Cleaveland / Price Success Story

Summary

What do you do? Describe your company.

Cleaveland/Price (C/P) designs, manufactures, and services Switch Products, Automation Products, Line Sensors, and RTUs for the high voltage electrical industry.

Challenge

What was your problem, and what challenges prevented you from easily solving the problem?

C/P’s Quality Management System (QMS) was comprised of siloed manual based processes and homegrown applications developed through the years. These systems did not interface with each other making it difficult for data retrieval and reporting, so the organization identified the need for a centralized QMS solution.

How did you find out about our solution? Did you consider other providers? What criteria did you use to select BPA and Microsoft?

An extensive online search of QMS software was performed with the front-runners being BPA Solutions and three other companies.  C/P required was that the new system be cost effective to implement and maintain, as well as customizable to fit C/P business processes. The system needed to have the ability to manage Document Control, Calibration, and Employee Training out of the box.

What was the solution? How did it address your challenges?

BPA was selected after comparing the pros and cons of each system. Reference calls were made to current customers of each system for user feedback. BPA offered an out of the box solution for each quality application C/P determined was business critical for a QMS system with the flexibility to customize each module to meet the business processes of C/P. BPA was the only solution that leveraged Microsoft’s SharePoint, a critical business application already utilized by C/P, which drastically cut the learning curve of implementing a new software solution.

Since BPA leverages SharePoint, the ability to customize using native SharePoint features as well as the BPA features has simplified the deployment of each BPA module. As the quality management processes are continuously improved, BPA has been flexible to update to meet the business’s needs.

Strategy

How did you implement the solution? How long did it take? What new challenges did the implementation create?

C/P partnered with Synesis International, a trusted and experienced BPA implementation partner of over 10 years. They helped with the initial setup and configuration of the BPA system to fit our specific needs.

BPA has been implemented in a two-phase approach. The first phase was the build and configuration of each module in a development environment. This approach allowed key stakeholders the ability to perform end user testing and provide feedback before the module is moved over to the production environment in the second phase. To date, C/P has implemented the Document Module, Training Module, and Gage Calibration Module using this approach. Each module has varied in complexity, but generally has taken 1-2 months to implement. A challenge identified during this approach is the inability to easily copy modules from the development environment to production without a lot of manual work.

Results

What results did you gain from BPA Solutions – both anecdotally and measurably?

BPA provided a centralized electronic system that streamlined document record keeping. Information can now be distributed/searched easily throughout the organization with the web-based interface, taking advantage of the comfortability and familiarity of the SharePoint user interface.  C/P is eager to implement additional BPA modules, like CAPA, Non-Conformance, Internal Audits, and Change Management, which have been identified as high value adds for the organization.

Was there anything spectacular about how easy it was to deploy, or engage employees?

BPA Solutions is a cost effective and efficient way of managing an organization’s Quality Management System.

In late 2020, Cleaveland/Price obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification for the first time. BPA Solutions was instrumental in C/P’s journey to ISO 9001:2015 compliance. Not only do our employees find BPA Solutions easy to navigate, but the ISO registrar auditors were impressed with the system implementation and ease of use, as well.

Cleaveland / Price Success Story

Manufacturing

Products/Solutions

BPA Quality & Risk Management

SharePoint

Themes

Document Management

Risk Management

Nonconformity Management

Audit Management

Incident Management

Training Management