Mey Generalbau has established itself in the Neckar-Alb area as a leading specialist in damage restoration. Speed and smooth integration of different trades are an absolute priority here. The company has been using kameon's ERP system since 2015. In an interview, owner and managing director Achim Mey talks about impossible administrative tasks, plasterers and painters, and why he now swears by Power User.
When do people call Mey Generalbau?
We are the partner to call for any construction work on existing buildings. As a sponsor of the Tübingen city triathlon we also like to say that our triathlon is reconstruction, extension and restoration. One area of business is remodelling and modernisation, the other is the repair and refurbishment of building damage, from tap water and fires, to storm, hail and flooding.
So you have to coordinate a lot of trades. Not an easy task, right?
Well, basically the chain has to work well in its own right. The project has to run smoothly throughout the process. First of all, in dealing with the customer generally. From the first contact to the turnkey handover. Then, of course, in the structural design from A to Z. Here, the construction work really has to harmonise. If that does not work, delays occur and costs increase.
It is very simple: The plasterer comes before the painter. If the plasterer doesn't leave a good smooth surface, the painter has to fill it in and it takes longer. But that's just an example. I don’t want to get into any trouble with our plasterers now! (Laughs).
"Coordinating 500 ongoing projects manually is impossible in the long run."
–Achim Mey, Owner and managing director, Mey Generalbau GmbH –
How long has Mey Generalbau been active?
As we are now, since 2002.
And you have been using kameon since 2015. Had you already had experience with system-based resource management at that time?
No. Before that, we did everything by hand and thus had a correspondingly high level of strain. Today we use kameon in the area of damage restoration, where the coordination of a very large number of small construction sites is of great importance. Our ERP has an integrated process management system for handling claims. Before that, as I said, everything was done by hand. As you can imagine, with about 500 ongoing projects at any given time, keeping that going is almost impossible.
So the decision to use kameon was also a logical one?
Absolutely. In fact, we did not manage the area centrally before, but the projects ran under the individual responsibility of the respective site manager. But even if we had wanted to: Due to the sheer volume of projects, a certain point was reached where it was simply no longer possible to oversee and monitor them without the Process Management System. So it sometimes happened that a drying device was forgotten and not picked up for several weeks, or somebody forgot to order the painter to come after the plasterer. At some point we said: now we have to look for a solution.
... and are you using kameon in those areas?
Exactly. In process management and in the standardisation of our documents, processes and data. And we are also beginning to introduce kameon as a classic ERP throughout the company, for example, in billing.
"at some point, a bus in Reutlingen drove past me that had an advert on it for kameon"
How did you come to choose kameon?
For some years, bitbase and ourselves had a common business partner, so we got to know each other and at some point, a bus in Reutlingen drove past me that had an advert on it for kameon. So I reached for my phone right away.
And how found you find working with kameon?
kameon has been a very good partner right from the beginning. Especially in the first exploratory phase, where you first establish needs. Where processes are first written and illustrated. Afterwards, the corresponding EDP solutions were developed, which really provided us with a lot of stimuli to rethink and optimise processes.
How has the change through kameon made itself noticeable?
Well, we now have consistent quality in all our documents. We save a lot of effort because we only have to enter master data once. And with kameon's ERP, we have a very good tool for the project manager or team leader to keep an overview of things.
We have a dashboard where the site manager sees his individual projects and what stage they are at right now. So now individual parts of the project can no longer get lost or be forgotten, as was the case before.
Could you give us an example of that?
Take the example of the plasterer and the drying device. If the dryer is dismantled today and the painter is slow in coming, that gets documented precisely. After a certain period of time, first the site manager receives a warning message, then the team leader etc. Of course, such a system must be actively maintained and it takes time until all employees make full use of it. That's our big goal for this year.
Sounds like you have to do some persuasion work.
Do you really want to hear that? (Laughs).Well, the feedback is not entirely positive. It just depends on who you ask. The effort to maintain the projects in the system is something new. Of course, the site manager initially thinks that he has more work to do. And it takes time until the long-term gain is felt. That is simply due to the complexity.
But I'm still glad we have it. It offers a huge relief, for example, for the Back Office: Order forms, assignment, acceptance reports, reports - all of these come at the push of a button.
In light of your experiences - what advice would you give others?
I would recommend to anyone, to first determine a Power User Group, one that can identify any teething or initial problems, before rolling out the system in the company and going live.
Find out more here.
I will gladly advise you and look forward to receiving your questions.