Ultimus Client: The Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA)

Industry: Manufacturing

Solution: Inquiry Request Process

客户：Ultimus｜高宝集团（KBA）

行业：制造业

解决方案：询价申请流程

The Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA) is one of the largest press manufacturers in the world and has the broadest range of presses in the industry.  The origins of the company date back to 1814, when a double version of Koenig's cylinder printing press prints was manufactured for The Times in London, which through this, became the first newspaper in history to be printed on a steam-driven machine. In 2001 the Koenig & Bauer Group acquired Giori, a company that in specialized in developing the highest quality printing machines to produce the most secure banknotes. The new company, KBA-Giori remains focused on the core activity of serving and protecting the global security print market by offering a full range of services. Today, 95% of all banknotes in use throughout the world are printed on presses made by KBA-Giori.

高宝集团（KBA）是全球最大印刷机制造商之一，拥有业内品类最为齐全的印刷机产品线。公司历史起源可追溯至 1814 年，当年高宝滚筒印刷机的双机型为伦敦《泰晤士报》完成制造，《泰晤士报》也借此成为历史上首份采用蒸汽驱动设备印刷的报纸。2001 年，高宝集团收购乔里（Giori）公司。该企业专注研发顶级印刷设备，用于印制高防伪等级钞票。并购成立的新公司 KBA-Giori 持续聚焦核心业务，通过提供全系列服务，服务并守护全球安全印刷市场。如今，全球流通的纸币当中，95% 都使用 KBA-Giori 生产的印刷机印制。

Goal: Automate key processes with efficiency and quality

项目目标：高效、高质量实现核心流程自动化

Unfortunately, companies with such a high market penetration and success will sometimes become inefficient over a long period of time, due to a lack of competition. As a result, competitors with more streamlined processes enter the market, produce at a much lower rate and therefore put  pressure on the more establish suppliers. Prior to Ultimus, this was a major threat Koenig & Bauer was faced with. KBA's customers are very demanding, and expect the quality of the products to remain at the highest possible level without failure. Reliability in respect of the printing machines and customer service plays an important role, and as a result, the company needed to be trimmed in order to become very responsive so they could satisfy customer demand in as little time as possible.

遗憾的是，拥有如此高市场占有率且经营成功的企业，长期来看，有时会因为竞争不足而逐渐效率低下。由此，流程更加精简的竞争对手进入市场，以更低成本组织生产，进而对老牌供应商形成竞争压力。在部署 Ultimus 系统之前，这正是高宝面临的一大威胁。高宝的客户要求严苛，期望产品品质始终维持最高水准、零故障运行。印刷设备的可靠性与客户服务至关重要。因此企业需要优化组织架构，提升响应能力，力求在最短时间内满足客户需求。

Quality and reliability of the machines are well covered through KBA's research and development department. However, the business processes within the organization left room for improvement. Besides automating the key processes, the company also wanted to be able to constantly review and improve them so  it could continually discover potential for optimization. In addition, the processes needed to be streamlined so that the responsiveness to customers would be improved. As a result, KBA decided to introduce a Business Process Management platform to model, automate, manage and optimize their key processes.

高宝研发部门充分保障设备品质与可靠性。但企业内部业务流程仍存在优化空间。除核心流程自动化外，企业还希望能够持续复盘、优化流程，不断挖掘改进潜力。此外，企业需要打通流程堵点，提升对客户的响应速度。基于上述需求，高宝决定引入一套业务流程管理（BPM）平台，对核心流程进行建模、自动化、管理与优化。

After evaluating the market leaders in the BPM field, KBA chose the Ultimus BPM Suite as their business process platform for a variety of reasons. The product provides the most complete solution for business process management in the market and was ideally suited for the automation of KBA's processes. The Ultimus BPM Suite's various modules support the users in every phase of the business process life cycle; from discovery, modeling and optimization through development, integration and implementation to usage, management and measurement of business processes. The measured data and reports generated allow for even greater process optimization. KBA also needed a solution that would tie its different global operation locations together over the Internet. The Ultimus BPM Suite, a complete web based solution, not only enabled employees to take part in the process over the Internet, but also facilitated the design of processes remotely, while simultaneously meeting KBA's strict security requirements.

在评估多家 BPM 行业头部厂商后，出于多重考量，高宝选择 Ultimus BPM 套件作为企业业务流程平台。该产品拥有市面上最为完备的业务流程管理解决方案，非常适配高宝的流程自动化需求。Ultimus BPM 套件的各类模块覆盖业务流程全生命周期，为用户提供支撑：从流程梳理、建模优化，到开发集成、落地实施，再到流程运行、管理与指标监控。系统采集的数据以及生成的报表，可以支撑更深层次的流程优化。同时，高宝需要一套方案，依托互联网打通全球各个运营分支机构。Ultimus BPM 套件是完整的 Web 架构解决方案，不仅支持员工通过互联网处理流程，还支持远程流程设计，同时满足高宝严苛的安全规范。

The chosen BPM solution also needed to be capable of integrating with KBA's existing IT environment. Accordingly, the Ultimus BPM Suite provided a number of out of the box interfaces that enabled easy and seamless integration into the existing IT infrastructure. In addition, the advanced integration tools of the Ultimus BPM Suite allowed for the integration to be completed with minimal effort.

选定的 BPM 方案还需要能够与高宝现有 IT 环境实现集成。对此，Ultimus BPM 套件提供大量标准现成接口，能够简便、无缝对接现有 IT 基础设施。此外，套件内置高级集成工具，可以大幅降低集成实施工作量。

Finally, another main reason for deciding on the Ultimus BPM Suite was the easy to use interface for process modeling and development, as well as for end user participation, process measurement and report generation. The software has hundreds of built-in features that allow process design without the need for programming or scripting, thus enabling rapid process development and deployment.

最后，选择 Ultimus BPM 套件另一核心原因：流程建模开发、终端用户操作、流程监控、报表生成均拥有简易易用的界面。软件内置上百项功能，无需编写程序或脚本即可完成流程设计，实现流程快速开发与上线部署。

Ultimus' Approach: KBA Inquiry Request Process

Ultimus 实施方案：高宝询价申请流程

Ultimus carefully selected one of their top partners in Germany to carry out process consultancy and development for KBA. After identifying many possible processes for implementation, the team decided to first automate the “KBA Inquiry”, a spare part request process. Because it was one of the most delicate and most relevant processes to customer satisfaction, both Ultimus and its chosen partner worked on the project from the kick off phase right through the implementation and up to the initial operation.

Ultimus 精心挑选德国顶级合作伙伴，为高宝提供流程咨询与开发实施服务。团队梳理多条可落地流程后，决定优先实现「高宝询价」（零部件申请流程）自动化。该流程业务场景复杂，且与客户满意度高度相关。因此 Ultimus 及其合作方全程跟进项目，覆盖项目启动、实施直至试运行阶段。

KBA-Giori used to start off an inquiry for parts, assembly or technical analysis to KBA Würzburg by fax and the respective production site would then provide a quotation. This simple process however, had a number of drawbacks. Any communication between the different sites had to go through KBA Würzburg, even if the press had been produced in Mödling. Therefore, routes would become very complicated and bottlenecks were inevitable. Communication through fax was extremely time, and paper, consuming. After the quotation for the spare parts finally reached KBA Giori, they had to ask the transportation company for a quotation for transport, as well as for insurance, and had to add it to the existing quotation. When all of the parts were listed in the quotation, employees at KBA Giori would often have to enter up to 1,000 parts from the fax to their host system by hand and send out the quotation to the customer.

改造前，KBA-Giori 如需向维尔茨堡高宝总部发起零部件、组件或技术分析询价，只能通过传真发起，再由对应生产基地出具报价单。然而这套看似简单的流程存在诸多弊端。即便印刷设备产自默德灵厂区，不同厂区之间所有沟通都必须经过维尔茨堡总部中转。这就造成流转链路十分复杂，流程瓶颈难以避免。依靠传真沟通极度耗费时间与纸质文件。当零部件报价单最终送达 KBA-Giori 后，工作人员还需要向物流公司单独询价运费与保险费用，并合并至原有报价中。报价清单整理完毕后，KBA-Giori 员工经常需要手动将传真内多达上千项零部件信息录入核心主机系统，随后再向客户发送报价。

Implementation

实施工作

The process discovery took place in KBA Mödling with all members of the process team. During this phase, all required fields were identified, the process flow was laid out and the role of each step was defined. All possible routes were discussed along with the technology used within the process and required for the data exchange with the host system. In the implementation phase, customer and machine parts databases were centrally installed and the process was developed by Ultimus’ partner. After extensive testing, the process was deployed to the appropriate users.

项目团队在高宝默德灵厂区开展流程调研工作，全体流程相关人员参与其中。调研阶段，团队梳理全部必填字段、梳理完整流程链路，并明确每个节点的岗位职责。团队研讨全部分支流转场景、流程配套技术方案，以及与核心主机系统的数据交互规范。实施阶段，统一部署客户数据库与设备零部件数据库，由 Ultimus 合作方完成流程开发。经过充分测试后，流程正式交付相关用户使用。

All inquiries are now generated by KBA Giori. Depending on the request, the process decides who will be the recipient of the next step. Besides defining the completion and extension time by choosing the priority of the request, all mandatory fields are clearly identified as needing to be completed before submitting the process to the next step. All important information is then automatically transferred to the host system.

如今所有询价单统一由 KBA-Giori 发起。系统根据询价业务类型，自动判定下一环节处理人。经办人可设置询价优先级，设定办结时限与延期规则；系统明确标识所有必填项，信息填写完整后，流程方可向下一节点流转。所有关键业务信息将自动同步至核心主机系统。

Through introducing groups to most of the steps, the process is made very flexible and can be handled with the minimum of delays. The system also assists the process participants by pre-populating the forms with information on the customers, the machines and the prices for spare parts. In addition, the process is automatically routed to the appropriate person and plausibility checks are carried out on the forms to eliminate human error and help employees accomplish their tasks. Signature controls guarantee the legitimacy of quotations and approvals. The benefits of the automated process are highly visible. Transparency has been improved immensely and all the process participants can track the real time status at any given time.

大部分流程节点设置处理工作组，流程具备高度灵活性，最大限度减少业务延误。系统为经办人提供辅助支持，表单自动预填充客户信息、设备资料以及零部件价格。同时，流程自动分派至对应负责人，并且对表单开展数据合理性校验，规避人为失误，协助员工完成工作。签章管控机制保障报价单与审批流程合法有效。自动化流程带来的成效十分显著。流程透明度大幅提升，所有参与人员可随时查看单据实时进度。

Quality of the quotes was improved, as human errors have been eliminated and the system now allows for continuous optimization. Above all, cycle times were dramatically reduced from a couple of weeks to hours.. The automatic form completion helps employees to finish their tasks in the minimum amount of time. Transferring the data automatically into the host system not only speeds up the process, but also improves the added value chain, as unproductive work is eliminated. This allowed Koenig & Bauer to become very responsive and extend their competitive advantage.

人为差错得以消除，报价单质量明显提升，同时系统支持持续的流程优化工作。最重要的是，流程周期实现大幅压缩，从原先数周缩短至数小时。表单自动填充功能帮助员工以最短时间完成工作。数据自动同步至主机系统，不仅加快流程运转速度，还消除无效工作，优化增值业务链条。这使得高宝能够快速响应业务需求，持续扩大自身竞争优势。