Company / Industry
Leoni AG, Nuremberg / Automotive Supply
Service Portfolio
Leoni is one of the world's leading suppliers of wires, optical fibres, cables, cable systems and related services for the automotive industry and other industries.
Website
www.leoni.com/de
In manufacturing processes with a low automation level, the production efficiency also depends to a large extent on the employees' qualifications. Thus, a systematic personnel planning becomes increasingly important for manufacturing companies. However, developing employees and promoting talent requires managers to be informed about the skills and qualifications of each individual in the team. The Qualification Matrix has proven to be a practicable instrument for determining qualification requirements and planning continuing professional development. In this matrix, target requirements for the employees' abilities and skills are listed and compared with the current status of the employees' qualifications. The qualification matrix helps to identify bottlenecks in qualifications and to comply with the normative requirements of ISO 9001, provided that it is clear and well-structured and data can be maintained quickly and easily. In order to display and control their employees' qualifications on a web basis, the internationally operating Leoni AG from Nuremberg decided on a solution based on current SAP UI technologies.
Leoni AG is one of the leading suppliers of wires, optical fibers, cables and cable systems. The company, headquartered in Nuremberg, is operating worldwide and has established a reputation especially as a supplier for the automotive industry. Leoni is currently redesigning its HR structure, in order to globally standardize its processes. To do so, the company implemented a customized solution based on SAP ERP Human Capital Management (HCM) to map its qualification profiles, the so-called Qualification Matrix (QualiMatrix).
Automated processes are of secondary importance in producing wires, fibers, and cable systems, so employees working at individual workstations must have specific qualifications in order to operate machines and systems correctly. Using the QualiMatrix, the production managers at the different Leoni plants create a staff schedule in accordance to the values of their employees' qualifications. In addition, they are given an overview of each employee's qualifications, recognize deficits and can act accordingly, for example, to train employees or hire new staff.
In the QualiMatrix, each qualification is linked to a requirements profile, that provides information about which specific qualifications are required for each job. In the past, Leoni used Excel, later a basic in-house development. Only a limited number of qualifications, for example, could be recorded with this tool. Moreover, updating the qualification profiles proved to be very time-consuming. In contrast, projekt0708 GmbH's QualiMatrix implemented in the first step for a Romanian plant, is web-based and uses current SAPUI technologies. The complex in-house development offers functionalities, which are not covered by the SAP standard, and allows users a more flexible way of working with the qualification data. For example, the user interface is created dynamically depending on the imported qualifications. This provides production managers with a quick overview of both type and scope of their employees' qualifications. The manager can also view the qualifications' history and development by selecting different time periods for display.
Furthermore, the application has various reporting functions, for example, to gain an overview of all employees, who are qualified to operate a particular work station. For instance, if the production manager recognizes that an employee needs an additional qualification, he or she sends the employee to the appropriate training and then updates the employee's qualification profile within the application.
Of particular importance to Leoni are the printing functionalities of the QualiMatrix, for example to be able to provide paper-based lists for the employees. This way they know which machines they are allowed to operate and which they are denied access to. Leoni also uses this functionality to print out so-called badges worn by employees. Supervisors can use them to immediately identify which specialist may be assigned to which work station.
Since implementing the solution, the company benefits from numerous functions: The individual employee is regularly evaluated in a transparent and comprehensible way, the user interface is well-structured and provides a quick overview of the employees' qualification level. The web-based QualiMatrix offers improved, time-saving and location-independent management of the relevant personnel data as well as increased data and process quality.
projekt0708 GmbH supported Leoni from process design and technical integration of the software solution into the existing SAP ERP HCM system to the key user training. In the next step, Leoni plans to roll out the QualiMatrix for other plants as well in order to standardize the process at all company locations.