PWS increases trust, confidence and efficiency with the help of SAP training 

Waste management, sustainability, Perstorp. Three words that have a strong, if not entirely obvious, common denominator: PWS.

A company that since its inception in 1997 has worked for and safeguarded a more sustainable future where local influences are a cornerstone of the company's values.

When the core business Perstorp AB created a division, PWS was founded to take over the team that focused on the production and sale of waste bins. The product consists of a number of different variants of solutions for waste management, where the customer is municipalities around the country.

Production takes place locally in the factory in Perstorp, but also in the Group's own factories in France and Germany. The common goal is a circular economy and to always protect the environment.

Processes work, but still don't

"The municipality is keen for us to remain. We are a big company that has managed to keep the feeling of the small," says Danica Palm, who works with finance, IT and HR at PWS. For Danica, it was precisely the vision of a more sustainable future that attracted her to PWS almost a year ago.

After starting her employment, Danica started digging into the company's processes and realised that the business was facing many challenges. The majority of processes worked, but no one really knew how they worked. A reorganisation was made and Danica quickly saw that there was an uncertainty in what and why things should be done.

After contacting SEIDOR, a training plan was created based on the bullet points that had been developed. It landed in a set-up where a consultant from SEIDOR went out to PWS's office every Thursday for a number of weeks and held the training sessions, each with a specific focus. There was also room to ask questions that had arisen after the previous training sessions. Danica expresses that it is precisely this approach that is one of the keys to the training being as successful as it was.

"I don't think it would have been as rewarding to do a one-off effort and run training for a week. I think a lot would have been forgotten then, but it would also have been difficult to get answers to all the questions that arise after the training. Now that it was over time, everyone got the chance to work with the system between the training sessions and each session could therefore contain repetition from the previous session. I think that was the key that made this so successful."

Credibility and confidence

With the help of the training, everyone has now been given the same foundation and everyone now works in the same way. Everyone also knows what is happening further away in the system. This increases trust in the system, an understanding of where the figures come from and how they should be interpreted. Through trust in the system, communication with the customer can be much more accurate, which increases credibility.

"I would say it starts with credibility and confidence. If you know what you're doing, you can treat the customer in a certain way. If the customer comes and suggests something and you don't know what the possibilities are, you might promise something that will then be difficult to live up to. So the most important thing about the training has been to build credibility. But also the trust in the system, to trust the system. The system works for us, not the other way around."

Danica says that it was a very good timing to hold the training right now. The employees longed to see each other and were tired of the pandemic, while more and more began to realise that if the business is to be able to scale up, a change in the way of working was needed. It was simply a necessary investment.

Being able to manage the system also makes it possible to challenge it by questioning and coming up with new ideas. In this way, the system can continue to be developed for the better. Danica says that there is a completely different energy among the employees after the training, but also that they have improved their own confidence. At the same time, a positive attitude towards other changes has been awakened and many express both curiosity and commitment to other steps that the company will take.

Previously, each person had their own way of managing their daily tasks in the ERP system, which made it difficult for someone else to take over. Now that everyone has the same stable foundation to work on, it's easier for employees to help each other and to cover for each other. As a result, stress has been reduced and an employee can go on vacation without having to worry about how the replacement will be able to cope with the work. Now the employee comes back to the office rested and avoids an overflowing inbox to deal with.

The future – more training!

By securing the basic knowledge of the company's basic systems, doors have been opened for further changes and development. The potential of the system can be better utilised and the employees have gained new energy and motivation. However, Danica sees no end to the need for further training and to continue to build knowledge.

"It has had a ripple effect. When you know the system, you can also come up with suggestions and new ideas for improvements. But we will definitely have to continue. As we get deeper into the system, more questions arise, and it's important to maintain momentum and keep going."