Siempelkamp Uses QlikView to Calculate and Manage Projects

Siempelkamp Maschinen-und Anlagenbau, a machine and plant construction company, was facing challenges in maintaining transparency in their figures, project calculations, and deadlines. The construction of a plant can take 12-15 months from the planning stage to sign off, and throughout this period, all the managers involved must constantly make target/actual comparisons to ascertain progress status. The key questions were whether they were still within deadlines, whether all materials could be delivered and used on schedule, and whether all budgetary costs were being met. The company needed a tool that would allow them and indeed the users themselves, anytime and anywhere, to make the analyses and evaluations they needed for project control without having to rely on IT.

Siempelkamp Maschinen-und Anlagenbau, based in Krefeld, Germany operates worldwide. It is a machine and plant construction company for the timber, rubber, and metal casting industry. The company manufactures 50–70 metres long steel assembly lines for the wood-processing industry. Once felled the trees are stripped of their bark and then chopped up. After processing them into wood fibre, these are variously glued and compressed to produce the chip, medium density fibreboard, or oriented strand board which comes off the assembly line. These go to the furniture and building division where they are further processed into countertops, laminates, or shelving. All units, which sell in the double digit million bracket, are unique. Technicians adjust the machines depending on the moisture content of the raw material for processing, whether poplar, oak, or other wood. The company also manufactures machines for the steel processing industry—examples include internal components for Airbus aero engine turbines, pipes for the Baltic pipeline, or wheels for railway rolling stock. A workforce of 1,700 is employed in the engineering and plant construction division of this medium-sized family business which has grown organically over the years. The group also has nuclear and metal casting divisions with an overall workforce of 2,600. Siempelkamp has its own production sites in Krefeld, China, and the Czech Republic and through its distribution network is represented worldwide with a world market share of around 70 per cent.