THINK DIGITALLY
Until we find a solution
High-intensity workshops improve processes across ŠKODA
nvolving fresh heads to look for novel methods is one of the options to implement innovations faster and more efficiently. Application developers often resort to hackathons, which are sessions in which small teams of programmers and experts get together to look for and find solutions to various problems. The SVP team (ŠKODA Verbesserungsprozess) and GGS – Innovation Management used this concept as a source of inspiration to demonstrate the usefulness of hackathons for ŠKODA AUTO. “Generally, hackathons are seen as a tool used more or less exclusively by IT experts, but they can be useful in many other contexts and in basically any area of focus”, says Lenka France, SVP Expert at FCM – Controlling Methodology and New Projects.
The first event of this kind was a workshop designed to analyse financial differences between forecasts and reality. The objective was to set up the process methodology while creating a tool to calculate such deviations: These data are essential in the result management process, where a complex algorithm reflects a variety of overlapping impacts.
Production & Logistics was assisted by a data hackathon of the PSZ department to identify and eliminate duplicates in consumable material warehouses. “Our ambition was to identify the existing ones while preventing further occurrences. We found a solution that we are going to integrate into standard processes. We identified a total of 18,000 duplicate items through this project”, says Kiril Ribarov of the GGS department.
Division G held a product hackathon whose main focus was Simply Clever connectivity, electric mobility and user-vehicle interactions. Attended by, among others, university students, the event produced five ideas that made it as far as the feasibility study stage, including a project of predictive maintenance based on on-board sound analyses, owner-personalised ideas on how to kill time while their electric car is being charged, etc. ŠTĚPÁN VORLÍČEK
Important source of information
Friday, 3 April, saw the end of the Employee Portal and its replacement with ŠKODA Space. The benefits of the new solution became obvious right at the start of the production shutdown: ŠKODA Space is accessible to all employees from their own devices, wherever they are. “We continuously assess feedback received from employees: They have no doubt noticed the new homepage layout, including the resized teaser, the improved shifting functionality and the portlets on the right-hand side”, says Martin Šedivý of SB/4 – HR Digitisation and System Support. His team is now working on document/form search improvements and adaptations aimed at increasing the number of favourite apps and the number of items displayed in the My Tasks portlet.
Effective also remotely
The volume of work from home has increased dramatically during the production shutdown, and the InnoTeam had made use of their vast experience to put together a summary of useful apps, tips and tricks to make your home office work a lot easier.
You can find practical information about working from home at ŠKODA Space
@SMART Apps
Familiarise yourself quickly and easily with internally used abbreviations and check the validity of qualifications and the competence of your team members.
Systemic qualification search engine
Designed to make it easier for superiors to check their subordinates’ qualifications, this tool uses the latest data from SAP and other HR applications. To access this app, go to Online Management. The system shows the current structure. Select the business unit for which you want to display the report concerned; then you can access either the Qualifications Validity Overview or the Qualifications and Competences Summary. The app warns you three months before any qualification approaches the end of validity and the respective employee needs to be trained accordingly.
Glossary
This new app will help you to find your way through abbreviations such as MOAP, A-NE, STC and many more – it is accessible by all employees who use company smartphones, as well as those who are part of the BYOD programme (Bring Your Own Device). “The version for iOS devices is downloadable from Apps@SKODA, the Android one from ŠKODA’s Play Store, subject to having a phone migrated to Android Enterprise”, says Petr Hložek of GMP/1 – Market and Business Intelligence. The app makes it possible to share abbreviations via e-mail, create lists of favourites and use a special feature through which you can take a picture of some text or image with your phone; the app then finds abbreviations automatically.