How Fogmaker uses AM System to meet its own requirements

Växjö-based Fogmaker International is one of the companies that has found its way forward with AM System. Today, they have, among other things, built a partner portal, created traceability in quality work and started working in a more structured way to develop new processes and improvements.

For many organizations, quality work is about meeting external requirements, from major customers or regulations. But even if external demands are unavoidable, there is a point in finding a different approach to quality work. One organization that has done just that is Fogmaker International, where we spoke with Quality Manager Jens Engblom.

- I think you should turn it around, that quality work should be about getting better for its own sake. On the one hand, the work will be more efficient because it will be more meaningful, and on the other hand, the customer will automatically be satisfied. This is the insight we are gaining more and more on our journey with AM System,  says Jens.

Products installed worldwide

Fogmaker International has an interesting product. They manufacture fire extinguishing systems for, for example, engines in buses and other enclosed spaces and have 150,000 systems installed worldwide. The product is a way for customers to avoid using powder systems to extinguish fires in enclosed spaces because powder often destroys engines and is difficult to remove. Fogmaker International's system also addresses all factors in a fire triangle.

- Our system is extremely efficient, with a small amount of liquid you can extinguish a lot and then quickly wash off the confined space and be up and running again. The basic principle behind our product is high pressure water mist. When the system is activated, a valve opens and sprays the water mist at 105 bar into specially designed irrigation nozzles The system is then activated for 45-50 seconds and has proven to be very effective in real life as well as in lab tests, explains Jens.

The right approach to quality work

With the aim of improving themselves, Jens and Fogmaker International work smart in the AM System. They use the system for many things, including greater traceability, developing new processes and working on improvements.

"Get better for your own sake and the customer will automatically be happier"

- To follow our own motto of getting better for our own sake, AM System helps us to have greater traceability in what we do. For example, when we make changes to a product, we can follow up when it happened, which serial numbers are relevant, what activities we carried out, who approved what and so on.

- If we develop a process, we can also easily describe it in AM System. In this way, employees can go into AM, click through and learn without us having to constantly train, says Jens.

Another important part is that Fogmaker International has set a structure for how to work with improvements. For example, when working with process development, they have ensured that certain steps must be taken before they can release the process.

- AM System helps us to define which activities to do in connection with the improvement work. We do a feasibility study before an improvement proposal to find out how it will affect us, then we follow the control steps available in the system to complete the improvement proposal, Jens explains.

A portal for partners

To improve collaboration with their partners, Fogmaker International has also built a partner portal in AM System. There, their partners can log in to retrieve information that Fogmaker International controls themselves.

- The portal is a convenient way for us to ensure that everyone always has the latest version of, for example, installation and service manuals. These need to be updated as we make changes to our product. Working in this way is far more efficient than having to provide our partners with information by email. Now Fogmaker International can be sure that everyone has the latest release. Previously, it was common for them to encounter a partner who was sitting on a 3-year-old manual, says Jens.

Improving operations based on data

For Jens, one of the biggest effects of using AM System has been all the data he can retrieve and analyze.

"We can now draw conclusions that are not guesses"

- It allows us to draw conclusions that are not guesses, which is nice. Picking up data before decisions using AM is valuable for us. If you just set up the structure correctly, you can extract virtually any amount of data, and it makes us much better at developing the business in the right direction, concludes Jens.