Hearthside Europe produces a wide range of food bars, meal replacements, sports bars and snacks bars at its facilities in Leerdam. This means that the company must comply with an impressive list of standards and quality requirements, including the BRC Food Standard, IFS and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requirements. The department Quality at Hearthside Europe uses the ManualMaster standard management functionality for this.
All requirements and standards are registered in the system, which also indicates the level of compliance.
“It provides an overview and time savings,” claim Jessy Scheepers (QA Officer) and Marieke Rozenboom (QA Officer) from Quality Hearthside Europe.

But the quality department does much more with ManualMaster. Quality documents, work instructions, procedures and process descriptions are managed using the document management system. HR staff member Els den Hartog (Training Coordinator) uses the WebForms module to create smart web forms.

Access to documents.

‘Easy and highly accessible’

QA Officer Jessy comments, “The system helps us maintain a good overview and makes information easy to find for our colleagues who need it for their work. The system is easy to use and highly accessible. All production staff have an account and use it on the computers on the shop floor. Version management of the documents takes place fully automatically and saves us a huge amount of time in the quality department.”

Els adds that the document management module also registers who has authorised which documents and where the information is stored. “When someone authorised a document in the past and added a comment to it, that information occasionally got misplaced. ManualMaster prevents this. The system automatically creates lists of the various versions for us. It also does that with documents that are indicated as being read and understood by employees.”’

ManualMaster as HR tool

Els uses ManualMaster as an HR tool. She used the WebForms module, for instance, to create web forms for her training-related activities, as well as the ‘buying and selling holiday leave’ form.

Els explains, “Managers can use the request form for internal training to indicate which employees need to be signed up for which types of training and the priority of this training. The plant manager receives the completed form via an automatic email notification and can decide which request has priority. The web forms make it possible to provide people with relevant information, just as we do. The saves a whole lot of emailing and calling back and forth.”

QA Office Marieke comments, “One of the greatest advantages of WebForms is that you can ‘force’ people to return completed forms. If a particular field is not completed, it is possible that the form will not be accepted.”

Screenshot of web form overview.

Recording agreements with WebForms for greater clarity

Els continues, “When production wants to train a current or new employee, the manager completes a request form using WebForms. All relevant information can be found here for initiating the training process, such as the position in which training takes place and the name of the practical trainer.”

“We then provide guidance during the training process in coordination with the practical trainer and immediate superior. What we would like is for the subsequent steps in this training process to also take place via WebForms, such as the interim assessment forms used during training that measure the progress of the employee. This is currently done using paper documents that we scan for digital storage. WebForms can help us to streamline this process.”

Training and presentations

ManualMaster is used extensively in the workplace. To enable this, the ManualMaster administrators receive an internal newsletter every other week. This newsletter provides useful information on the functions and possibilities of the system.

Els comments, “The ‘tip of the week’ helps colleagues get started with certain functionalities. The tips range from ‘how to print a form via the system’ to ‘how to add information to your favourites’. The production and logistics employees have undergone basic training that included a brief explanation of the possibilities of the system and where to find the information needed to do their work. The management team has also heard a presentation on the possibilities of ManualMaster.”

Hearthside Europe homepage for the HR department.

Learning from other users

The implementation of the software was a simple and smooth process. Els says, “We received lots of support thanks to the knowledge and expertise of consultant Arjan van der Gouwe and the organisation’s helpdesk. Everyone is available to help when you need it. Questions are answered quickly and you receive tips that are very useful without even having to ask.”

Marieke has the following advice for future ManualMaster users: “Before you start structuring your system, talk to and visit peer competitors to see and experience how they have approached this process. You can learn a lot from a company that actively uses ManualMaster and a large number of the functionalities. You can get ideas about how to create a good foundation for your quality system – and then structure it further from there.”

“Another advantage of using a reference company is that, when a new release is launched, you can discuss and brainstorm about the new functionalities. For example, how far you have progressed with the system and possible focal areas.”

Utilising quality management possibilities

Els adds, “And once the system is up and running, make sure to keep your knowledge up to date. A great way to do this is to attend the ManualMaster knowledge events. Now that these are held online, they’re very easily accessible. You don’t have to spend time travelling and can join the question and answer session at the very last moment.”

Jessy concludes, “ManualMaster offers Hearthside a huge number of possibilities in the future in terms of quality management. By focusing on WebForms and risk management, for instance, we can get even more out of the system.”

More about Hearthside

By Ad Killian
in partnership with Ronald de Bruijne / ManualMaster

About Hearthside Europe