has achieved end-to-end digitization, which has enabled flexibility, increased efficiency and increased transparency.
- Introduction
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First, there was an introduction of the digital operating order file. The project approach was proposed by Workheld in several phases. In addition, different types of methodology were applied. This further optimized the digital flow assembly strategy.
- Project Start
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A first version of the project plan was agreed, the working environment was defined and a kickoff was carried out with the entire team.
- High Level Design Phase
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Requirements for the system were recorded, documented in Epics & User Stories and then prioritized.
- Go Live – The First Parallel Operation
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The new digital solution was put into operation in addition to the conventional production process, which already made many processes easier, including the digital flow assembly.
Results
The implementation of the Workheld software has resulted in a number of benefits and advantages for the client. Not only the software itself, but above all the cooperation ensured transparency and efficiency in the data system of the company.
Transparency throughout the Company
The introduction of Workheld not only made workflows faster and more efficient, but also created clarity and transparency within the company, even between different departments, which contributed to a great increase in efficiency.
Benefits for the “Paper Operation”
There were also advantages for LEWA for the manual way of working. The combination with the Workheld software created clarity and clarity throughout the company. This also had a positive impact on conventional paper operations in maintenance.
Data Enhancement through Workheld
Through the cooperation, it was found that some data and processes in the company were transferred incorrectly over a longer period of time, resulting in clarity and a kind of data cleansing in all work processes, further supporting the digital flow assembly.
Cooperation
The cooperation between Workheld and LEWA continues to be good. Workheld itself was also able to learn from the cooperation with LEWA and developed new functions together with the pump manufacturer. A special realization frome the customer’s side was that the data model of the pump for installation and service is the same. This made us very happy as developers, because it is also our focus to offer a solution with a consistent and uniform data model for different areas.
WHAT’S NEXT
Successful parallel operation at LEWA Austria in operation.