Process management: Enabler, not an end in itself

Anyone looking to insulate and seal building envelopes in an energy-efficient manner today will find it hard to ignore the products and solutions offered by Swisspor. With seven locations and around 550 employees in Switzerland alone, the Swisspor Group describes itself as Switzerland's leading developer, manufacturer, and supplier of products and systems for energy-efficient building envelopes.

Building understanding for process management

Everyone agrees that well-developed process management is essential for industrial production. However, when Patrice Urban joined the company in 2022, he realized that although the processes were defined, they were unclear, poorly documented, or outdated. «They were often recorded in Visio images that were already outdated when they were created,» he recalls today. Knowledge of process management was also largely lacking. It was therefore obvious that processes needed to be optimized and potential for improvement tapped into on the basis of operational excellence. Especially in the post-corona period, the company recognized that it «had to become fit for the future – and to do that, you have to have your processes under control.».

According to Patrice Urban, the mood within the company was initially skeptical. Many considered process management to be «a lot of effort for little return.» He therefore made it his mission to foster understanding and acceptance—primarily through practical demonstrations rather than theoretical explanations.

Strategic benefits of the solution

A key moment was the decision to choose a suitable tool. After comparing various systems, Swisspor opted for ADONIS from the BOC Group. Patrice Urban emphasizes: «ADONIS is clearly one of the benchmark applications.» For him, the decisive factor was that the tool makes processes «easy to experience» – via an intuitive, homepage-like interface that employees can navigate without any special knowledge. The focus was on making processes visible, accessible, and understandable in order to create accountability.

A key result of this work was to clarify previously unclear responsibilities. In product management, for example, it became apparent that «no one person was truly responsible for the process chain.» The situation was similar in the area of master data. There was a manager, but «he was always running from pillar to post.» It was only through visualization in ADONIS that responsibilities were clarified and roles defined, making the organization as a whole more transparent. According to Patrice Urban, process management is not an end in itself, but a means of creating clarity, efficiency, and better collaboration. Only then can a vibrant process culture emerge—and that is impossible without the right tool.

The process management solution was also able to demonstrate its strategic benefits for large projects. At Swisspor, for example, this involves a group-wide ERP project. Here, ADONIS serves as a link between the business and IT worlds. Processes are broken down to the request level, creating a «specification sheet directly from the system,» according to Patrice Urban. This precise documentation prevents undesirable developments and costly rework. Patrice Urban describes the tool as a «game changer» because it centrally manages master data and automatically transfers changes to all process representations—a major advantage over Visio or Excel.

Share experiences

What lessons can be learned from the introduction of ADONIS, and what experience can Patrice Urban share with other companies? In this context, he warns against «all-in-one solutions» that offer process management only as a secondary function. «These are all makeshift solutions that don't do justice to the task.» Good process quality is a significant business lever: «Processes are expensive—and therefore valuable.

When introducing a process management system, he emphasizes a calm, evolutionary approach: no big bang, but rather a step-by-step process. He describes it as follows: «Slow and steady wins the race.» Changes were not imposed from above, but developed from within. However, he remained consistent: «We are strict in this regard—we only use this tool.»

He dealt with resistance pragmatically: he selected problem processes that caused a great deal of suffering in order to quickly demonstrate the benefits. Real processes were recorded in workshops and modeled together in the system. «We never talked about ADONIS or BPM, we just tackled the problems.» Those involved saw their processes being created live—without any theoretical training. This on-the-fly method generated enthusiasm and quick understanding.

Patrice Urban also describes the effect of visualization: when experts look at a depicted process together, they often recognize the complexity of their own processes for the first time. «Everyone says, »We're crazy—this is so complicated, we have to do better.'" This realization naturally initiates improvements without pressure or formal CIP processes.

And what happens next?

Patrice Urban points to the natural link with problem solving and projects as the key to long-term effectiveness. Optimizations arise from daily challenges, such as complaints or controlling notes. This keeps process management relevant without adding additional administrative overhead.

He largely rejects key figures as a means of quantitatively measuring success. «I can't say, »We now have a 20% increase in efficiency.«» The decisive factor is not the tool itself, but the fact that it is used continuously. "We do it because it's easy – otherwise we wouldn't do it." Process management is an enabler, but not an end in itself.

Finally, he explains his business perspective: investing in process management always pays off. Even for small companies with high personnel costs, the return on investment is obvious: «Anyone who thinks that investing in process optimization is too much has failed to understand that the entire company is driven solely by the actions of people.» Processes are the most powerful lever for increasing efficiency, as all actions within a company are handled by processes—without exception.

More information: BOC Group and Swisspor

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/prozessmanagement-enabler-nicht-selbstzweck/