Mobile maintenance management

The operating technology department of Getriebebau NORD GmbH & Co KG has introduced a mobile maintenance management system integrated into SAP, thus ensuring maximum transparency, more efficiency and better working conditions. The supplier of the solution is Flexus AG.

“Flexus impressed us from the start with a competent service
convinced and our expectations of the solution clearly
surpassed.”

Deputy Head of department
Getriebebau NORD GmbH & Co KG


Locksmiths, gardeners, electricians, mechanics, cleaning staff and much more: The craftsmen employed in the industrial engineering department at Getriebebau NORD are equipped for almost all repairs, care and maintenance work that may arise. The 30-strong team at the Bargteheide site near Hamburg processes around 7,000 orders per year, with the requirements increasing from year to year. The turnover is growing dynamically and the operating facilities in the field of automatic storage and the paint shop are becoming increasingly complex.

Multi-stage selection process

Many orders were given on demand and not consistently documented. There was a lack of a structured process from the acceptance of the order, through the disposition to the cost allocation. In addition, there was a high administrative burden and the lack of precise evidence of the workload of the employees. Against this background, Getriebebau NORD GmbH & Co KG drew up a specification and examined nine potential suppliers for a maintenance planning and control system – IPS for short.
At the end of the multi-stage selection process, the choice fell on Würzburger Flexus AG. According to Getriebebau NORD, Flexus is one of the few providers whose solution is directly integrated into SAP PM.

Cockpit gearbox construction NORD

Getriebebau NORD works with SAP and uses, among other things, the PM module, which stands for “Plant Maintenance”. It maps all functionalities that are required for processing maintenance measures. “The integration into SAP® played an important role in the selection of the provider, because it meant that we weren’t able to program complex interfaces
could avoid,” emphasizes the SAP consultant at Getriebebau NORD GmbH & Co. KG. With the guided process support from Flexus AG for maintenance, customers plan ahead, control in real time, reduce downtimes and increase productivity.

The introduction at Getriebebau NORD took place in several steps. After transferring the extensive
master data, the processing of fault reports and service requests was converted to the new system. These two categories account for around 90 percent of all orders. The remaining ten percent is accounted for by recurring maintenance work, which has also been processed in the IPS since 2018.

User-friendly tiles

Apps Gear Construction North

Orientate recurring maintenance tasks adhere to the specified maintenance schedules machine manufacturer and require no further capture. As soon as an action is due, generated the system the order, which is then placed in the order Cockpit is displayed. The clear cockpit is part the user-friendly work surfaces in the tile Design. All open orders can be viewed with one click Call them up, then drag and drop them to the appropriate one Craftsmen can be assigned. A graphical one Display with colored bars on a timeline simplifies scheduling considerably. Fault reports and service requests must be entered manually by the responsible foreman. This process is also explained by the easy-to-understand Menu navigation in tile optics supported.

More cost awareness

The fault reports and service requests recorded in this way appear in the same way as the recurring ones
Maintenance work in the order cockpit and can be scheduled and monitored from there. The craftsmen, technicians and fitters can use smartphones and tablets with the Fiori app developed by Flexus to carry out the work afterwards. This allows the maintenance and repair process to be accompanied and documented and be completed. If photos are taken in the course of the work, they can be taken with the mobile devices and attached to the order. Required spare parts are immediately assigned to the order and booked in SAP.

A major advantage of the solution is the precisely documented working hours. With the introduction of the solution, every hour is now billed according to the user via SAP, which has significantly increased the cost awareness of the workforce. This applies in particular to the service requirements: In the past, one had “quickly had a picture hung up by an employee in the technical department”. Such unstructured orders are a thing of the past thanks to IPS. Today, every service has to be legitimized by an order entered and approved in the system, which means that the “quick” hanging of pictures is only requested in exceptional cases.

Better occupational safety

Despite this supposed hurdle, the operating technicians at Getriebebau NORD still have their hands full. In 2018, two more employees were even hired, because with the help of the analyzes that are now possible, the need for workers can be planned transparently and to the hour. Thanks to the maintenance solution FlexMaint, every employee can now find out for which activities they have been scheduled and, as a result, the risk of psychological stress be reduced. Conclusion: The people at Getriebebau NORD are completely satisfied with the mobile maintenance management from Flexus AG. The same applies to the course of the project and support during implementation.


Logo Getriebebau NORD reference customer

Getriebebau NORD is part of the global NORD DRIVESYSTEMS Group, which is one of the industry leaders in mechanical and electronic drive technology. The product range includes geared motors, Electric motors, industrial gearboxes, frequency converters and motor starters as well as frequency converters for decentralized drive control, which are used, for example, in harbor cranes or baggage conveyor belts in airports. The owner-managed family company was founded in 1965 and employs more than 3,900 people, who generate sales of around EUR 630 million. generate.