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Working together with the customer as a trusted, long-term partner, Ascom has helped Westag improve staff communication and boost workplace and lone worker safety, while also playing a vital role in the digitalization of many of their processes. How does Ascom do this? Thanks to our Solutions Team and platform we can respond and adapt to customer needs.
Westag AG is a leading European manufacturer of high-quality engineered wood products for building construction and interior finishing with around 1,000 employees and a turnover of €214 million (2023). Westag’s Rheda-Wiedenbrück and Wadersloh plants produce a wide range of products: from doors and frames, kitchen worktops and window sills to panels with high-pressure laminates, solid surface materials and laminated plywood panels.
Westag and Ascom have been working in partnership for many years. Starting in 2010, Ascom has worked together with Westag on a series of projects to establish and then continuously develop its communication and collaboration system. With Ascom playing a pivotal role in the digitalization of the company's communication and collaboration, the result is a system that strengthens staff communication, improves processes and workflows while also increasing safety for employees.
We wanted to find a system which could last for years, if not decades.
For Westag, the key to the success of the partnership with Ascom is that there is one system but many solutions available – now and in the future. This is down to two critical factors. Firstly, the Ascom Solutions Team is committed engaging with the customer, understanding their needs and adapting the solutions accordingly. Secondly, the modularity of the system makes customer adaptation quicker and more straightforward as well as making it easier to introduce new solutions and digitalize more processes over time.
“The Ascom system's modularity is really important,” says Uwe Ellermann, IT Service Manager at Westag AG. “An example here would be our forklift control system or our goods receipt identifier with photo documentation for workers. Or action cameras that we install in machinery to monitor processes better as part of a closed, secure system.”
The result? Better and more streamlined processes, as Uwe describes: “After introducing the system, I noticed that our communication and workflows had become faster and more efficient.”
In addition to optimizing production processes, the Ascom system has also allowed workplace safety solutions, not least for lone workers who face greater risks if an incident occurs. Having these solutions in place also helps staff know that their health and well-being are taken seriously. “It's important employees feel safe if something were to happen and that we'd be there to help,” says Uwe.
A safe, secure and efficient working environment has also brought other benefits, according to Uwe: “It's really inspired our employees to get creative because they feel like they're being looked after in a familiar environment, and suddenly they're getting ideas which drive the company forward.”
On the journey we've had with Ascom, we've overcome so many problems where our first thought was, 'This is never going to work'. But we overcame them, because Ascom is thinking in solutions.
