W. Gessmann GmbH
remberg maintenance software as a WERKBliQ alternative
Use case: Maintenance
Type of Assets: Machinery & equipment
About the company: W. Gessmann GmbH is a leading manufacturer of control devices for industrial applications based in Leingarten near Heilbronn. The company, which employs 650 people, develops and produces high-precision controllers for machines and systems, AGVs, AMRs, industrial joysticks and software solutions that are used in various industries worldwide.
The challenge
From pen and paper to maintenance software
Although W. Gessmann GmbH places a strong emphasis on innovation and quality with its products, some internal areas were still characterized by paper-based processes, as is the case with many medium-sized companies in Germany. This led to significant challenges in terms of efficiency and transparency in all processes related to the maintenance and repair of the numerous machine tools. In production alone, Gessmann had 20 to 30 folders full of documents such as maintenance logs and offers, which made it difficult to keep track of everything.
On the other hand, Michael Faber: a committed, long-standing and innovative employee who has been with the company for around 15 years. Faber started his career as a toolmaker and CNC milling machine operator, but his keen interest in robotics and automation eventually led him to programming four years ago, and thus to the digitization of many work steps.
Digitization initiatives at Gessmann
"We have quarterly meetings to identify new digitization potential. All the important departments take part and present the initiatives of the last few months. The plan to digitize the maintenance of mechanical production was also discussed there," says Michael Faber. Shortly afterwards, his superiors asked him to look for a suitable solution. He chose WERKBLIQ, a specialized maintenance management software. He started the project with determination: "Even when I was working on the machine, I was always interested in the background. So it was only natural that I would also take care of the selection and introduction of maintenance software – with everything that goes with it."
Step by step to digital maintenance
With a clear focus on improving processes and the new software solution, Faber gradually moved towards digital maintenance. He started by digitizing all the paper documents: "To do this, I entered all the maintenance work manually in WERKBLiQ and also scanned in and digitally organized around 1,800 files and documents, including many maintenance logs," Faber continues: "It was a lot of work, but it was worth it." The introduction of WERKBLiQ ultimately enabled the maintenance processes for around 25 employees in mechanical production to be significantly improved.
Discontinuation of WERKBLiQ
Despite the initial successes with WERKBLiQ, Michael Faber encountered new challenges. In August 2023, Gessmann received the surprising news from DMG MORI that the license and provision of the software would end. DMG MORI had bought WERKBLiQ in 2017 to integrate it into its own product portfolio, but stopped development for strategic reasons. Michael Faber, who had driven the project forward with great enthusiasm, describes the situation as follows: "I realized a year before that the software was no longer being developed. DMG was less concerned about the software – there is, for example, a helpdesk where you can suggest things, such as improvements to the software. But that just petered out. Only when nothing else worked did they start to take care of it." For the Gessmann team and Michael Faber, it was clear that it was no longer worth working with WERKBLiQ.
The decision
Switching from WERKBliQ to remberg
In light of these developments, the team stopped the implementation and began to look for alternatives – until they finally came across the remberg Asset Platform. The decision to replace WERKBLiQ with remberg was made quickly in order to ensure a reliable and advanced software solution that meets Gessmann's high standards.
The transition from WERKBLiQ to remberg was challenging, but also offered opportunities. Michael Faber describes the experience as follows: "It was quite a challenge because WERKBLiQ didn't make it easy to export files and maintenance plans. In the end, I had to download and rename all the data for each machine because WERKBLiQ automatically named the files in the database. Thanks to the bulk upload from remberg, the implementation into the new software was relatively easy."
Faber and his team also had to get used to the more extensive software. Faber explains further: "The range of functions of the remberg Asset Platform is much greater and the logic is different from WERKBLiQ, which was a fairly straightforward tool. That's why I had to write step-by-step instructions for my colleagues. But then everyone quickly understood it." Faber was able to clarify other minor points during the changeover directly with his contact person from the Customer Success Team. "Ultimately, switching to remberg was the right decision for us," Faber continues.
The gained remberg Asset Platform advantages
The result
The remberg Asset Platform as new maintenance management software
After the successful implementation, significant improvements were seen in the maintenance processes. The new software has not only increased efficiency, but also made it easier to process and fill out work orders on mobile tablets, which Gessmann has been using for several years. These were originally introduced with WERKBLiQ, but are only fully usable with the remberg Asset Platform: "Mobile operation with remberg is much easier and faster. The entries work immediately, whereas before you often had to wait 1-2 minutes. That was annoying." The fact that Michael Faber likes things to be fast and pragmatic is also evident from the fact that the machines at Gessmann are not equipped with QR codes: "We don't need them for now – when I stand in front of the system with a tablet, the system hierarchy immediately shows me which components belong to a machine."
Outlook
When asked about the future at Gessmann, Michael Faber's plan is still clear. "We will connect all departments of mechanical production to the remberg Asset Platform. This maintenance software not only makes work in the team easier, but has also impressed external auditors. For us, this is an essential building block for simplifying the effort involved in supplier audits and accelerating processes." For Gessmann, these audits are very important, especially in the context of IRIS (International Railway Industry Standards) and DIN ISO 9001:2015. "Otherwise, I'll let myself be surprised and look forward to seeing what remberg has planned for the future, especially with regard to AI!"
