Smart integration: LeanForms and Power BI at Hegin Metalfinishing
Improved efficiency and data-driven decision-making
Hegin Metalfinishing BV is the specialist when it comes to advising and performing surface treatments of metals. In a previous interview with LeanForms, Hegin shared their vision of digitization, emphasizing that real-time available information is essential for quality improvement and effectively steering processes.
In this article, Bram de Wilde, Business Analyst at Hegin, shares how they have integrated LeanForms and Power BI to further implement this vision and improve operational efficiency within the company.
The path to digitization: LeanForms in action
Hegin began its journey to digitization with an ambition to gain better, real-time visibility into operational data. By integrating LeanForms into their production lines, they were able to digitize daily activities and capture information with minimal disruption to the shop floor. With LeanForms, data entry is simplified and valuable insights into production processes can be gained.
“Real-time insights are very valuable. If certain data from the production or quality processes are not immediately visible, you are already too late and can no longer actively adjust.”
LeanForms and Power BI, a powerful combination
Hegin realized that the data they captured with LeanForms could be even more valuable if seamlessly integrated with Power BI. By combining the two platforms, Hegin was able to perform more complex analysis with minimal delay. The value of data visualization and rapid reporting is highlighted for better decision-making at all levels of the organization. Power BI data is refreshed about 10 times a day. So they always have access to up-to-date data throughout the day.
As a business analyst, Bram performs analysis at the customer, product and manufacturing level. Data used to have to be exported to Excel from the ERP package. Thanks to the integration with Power BI, they can now perform analyses much faster.
Benefits and tips
Hegin offers valuable insights and tips for companies considering integrating Power BI with LeanForms, for example. For example, it stresses the importance of thorough preparation and validation of data before it is used in Power BI dashboards. That the data is reliable is very important.
Actively engaging employees is also important, as their input can lead to valuable adjustments and smooth adoption of the new technology. By leveraging the synergy between LeanForms and Power BI, companies can not only improve operational efficiency, but also gain greater insight into their processes and make better strategic decisions based on reliable data.
At Hegin, daily batches are tracked by the production line, such as numbers and capacity of a particular customer on a production line. They plan to also link data from internal or external deviations to production data, so they can also see, for example, the date of production and whether defects in other products are coming up.
“Combining data makes you look at certain things differently. With the integration with Power BI, we can make connections that you wouldn’t normally be able to make. Linking different data together creates more insights to keep improving continuously.”
Machine hours
The data from the machine hours can be conveniently displayed from LeanForms in the Power BI dashboard.
Client details
The customer detail data can be conveniently displayed from LeanForms in the Power BI dashboard.
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