How Wolfgang Loch GmbH & Co. KG Uses Operations1 to Make the Shopfloor 98% Paperless

Knowledge lived in the heads of individual employees. Onboarding new colleagues was time-consuming because paper alone couldn't convey the processes. At the same time, compliance requirements in the automotive environment kept rising. Customer audits demanded complete, traceable documentation — something that simply couldn't be done without errors in a paper-based world.

The initiative came from the floor: a department manager wanted to digitalize the packaging instructions. Each product had its own work folder that employees first had to find and then interpret. The initial idea was to put Excel documents as PDFs on screens — but a half-digital solution would not have solved the underlying problems. That's how Loch found Operations1 and chose a complete platform solution.

What started with packaging instructions grew over three to four years into company-wide digitalization. Today, Loch uses Operations1 in nearly every process step:

• Goods receipt: Visualization of incoming goods

• Stamping: Process and setup instructions, tool maintenance, machine and equipment maintenance

• Degreasing/surface treatment: Process instructions, machine and equipment maintenance

• Assembly: Process and setup instructions, machine and equipment maintenance

• Packaging and shipping: Packaging and shipping instructions, load securing

• Support processes: Audits, shift logs, walkthroughs (occupational safety, environment, energy, lean, 6S)

One particularly notable aspect: even during the design of new stamping tools, a maintenance manual is created in Operations1 for future use. From day one, the maintenance team knows exactly what the designer had in mind and where to look when problems arise.

Today, every machine has a QR code. Employees arrive for their shift, pick up a tablet, check the production schedule via the shift log, scan the QR code at their workstation, and are immediately in the right process instruction. What used to take 15 minutes of searching now takes two.

A concrete example illustrates the cultural shift: an employee noticed that a step in a process instruction was not properly documented. Using the camera app, he photographed the issue and triggered a task at 9:12 a.m. By 11:02 a.m., the instruction had been updated and the action documented. The employee on the late shift received an automatic change notification and confirmed it actively. In the paper-based world, this would have taken days.

The employees who had previously created paper documents also took ownership of the digital implementation — no additional headcount required. Standardized templates created a consistent look: a process instruction looks the same everywhere, whether for stamping, assembly, or laser processes.

Digitalizing the entire value chain has delivered measurable impact at Loch:

• 98% paperless operations in the fully converted areas

• 33% higher setup process efficiency through standardized work instructions that make setup knowledge available independent of any individual person

• 9 percentage points of OEE improvement through better equipment availability and faster access to maintenance information

• 40 to 50% time savings in administrative tasks: no searching, no paper handling, no manual archiving

• 100% digital documentation: audit evidence available at the push of a button

The change goes beyond metrics. Employees actively take ownership of process quality: they report improvement opportunities directly through Operations1 and document new process steps from the very first run.

"Efficiency starts where uncertainty ends. Digital instructions reduce queries to a minimum and free up space for what really matters: the quality of our work." — Dennis Bender, Head of Prototype and Small-Series manufacturing, Wolfgang Loch GmbH & Co. KG

Next Steps:

• A dashboard for all employees across all three plants

• Integration with ERP and MES systems for seamless data processes

• Expansion of automation

• Use of the AI assistant for context-based problem solving directly on the shopfloor

Wolfgang Loch GmbH & Co. KG is a second-generation, family-owned automotive supplier headquartered in Idar-Oberstein.

The company at a glance:

• Founded: 1976

• Employees: around 400

• Locations: Three plants (prototypes, pre-series, main manufacturing)

• Core business: Stamped, drawn, and formed parts as well as welded assemblies

• Market position: Tier-1 and Tier-2 supplier

• Certifications: ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, TISAX, ASM

Manufacturing is highly complex: presses up to 1,000 tons, welding systems, laser technology, and various joining processes create a wide range of process variety. At the same time, the extensive certifications place high demands on documentation — every process step must be complete, current, and verifiable at any time.