Everything they need on one tablet

It has greatly facilitated our work. Here the orders are placed. The same applies to drawings, material use, estimated consumption of hours and materials, quality control, inventory. Even packing slip for finished equipment. Everything is digitized and located here, easily accessible. Talking is Birger Susort, Discipline Manager Insulation at KAEFER Energy at Forus in Stavanger.

He points to the Samsung tablet he has in his hands. The display shows the production flow in Prefab Base, KAEFER’s own name for the software developed by Profitbase.

We have just gone through the entire production at Forus. The journey includes all subjects in the company, from market and sales, the engineers, procurement, finance, HR and not least the insulators in production. Many of them are Polish. Many of them are hired for a project. Both make it even more important with streamlined processes.

Saves 5500 kroner per second

We assemble about 70,000 suitcase locks a year and found that people make it very different. That’s why we changed our practice -saving 5500 kroner per saved second. We managed to halve the time on the locks. This will be a lot of money savedthrough a year, Susort says, while holding out an insulation box for a valve with a number of locks. The box is specially designed, which most of the locks the company produces.

Nothing is left random. Everything has its marked places. On the ground, the yellow stripes are easy to follow. The strips indicate where in the production you are -and where it’s ok to go.

Everyone wears the same black clothes – with a large, visible corporate brand that builds pride and culture. The workstations are the same, the tool hangs in neatly marked places, so it doesn’t matter if you are at station 1 or 4 -and it is easy for new workers to get up to speed quickly.

Everything is timed and organized to the smallest detail

Get visits from all over the world

Our people like it. They want to do their job effectively and well, not looking for pop nails, suitcase locks and pliers. We have been actively working with Lean for the past six years. In the beginning, someone probably wondered why. Now it has become our culture, says Susort, who himself has a background as an insulator and knows the production inside and out.

In the warehouse hangs the characteristic board with suggestions for improvements, status, tasks and responsibilities. This is where the daily morning meeting runs for 15 minutes. And here are new suggestions every week that lead to easier everyday life -and better solutions for customers.

The focus has produced great results -in all areas. This is why KAEFER Energy received the Inspiration Award for 2018 and the Lean Award 2019.

It is a great pleasure to receive visit from all over the world, who want to learn from our methods. Especially it is staggering when the owner company from Germany comes and wonders what we do to be so effective, says Birger Susort, and asks if it was going a little too far in self bragging.

No, it is not. It’s the truth!

Thanks for your cooperation!

A year and a half ago, KAEFER Energy built the Prefab Base production solution with the help of Profitbase, based on the InVision platform.

Previously, we had a lot of paper. Everywhere and in every part of the company. The documents were stored on the individual C-disks. We had good production and delivery systems, developed over many years, but it was difficult to keep control. We had a strong desire to digitize the workflow, explains Birger Susort.

Prefab Base has become incredibly important to us. The tablet is just as important to our people as the smartphone is to you. Here lies everything we need to do in a systematic and orderly way.

It is a great pleasure to receive visit from all over the world, who want to learn from our methods. Especially it is staggering when the owner company from Germany comes and wonders what we do to be so effective, says Birger Susort, and asks if it was going a little too far in self bragging.

No, it is not. It’s the truth!

With Prefab Base we have an overview of all stages of production. Our people get to spend time on what they want, what they like and what they are good at. But it has taken time to get to where we are today. We have worked closely throughout the entire phase with Profitbase to make the tool ours, which we still spend a lot of resources on. Our ambition is to develop continuously. This also applies to Prefab Base. The next step is to log the working hours in the tool. We want everything on the tablet, not on paper, says Birger Susort and smiles offensively.

We at Profitbase are very impressed with you, KAEFER Energy -and look forward to further developing the collaboration!

Facts:

• KAEFER Energy engages around 2200 employees and is a multi-disciplinary company aimed at the oil and gas industry in Norway
• KAEFER Energy carries out projects in insulation, access, surface, interior design, HVAC (heat, ventilation, air conditioning), and engineering services for the subjects
• KAEFER Energy is headquartered in Stavanger and had its 40th anniversary in 2017
• KAEFER Energy had sales of just over NOK 1.5 billion -and a profit before tax of close to NOK 75 million in 2018