Lesjöfors AB: Integrated Process and Document Management

Lesjöfors AB is a manufacturing company that offers a wide range of springs and flat strip components to customers in various industries worldwide. They have a total of 50 factories in different countries around the world. We spoke to Peter Rosenqvist, Chief Quality Officer at Lesjöfors, who told us how the combination of 2c8 Apps and the Columbus plugin to M-Files has helped them create a complete Management System – seamlessly accessible to employees.

August 7, 2024

Two Systems – Two Important Purposes

The need for 2c8 Apps arose when the group wanted a simple and efficient system to collect and visualize all their factory processes worldwide. The goal was simply that the processes would look the same regardless of factory, and that global standards would be met. This would help customers buying from different factories to recognize themselves in everything from quality to the way they procure goods.

At the same time, M-files were used within the group as a hub for information and documents from different systems. It contained everything from M3 documents and blueprints to material certificates and discrepancies. The system helped the organization manage the vast amount of information and documentation within the business.

A growing need for Inter-system Collaboration

Thus, 2c8 Apps was used to visualize business processes, and M-Files was used for information and document management. The systems themselves worked well, but the need for the systems to work together grew.

“We noticed a gap in how these two systems could interact, and we wanted all the information to be available in one place for employees”, says Peter Rosenqvist.

Seamless Integration of two Powerful Systems

Columbus, a partner of 2c8, then developed a plug-in between the two systems. Suddenly, they could link documents stored in M-Files directly to the business processes in 2c8 Apps. Lesjöfors could now, directly in 2c8 Apps, search for documents based on meta-data and then link them to their already created processes.

“All of a sudden, we had a complete Management System instead of having two separate systems working in different silos”, Peter continues.

Peter shows us an example where he, in 2c8 Apps, filters documents stored in M-Files based on the document’s classification, such as checklists, policies, price lists, and more. He quickly “drag-and-drops” the document directly to the activity it belongs to. When the material is published in the organization, the employees can access the document from where it belongs.

Easily Accessible for Employees

The plugin not only streamlined workflows and ensured higher quality in their process and document management but also made the material easily accessible to employees.

Today, all 50 factories worldwide have access to information from M-Files and 2c8 Apps directly in the publication created in 2c8. Here, employees find all the support they need in their everyday work – from how they work in the different factories with associated material certificates to the sales process with associated price lists – in the same system.