Van Merksteijn International consists of two business units: Van Merksteijn Fences (fencing) and Van Merksteijn Steel (structural steel).

Problem
Van Merksteijn Fencing Systems ran into a number of problems in production. Breaking in new employees took a lot of time. Also, the training program for new employees was not available digitally. Another major pain point for Van Merksteijn was the lack of a uniform working method. In addition, employees have a lot of experience knowledge, but it was not recorded anywhere. That knowledge was in danger of being lost when they retired. Finally, operators were dependent on other, more experienced colleagues for breakdowns and other problems. That cost time, and therefore money.

Solution
ELICIT Online started a pilot project at Van Merksteijn. Knowledge analyst Emiel Weijn created a knowledge file for the Schlatter welding line. Hüseyin Kiremit, trainer and coach, and Bülent Şimşek, project leader, were impressed by the speed with which ELICIT Online’s knowledge analyst understood the process. “Sometimes we were spending weeks training new colleagues. That they understood our process so quickly, that was special.”

After the successful implementation of the first knowledge file, ELICIT Online created knowledge files of five other production processes, including for drawing wire rod and the zinc line. Almost the entire production process of Van Merksteijn Fences is now mapped, with the knowledge files also interconnected. This way, employees can easily see whether a deviation could have been caused by an error in the process step before. Now it’s a matter of “taking a quick look in ELICIT” to find the solution. “We deal with hundreds of types of failures. Some are rare. With ELICIT, even our most experienced employees get to the solution faster,” says Kiremit.

Interviews form the basis of the knowledge files, but colleagues also started talking among themselves about the desired, uniform way of working. “Even the most experienced colleagues now say: ELICIT is very handy. I can easily refresh my knowledge now,” says Şimşek. With ELICIT Online’s software, the company trains new and current employees faster. As a coach and trainer, Kiremit is very happy with that. “With the test functionality, I can even test employees by section,” he says.

Some of the employees do not speak Dutch, only their native language. Because this is the case with several customers of ELICIT Online, ELICIT developed a translation function. As a result, the knowledge file is available in Dutch as well as in Turkish, German and Polish. If the knowledge file is changed, this is immediately visible in all languages. Everyone, regardless of background or language level, can thus work at the same knowledge level. At the beginning of 2024, approximately 150 employees will be working with the software of ELICIT Online, and this number is increasing. We sometimes say to each other: ELICIT is like Google, you can always find the answer,” says Şimşek.

Van Merksteijn is very positive about the cooperation with ELICIT Online. “They guided and trained us very well. If we had questions, they came quickly with an answer.” Project leader Şimşek previously worked in production but was released by Van Merksteijn to implement ELICIT Online. After training from ELICIT Online, he is now a content and model manager and maintains the seven knowledge files within Fences himself. This is where most of the knowledge and processes have been mapped. Şimşek will next work on new knowledge files for Van Merksteijn Steel.

Results
By using the knowledge files, employees are more aware of the impact of their work on subsequent process steps and are more likely to recognize deviations from previous processes. As a result, they perform quality checks independently more often, which in turn reduces failure costs. The Technical Department and shift foremen are less burdened with questions because employees come to solutions independently. Van Merksteijn also spends noticeably less time on training and coaching. Şimşek: “With ELICIT we have a knowledge base that is open 24/7. Nobody has to wait for someone else if there is a breakdown. We notice in everything that things are going better in production. There is much less downtime. In the end, that’s what matters.”