Case Studies > Koenig & Bauer Group Enhances Efficiency with Ultimus BPM Suite

Koenig & Bauer Group Enhances Efficiency with Ultimus BPM Suite

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Europe
America
Asia

Country

Germany
Austria
United States

Product

Ultimus BPM Suite

Tech Stack

Business Process Management (BPM)
Web-based Solutions
Integration Tools

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Customer Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements
Cost Savings

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries

Applicable Industries

Security & Public Safety

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Process Control & Optimization
Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
Remote Collaboration

Services

System Integration
Software Design & Engineering Services
Training

About The Customer

The Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA) is one of the largest press manufacturers globally, with a broad range of presses in the industry. The group comprises seven companies located in Germany, Austria, and the USA, with additional sales and service outlets in the UK, France, and Singapore, and a global network of sales agents. Established in 1814, KBA has a rich history of innovation in printing technology, including the first steam-driven printing press. The company has grown steadily, overcoming significant challenges such as rebuilding after World War II. Today, KBA employs around 7,400 people and generates an annual turnover of over €1.2 billion. In 2001, KBA acquired Giori, a company specializing in high-quality printing machines for secure banknotes, making KBA-Giori a leader in the global security print market.

The Challenge

Koenig & Bauer (KBA) faced two main potential threats: inefficiency due to high market penetration and success, and the need to maintain high-quality standards demanded by their customers. Competitors with more streamlined processes were entering the market, producing at lower rates, and putting pressure on KBA. The company needed to become more responsive to customer demands and improve business processes to maintain its competitive edge. KBA's customers expected the highest quality products and reliable customer service, necessitating a responsive and efficient operational model. The company aimed to automate key processes and constantly review and improve them to discover potential for optimization. Streamlining processes was essential to enhance responsiveness to customers and maintain high standards of service and machinery.

The Solution

KBA chose the Ultimus BPM Suite as their business process platform to model, automate, manage, and optimize their key processes. The Ultimus BPM Suite provided a comprehensive solution for business process management, supporting users in every phase of the business process life cycle. The suite's web-based nature enabled employees to participate in processes over the Internet, facilitating remote process design while meeting strict security requirements. The Ultimus BPM Suite's advanced integration tools allowed seamless integration with KBA's existing IT infrastructure, minimizing effort. The easy-to-use interface for process modeling and development, along with features for end-user participation, process measurement, and report generation, enabled rapid process development and deployment. CentreCon, an Ultimus partner in Germany, was selected to carry out process consultancy and development for KBA. The team automated the KBA Inquiry, a spare part request process, to improve customer satisfaction. The process discovery phase identified required fields, process flow, and roles. The implementation phase involved centralizing customer and machine parts databases and developing the process. Intensive testing ensured the process was ready for deployment to users.

Operational Impact

The automated process improved transparency, allowing all participants to track the real-time status of inquiries.
Human errors were eliminated, enhancing the quality of quotes and reducing the need for double entry into the host system.
Cycle times were dramatically reduced from weeks to hours, enabling KBA to become more responsive and maintain a competitive advantage.
The system's automatic form completion and data transfer features sped up the process and improved the added value chain by eliminating unproductive work.
The process's flexibility and plausibility checks ensured tasks were completed efficiently, with signature controls guaranteeing the legitimacy of quotations and approvals.

Quantitative Benefit