Safety and customs processes in order at stevedoring firm RST

RST, Rotterdam Shortsea Terminals B.V., is Europe’s largest short sea container transshipment company. Container transshipment is a delicate process where the tiniest error can have major consequences. RST therefore keeps a close eye on its processes and activities using, among other things, Sensus process management.

AEO certification
Their reason for taking up process management in such thorough fashion was, according to Jojan van Dokkum, Quality Manager at RST, to attain AEO certification (Authorized Economic Operator). “This is an important certificate in our industry. This certificate, which we were awarded in 2011, confirms that we meet a number of important safety and trade requirements, and are therefore audited by customs less often. This is on the condition that you have your processes in order, that anyone at the company can access these processes, and that you structurally improve your processes. That has all been taken care of in Sensus-software.” “We want everyone to be able to freely access process descriptions and additional information to foster process-based operations. A link on the Intranet makes processes easy to find for anyone through a personalised visual navigation structure. Operational staff at the port does, of course, not have access to a computer, which is why we have installed several kiosks at the company restaurant to enable operational staff to consult process descriptions.”

Improvement through internal audits
After they had digitalised processes in Sensus-software, RST set up an audit team. Made up of employees from different echelons of the organisation, this team audits not only their own activities but also a number of processes every month. “For these audits, the auditor and I speak to 2 or 3 employees who play a role in a specific process, such as a desk clerk or crane manager.” The audit team will formulate their objective beforehand: what do we want to find out? The resulting audit report is subsequently submitted to the responsible parties within a process, the departmental heads. Possible points for improvement that can be tackled will, as standard, be evaluated 3 months down the line. “Before we get to that evaluation date, I always perform interim status checks for improvements, to see whether they are handled correctly. Auditing is truly enjoyable and informative. You obtain information from all layers of the company and have a chance to really improve processes!”

“External auditors have also found Sensus-software to be a highly valuable addition. I can print all reports from the Sensus-software and get one single process performance overview. And whenever safety at our site is audited by the environmental protection agency (DCMR), it is extremely easy to show them the safety sheet with all safety procedures, and we can prove that we audit these procedures. This also makes their job a lot easier!”

Contingency processes
Particularly important are contingency handling procedures. “Any incident at the terminal will immediately be reported to the planner on duty by radio/phone. A fire, for example. This doesn’t happen very often, and that makes it particularly important that the procedure be easy to find. All required documentation, such as important phone numbers and safety plans, can also instantly be found here. If you follow the procedure as described, nothing can go wrong in handling a contingency. That’s very important in such situations!”

What it delivers
“Process management is extremely useful to us. Apart from staying compliant with the requirements of important certificates, we are also trying to improve the quality of the organisation as whole. We delve deeper into processes and working methods, which enables us to achieve real change in the organisation. This is where real value is added for us. On top of that, we also use Sensus-software as a documentation management system. All important documentation is managed by 2 persons. This will eventually save employees a lot of time and hassle: anyone can look up up-to-date documents and forms themselves.” “However, it is essential that you free someone up to set up and maintain such a project, as it is not something you do ‘on the side’. If you do it well, there is plenty to gain from process management!”

Sensus-software
Jojan is highly enthusiastic about working with Sensus-software. “The power of this software lies in its clarity. The layout of the publication is fully customisable; using an image as a navigation icon just makes for a more appealing user experience. And the notes feature enables in-depth scrutiny of a process. I myself have created a number of template fields, such as the last audit date, next audit date, process responsibilities, departments involved, KPIs, etc. We use these to make processes measurable and easily assign responsibilities. Sensus-software lends itself perfectly to that!”