As one of the leading manufacturers in the German cosmetics industry, Mann & Schröder Cosmetics uses Visual Shop Floor to create transparency in production and manage processes efficiently. The solution acts like a Swiss Army knife for digital shop floor management: flexible, versatile, and individually adaptable. Data from various sources is brought together centrally, presented clearly, and new requirements can be implemented quickly. This creates a reliable foundation for decision-making, coordination, and data-driven production.
Mann & Schröder Cosmetics – diverse product range
The Mann & Schröder Cosmetics Group is a family-owned German company headquartered in Baden-Württemberg. With a broad product portfolio in body, hair, and facial care, it has stood for quality and innovation “Made in Germany” for decades.
At two modern production sites, around 800 employees manufacture more than 2,000 different products, which are distributed in nearly 70 countries worldwide. With annual revenues exceeding €200 million, Mann & Schröder Cosmetics is one of the leading manufacturers in the German cosmetics industry.
At two modern production sites, around 800 employees manufacture more than 2,000 different products, which are distributed in nearly 70 countries worldwide. With annual revenues exceeding €200 million, Mann & Schröder Cosmetics is one of the leading manufacturers in the German cosmetics industry.
Mann & Schröder Cosmetics, headquarter Siegelsbach, Germany
Initial situation
Before introducing Visual Shop Floor, Mann & Schröder Cosmetics faced the following challenges:
- Information in day-to-day production was partly exchanged verbally and via paper-based notices. As a result, information was not always up to date or centrally available.
- A consistent overview of the current production status – for example regarding quantities and planning status – could only be obtained by retrieving information from different systems.
- There was no central, reliable, cross-departmental basis for structured shop floor meetings and well-founded decisions.
Solution approach
With the introduction of Visual Shop Floor, key processes were systematically improved and harmonized:
- Production data from different sources is now consolidated in real time and visualized consistently – including information on containers and fill levels.
- Meetings follow a clear structure based on an SQCDP logic, which can be flexibly tailored to the requirements of individual departments and teams.
- Dashboards with real-time KPIs provide a reliable basis for decision-making, for example through target/actual analyses, quality indicators, disruption analyses, and order overviews.
- Thanks to Visual Shop Floor’s no-code/low-code approach, new ideas and requirements can be implemented pragmatically and agilely – without rigid software logic or complex custom development.
Benefits
The company-wide use of Visual Shop Floor has led to tangible improvements in daily operations:
- Meetings and coordination have become significantly more efficient, as all participants work from a consistent and up-to-date data basis.
- The manual effort required to maintain notices has been reduced, deviations are identified early, and actions and decisions can be derived more quickly.
- Visual Shop Floor has established itself as a sustainable and scalable tool, strengthening data-driven ways of working across the entire production environment.
From verbal communication to real-time transparency
Day-to-day production at Mann & Schröder Cosmetics had long been shaped by established and proven workflows. Paper-based notices and verbal communication played an important role. These structures worked reliably, but reached their limits when information from different operational levels needed to be transparently consolidated and visually compared.
A consistent overview of the current production status – for example regarding quantities or planning status – could only be created by retrieving data from various systems. There was no central, reliable, cross-departmental basis for structured shop floor meetings and well-founded decisions.
Against this background, the potential was identified to fully map processes digitally, monitor them in real time, and manage them more flexibly. The company was looking for a solution that would make complex data and information structures visible at both operational and management level, ensure a continuous digital flow of information, and at the same time not replace existing processes, but meaningfully connect and optimize them.
Visual Shop Floor – the Swiss Army knife for digitalizing shop floor processes
With Visual Shop Floor, Mann & Schröder Cosmetics found exactly the tool that meets these requirements – a true Swiss Army knife for digital shop floor management. The consistent no-code/low-code approach makes it easy to test new ideas and process approaches as prototypes and develop them pragmatically. Complex special developments or costly customization are not required.
Instead of being bound by fixed software logic, improvements can be implemented flexibly and tested iteratively. This versatility makes it possible to tailor Visual Shop Floor precisely to the individual requirements of production – pragmatically, efficiently, and with the flexibility to expand at any time.
Connecting data smartly – making ideas visible
Today, Visual Shop Floor is used primarily in the operational environment, where it serves as a central platform for transparency and decision-making. One particularly valued feature is the ability to configure all settings for data sources and data recorders directly within Visual Shop Floor. This allows different data sources to be connected, harmonized, and then visualized consistently.
In this way, ideas are translated directly into working concepts – quickly, flexibly, and with a strong practical focus. This dynamic makes Visual Shop Floor a true all-rounder in day-to-day production: a tool that creates transparency, encourages creativity and initiative, and adapts effortlessly to the reality of the shop floor.
Monitoring dashboards that consolidate data from various sources enable employees in different roles and functions to track production progress in real time and plan their activities proactively. Material- and process-related information is available at all times and always up to date.
Visual Shop Floor is our Swiss Army knife for digital shop floor management – versatile, precise, and always at hand whenever we want to quickly turn a new idea into practice.”
Greater process transparency, less management effort
Since the introduction of Visual Shop Floor, one thing in particular has fundamentally changed at Mann & Schröder Cosmetics: transparency. Information that was previously distributed via Excel spreadsheets or manually maintained notices is now visualized centrally and available in real time.
This eliminates redundant work steps and makes meetings significantly more efficient. The shop floor meetings held several times a day – also at departmental level – are based on established frameworks such as SQCDP. Using parameters and simple customization, content can be tailored precisely to different teams without triggering complex IT processes.
Today, numerous dashboards are used across a wide range of application areas, both at operational and management level. These include target/actual analyses, quality KPIs, and the transparent visualization of deviations and disruptions.
As a result, Visual Shop Floor has become established not only as a technological tool, but as an integral part of a modern, data-driven way of working – a Swiss Army knife that unlocks new potential on the shop floor every day.
The path to a central collaboration platform
Mann & Schröder Cosmetics also plans to further leverage the potential of Visual Shop Floor in the future and expand into additional areas of application. In the long term, the goal is to further develop the existing task management capabilities and – where feasible – integrate tasks from other systems, for example through a connection to Microsoft To Do.
The objective is to build a central platform that consolidates tasks, processes, and responsibilities across systems, thereby sustainably simplifying collaboration.
Why Visual Shop Floor is described as the Swiss Army knife for digital shop floor management
Explanation by Tobias Dannenmaier,
Head of Strategic Project Management & Organizational Development
01.
ReliableSmooth use in day-to-day operations
02.
Practice-orientedThe application is based on real-world practice, not theoretical concepts
03.
VersatileA wide range of use cases can be mapped and configured in detail
04.
FlexibleFast adaptation to changing workflows and requirements
05.
High-qualityStable and professionally developed, with convincing performance
