The ARaymond group chooses Hardis Group to support it in optimizing its IT change management process

Raynet SNC, IT subsidiary of the ARaymond group

For nearly 150 years, the ARaymond group, inventor of the press-stud, has specialized in fastener systems and assembly solutions, for the automotive sector, but also and also for the manufacturing, energy, agriculture and healthcare industries. Currently present in 23 countries, this family-owned company employs 5,300 people, holds more than 1,000 patents, and posted revenues of €859 million in 2013. Its 22 production sites located in Europe, Asia and the United States turn out 15 billion parts a year.

To manage all its activity, the ARaymond group relies on an information system managed entirely by Raynet SNC, its IT subsidiary, which has 150 employees spread among France, Germany and the US. At the end of 2012, Raynet SNC decided to redevelop its IT processes, and to start by managing the changes made to the information system in order to secure them and reduce the costs associated with non-conforming quality.

Controlling risks and reducing costs

After talking with three consulting companies, Raynet SNC chose Hardis: "We were convinced right away by the way the Hardis teams immediately understood our expectations, the consistency of the proposal with the expected results, and the clarity of the presentation," says David Bouchend'homme, Change Manager with Raynet SNC. "What's more, the rapport between our teams and those of Hardis was very positive right from the pre-sale phase."

Launched at the beginning of 2013, the project was split into four distinct phases. In an initial phase, Hardis' teams analyzed the existing situation and the requirements. They then supported Raynet SNC in designing the change management process and identifying the tools needed to implement the new process. The third phase consisted in making these tools, as well as defining and implementing quality indicators. "Our objective was to automate the process as far as possible and to integrate it with the existing user interfaces so as to facilitate adoption," continues David Bouchend'homme. "As it happens, the process is based on the ProcessMaker workflow application and interfaced with the ticket managing tool which users are already familiar with". Finally, in the fourth phase, after a series of trials, all the teams will be trained and the project will be put into production at the beginning of the summer of 2014.

"A comprehensive review of working processes takes time," continues David Bouchend'homme: "We deliberately opted for a long and above all collaborative management of the project, in order to make quite sure of the implementation of the new process and its adoption by the employees concerned".

Raynet SNC anticipates tangible results from the first quarter of implementation: "We're extremely pleased with the way the project has gone. As well as improved control of changes and the associated risks, and a reduction of around 15% in the costs due to quality problems with changes made to the information system, we also expect significant gains in terms of image and perceived quality of the information system," David Bouchend'homme concludes.