As our company grows, understanding how these different areas of expertise interact is becoming increasingly important.

• How can we gain a complete overview of our processes?
• How can we identify opportunities for improvement without disrupting ongoing operations?

To address these challenges, DALEMANS partnered with BDO to implement a Business Digital Twin project. This approach involves creating a digital representation of a company’s workflows to better structure and optimise its processes.

Rethinking processes at scale

The idea of mapping DALEMANS’ processes dates back several years. An initial modelling project was launched in 2018, but limitations in the tools available at the time prevented us from establishing a sustainable approach.

With our diverse activities and international ambitions, however, gaining a comprehensive view of our organisation had become essential. That is why we decided to revisit the project this year with a clear objective: to map our processes AND lay the groundwork for their future development.

Nearly 100 process flow diagrams to connect our teams

How do you map the operations of a company involved in every stage of a gas detection system’s lifecycle?

The answer was to create a digital process map. This work resulted in nearly 100 process flow diagrams covering the various activities at DALEMANS, including sales, production, recruitment, onboarding and safety.

Beyond documenting the tasks performed by each department, the main objective is to provide a complete picture of our workflows, identifying every step, responsibility and interaction between teams.

Take safety, for example, which is a major priority for us. Thanks to process mapping, employees can visualise the safety measures they need to follow, understand how these measures were established and trace how an incident is handled, from initial reporting through to analysis and any necessary corrective actions.

This allows everyone involved to identify their role and understand how their actions fit into the broader process.

Understanding today’s processes to shape tomorrow’s

While process mapping provides a clear picture of how DALEMANS operates, it also serves as the starting point for continuous improvement.

Working with BDO, we developed two complementary views: how the company operates today (“AS IS”) and how we want it to operate in the future (“TO BE”).

BDO began by reviewing our internal documentation and existing process models to develop an initial process map.

• The “AS IS” view, representing our current operations, was then compared with day-to-day practices through collaborative workshops with our employees. These discussions helped validate the diagrams and, more importantly, identify areas for improvement.
• Based on these findings, BDO developed a second view, known as “TO BE”, illustrating how our processes could evolve.

The result: a series of short-, medium- and long-term improvement actions, ranging from minor documentation updates to more substantial transformation projects.

Building a shared digital knowledge base

Founded in 1985, DALEMANS has developed specialised expertise in gas detection over the decades. Today, the company brings together key competencies in R&D, production, engineering, sales and maintenance.

Behind these activities lies a wealth of experience and knowledge held by our employees. But how can we preserve this expertise and pass it on effectively as new talent joins the company?

This is another key objective of the Business Digital Twin.

By documenting our processes and responsibilities, we are turning part of our operational knowledge into a shared digital knowledge base. A valuable resource for onboarding new employees!

Previously, explaining how the company operates required a considerable amount of time. Now, the process flow diagrams provide a clear view of our different activities, individual responsibilities and interactions between teams.

As Gabriel Dalemans, Quality & HSE Coordinator at DALEMANS, explains: “The idea is to turn the operational knowledge that exists in people’s heads into a structured digital knowledge base.”

A model that evolves with DALEMANS

The first modelling phase is now complete. But for DALEMANS, the Business Digital Twin project is far from over.

The next step is to build on the work completed by implementing a sustainable, interactive process management tool. More specifically, we are creating a digital environment where employees will be able to easily navigate our departments, access relevant information and follow workflows in real time.

And there is more to come! In the longer term, integrating quantitative data will allow us to simulate different scenarios and anticipate the impact of changes in our operations.

For example, by entering the volume of documents to be processed and the time required to handle them, we will be able to identify bottlenecks and explore opportunities for optimisation.

Growing while staying close to our customers

By structuring its processes, DALEMANS is putting the foundations in place to support its continued growth while remaining focused on what matters most: designing and delivering gas detection solutions that meet its customers’ needs, both today and in the future.

We hope this article has given you a better understanding of a project that is particularly important to us. We are pleased to share this milestone with you 🙌