When applying paint or any protective coating, you need to ensure that you are using the right tools and the right materials. However, if workers are not using the right procedures, the quality of the product and the efficacy of the whole process can suffer significantly.
Our work instruction software gives companies the ability to digitally standardize their best practices and share information efficiently with the workforce, enabling manufacturers and others to optimize their tool and material usage.
Sames, a leading provider of services, materials, and equipment for the application of paints, adhesives, bonds, and sealants, understands the importance of standardization, leading them to integrate VKS Digital Work Instructions on their shop floor.
After close to 4 years of Sames using VKS Enterprise, we had the opportunity to speak with Karin Ghio, Roland Marcillou, and Nakid Ali-Abdallah from Sames. We discussed how VKS has helped them digitally standardize their best practices, train the next generation of workers, and effectively capture data directly from their shop floor.
“VKS is the method we use to supply precise training and clear up-to-date instructions to our production workers.”
Karin Ghio, Sames Methods Manager
Why VKS?
With close to 100 years of manufacturing experience, Sames has been a powerhouse of quality materials, tools, and processes. From introducing the first air spray gun in Europe in 1925 to producing the first robotized masking solution in 2021, Sames is always innovating their processes and the industry.
Prior to integrating VKS, Sames actually already had a standardization practice. The practice relied on recording the knowledge and experience of their senior operators, turning it into a process on paper, and then sharing it with the rest of the workforce.
The problem was that this documentation and standardization practice relied on paper. Physical paper instructions are easy to lose, misplace, can become dirty, and are hard to continuously improve. Karin Ghio relayed to us that they were determined to find a solution.
“In the past, we relied on a lot of paper and individual knowledge. But we needed to get rid of using physical paper. And PDFs weren't the solution. We wanted to have more interactive documents, and VKS was the system that enabled that.”
Karin Ghio, Sames Methods Manager
How Sames Uses Interactive Work Instructions to Achieve 4 Goals
Ghio and her team at Sames wanted to employ a new digital standardization process. But they understood that digital PDFs wouldn’t cut it either. Although PDFs would help digitize their processes, it would be more like taping paper to a screen and less of an intelligent integrated system.
The team at Sames was looking for an interactive system that would elevate their capabilities and help them achieve the following manufacturing goals.
- On-demand knowledge & training
- Advanced standardization methods
- Full traceability
- Utilize a system that employees can easily use
1. Reduction in Training Time & Increase in Hiring Flexibility
With high turnover and the skills gap still a concern across many industries, manufacturers need to strategize how they will hire and train the next generation of workers.
Due to its visual and interactive interface, our work instruction software provides users with a structured and standardized training flow. Using visual elements and annotations that guide workers through Sames’s best practices, employees quickly assimilate process knowledge and perform the right actions at the right time.
This level of smart standardization allows Sames new hires to begin producing value sooner, greatly reducing their training time.
“VKS enabled us to recruit new people more easily. We're able to hire people with less experience because our work instructions are so detailed.”
Karin Ghio, Sames Methods Manager
“Our training times have been strongly reduced and we are able to train more people.”
Nakid Ali-Abdallah, Sames Methods Engineer
Additionally, Sames realized that their pool of potential employees also widened due to their use of VKS. With detailed instructions guiding each new hire through their value-added work, employees don’t need years of experience when starting their position at Sames.
This discovery enabled Sames to achieve two key abilities that benefit their hiring and training strategy.
- The ability to improve the skillset of new hires quickly
- The ability to train more workers simultaneously
As a result, Sames’s hiring and training process has not only become faster but has also grown to be more efficient.
2. Standardization & Continuous Improvement of Complex Processes
Sames is committed to providing their customers with quality paint products and machines. As a successful company that’s been around for close to 100 years, they have a strong methodology and vision. At the same time, they have an increasing array of complex products.
Sames needed a platform that could merge their dedication to quality and exacting vision into one structured standardized method. VKS enables Sames to effectively standardize and share their already successful processes with the workforce through one smart and efficient system.
“We have a number of complex products and VKS has helped to standardize those processes.”
Roland Marcillou, Sames Assembly Methods Manager
Leaders and engineers can take their most complex processes and create a detailed visual workflow. This digital workflow empowers Sames to standardize any process they need to while also allowing them to easily improve their procedures over time.
When updating their processes, instead of searching for paper records or PDFs, their guidebook authors simply update one file and the whole workforce has access to the new and improved procedures.
3. Data Collection & Integration With Other Systems
Sames also uses VKS to capture data directly from their shop floor. This data enables them to gain pertinent insight into their operations and perform informed continuous improvement actions.
With VKS Enterprise, Sames is tracking crucial data such as:
But it doesn’t stop at data collection. Sames has also integrated VKS with their other systems, such as their ERP, to facilitate a fast and secure flow of information across their operation.
“We were able to integrate VKS with our other systems. The VKS API facilitated the process.”
Nakid Ali-Abdallah, Sames Methods Engineer
Through our API (Application Programming Interface), the data collected from the shop floor is transmitted between VKS and their other systems, which allows Sames to capture more data and unify their digital methods and data collection into a strong digital thread.
In the future, Sames has plans to launch VKS guidebooks through the work orders originating from their ERP. This means that users will be able to select work orders and the corresponding work instructions automatically open to guide the employee.
4. Intuitive & Interactive for Their Employees
Last but not least, Sames chose VKS because it proved to be the best visually interactive and intuitive system on the market. Operators are given detailed instructions and the ability to capture data within the same system.
Instead of flipping through pages or capturing data on a sheet of paper, operators can swipe through their instructions and fill in smart form data when they need to. When the process requires the operator to record any information, a smart form will automatically appear and the operator digitally enters the data.
This system creates a quick and efficient process flow because everything the operator needs to follow their process and capture data is on one screen.
“VKS is intuitive for our employees with the pictures and textual annotations.”
Nakid Ali-Abdallah, Sames Methods Engineer
“Now, our employees ask for VKS if a VKS work instruction doesn't exist for that product yet.”
Karin Ghio, Sames Methods Manager
What’s Next For Sames & VKS?
Sames has a strong history of innovation, quality, and customer excellence, steadily surpassing the limits of the industry.
When Sames is implementing new processes, VKS is a valuable asset that helps industrialize challenging and exciting products in the years to come.
With a strong set of standardized best practices in France, Sames has their eyes set on expanding their VKS usage to other facilities in Europe and potentially North America. With our software’s built-in instant translation feature, Sames can share their best practices without worrying about a language gap between facilities.
As Sames continues to advance and provide more people with quality paint materials and tools, we are proud to be a part of their precise and innovative vision for the future.
