Flexible Enterprise Platform: How TSA achieves an efficiency boost with Testify.

Learn how TSA used Testify to digitize the company's quality processes across departments.


Home > Flexible Enterprise Platform: How TSA achieves an efficiency boost with Testify.
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About TSA

Traktionssysteme Austria is the leading manufacturer of electromechanical drives for rail and road vehicles with a company history dating back to 1960. As an owner-managed and independent manufacturer, the company offers customized drive solutions from a single source.

Digitization success story from Traktionssysteme Austria (TSA)

When it comes to quality assurance (QA) processes, every company has its own individual requirements. TSA knew exactly which requirements a tool for the digitalization of its own QA processes must meet. With Testify as its enterprise solution, the company found the flexible QA toolkit that makes it easy to put these individual ideas into practice.

Initial situation at TSA

The final assembly of the electric motors takes place at the TSA plant in Wiener Neudorf. A motor part (e.g. rotor or stator) is assembled at various assembly islands of the plant. Since all the protocols accompanying the assembly process were done on paper checklists, the relevant protocols had to be passed on with each machine part. This process was time-consuming and costly, and the long retention period of the logs and documents also presented a challenge. The result was hours of searching in physically stored inspection records.

The challenges at the beginning

TRACEABILITY

Time-consuming search in archives.


TSA follows strict certification guidelines and these are accompanied by an especially long retention period for documents. It must be possible to find records and certificates of materials and components for up to 30 years. In the event of a complaint or obligation to provide evidence, this would mean days of archiving work and time-consuming searching. TSA was convinced by the digital documentation with Testify because of the easy and fast traceability of all parts used and their serial numbers, as well as the possibility to view this data at the push of a button.

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Integration in other systems

Connection to existing systems.


With Testify as a tool for digitizing the last process mile, the required data usually comes from existing primary systems. This is also the case with TSA, which has integrated SAP, the leading ERP system, into its business processes. With the flexible connectivity via the Testify-REST-API, the desire for fast exchange of order and measuring equipment data via Testify-SAP connector could be realized. This avoids duplicate data storage, especially in the management of measuring equipment, and conformity with ISO certification is ensured.

Testify integration step by step.


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01

Pilot operation in practice.

Testify is initially used on a trial basis on those assembly islands with the most project runs. First, the specific quality checks of the selected islands are also mapped in the digital system. Thanks to the various options in the Testify checklist designer, even complex, individual processes can be mapped 1:1. The 10 employees of the first hour are equipped with tablets and test the digital test process for 3 months. Instead of passing on paper protocols, the checklist of each test object can be processed immediately on the tablet by each employee. The feedback was accordingly positive.

02

Consistent rollout plan.

TSA managed the complete transition from analog to digital QA process with a well prepared rollout, which took place on a set date. "Eternally long, mental improvement of the process in theory is useless. You learn the most through quick feedback from practice", says Thomas Zeitelhofer (Deputy Head of Quality Assurance). After the changeover, he himself was available daily for support in the assembly department and interviewed the employees directly at their workplace at the machine. Zeitelhofer sees the greatest benefit of the new system in the digital availability of all data. Serial numbers of individual components can now be tracked and retrieved at the touch of a button, regardless of location.

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03

Individualized adaptation of the functions.

At the assembly islands, the motors are not assembled and recorded individually, but in parallel and batchwise. Employees log up to 8 parts simultaneously, but no conventional QA tool has supported this parallel production with intuitive operation on mobile devices until now. In close cooperation with the Testify team, the checklist function for TSA is adapted to individual requirements. Employees can now digitally log multiple test objects simultaneously using the intuitive Testify UI.

04

SAP integration.

In addition to the ongoing synchronization of job data, the use of calibrated measuring equipment must be considered in the new digital process. These are mapped and maintained at TSA in SAP. A manual transfer for the synchronization of the two systems is unthinkable in a digital process. As a flexible enterprise solution, Testify has an easily configurable REST interface, allowing TSA to connect its SAP system seamlessly. Thus, the master data relevant for the digital process can be continuously and automatically synchronized in Testify. Testify is thus a fully integrated part of a digital value chain.

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05

Cross-departmental rollout.

After the digital process was successfully and quickly implemented in the assembly department, the "outgoing goods" department also switched its processes to Testify. Instead of using Excel, they now also work with digital, integrable checklists and fast traceability. The workplace evaluation will also be evaluated with Testify in the future. The "Lean Management" department is also evaluating the first possible applications. The areas of application within a company are as versatile as the implementation in Testify.

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QM-process-outsourcing

1 Multi-tenant setting:
In order to make the cooperation with the international assembling partners (India, USA, Bosnia) more efficient, TSA, in close cooperation with Testify, uses the possibility of QA process outsourcing: Within Testify, several clients can be created, which can use the Testify WebApp with the given checklists from several locations. The processes and data are controlled and hosted by TSA from Wiener Neudorf. Complicated data exchange for required assembly processes, which used to mean tedious e-mail communication or sending files, can now be outsourced, viewed and above all evaluated at the push of a button.

2 Internationalization:
TSA is an internationally operating company with a subsidiary in Bosnia, assembling partners in the USA and a joint venture in India. The long-term goal is the complete digital integration of all TSA partners into Testify's digital QA process value chain.

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