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Company Snapshot
Industry: Manufacturing (Decorative Laminates & Worktop Panels)
Location: Brandenburg, Germany
Group: Kronospan
Use Case: Final product inspection of laminated panels and surfaces
Tool Replaced: Paper-based checklists and Excel sheets
Results: Faster inspections, less paper, better traceability, improved audit experience
About SPRELA
For more than 130 years, SPRELA has been shaping surface solutions for industries where durability, design, and hygiene matter most. Based in Brandenburg, Germany, and now part of the Kronospan Group, SPRELA produces decorative high-pressure laminates and compact panels used in kitchens, schools, hospitals, trade fair booths, and even vehicle interiors.
The company operates a fully automated manufacturing process, coating raw particleboard with high-performance laminates that meet stringent DIN EN 438 standards. Up to 5,000 square meters of laminated surface are produced every day — at industrial speed and to industrial precision.
But even in this highly digital environment, one step has remained manual by design: the Final Inspection. Here, the trained eyes of SPRELA’s quality team are essential to detect flaws that machines might miss. And that’s where flowdit (formerly firstaudit) came in — helping the human touch become more efficient, structured, and auditable.
The Challenge: Manual Inspections in an Automated World
SPRELA’s Final Inspection team plays a critical role in safeguarding product quality. Each batch of laminated worktops and surfaces undergoes a thorough review before leaving the factory. Visual checks, edge evaluations, surface assessments — all need to be documented carefully.
Until recently, that documentation was entirely paper-based. Printed forms were filled out by hand. Notes were sometimes unclear. Photo documentation had to be taken separately and matched manually. Reports were filed away in binders, then searched, scanned, or recompiled again later — especially when customer audits required specific proof points.
“We were confident in our inspections,” said a member of the quality assurance team. “But the process of showing that confidence — of proving what we saw and did — was inefficient.”
In addition to being time-consuming, the paper-based approach had its risks. Reports could be misplaced. Handwriting could be misinterpreted. And generating summaries of inspections across a month or quarter meant pulling out binders and working backwards. It worked — but it didn’t scale.
The Need for Change: From Gut Feeling to Digital Confidence
The leadership team at SPRELA knew the company needed a smarter way to document inspections — not just for efficiency, but for credibility.
The requirements were clear:
- A mobile, easy-to-use system for inspectors on the shop floor
- A way to capture findings, including images, directly during the check
- The ability to adapt templates for different customer requirements
- A centralized, searchable archive for internal use and customer audits
- Integration with SPRELA’s internal server environment for data control
That’s when they found flowdit — a digital inspection platform previously known as firstaudit, designed for quality-focused manufacturing environments.
Implementing flowdit: Inspections that Work Like the People Who Run Them
The implementation of flowdit began with the Final Inspection department. Together with the flowdit team, SPRELA translated their existing inspection checklists into digital templates. These mirrored the familiar workflow but brought structure, clarity, and flexibility to the process.
Instead of carrying clipboards, inspectors now walk the line with tablets in hand. Each inspection point is completed in real time. If a surface is scratched, it’s photographed directly in the app and linked to the checklist. If a measurement is out of spec, it’s logged and flagged instantly.
flowdit also allows dynamic updates. New product lines or specific customer requests? Parameters can be edited and saved in seconds. There’s no need to print new forms or retrain the team — the logic is built right into the app.
The system runs on SPRELA’s internal infrastructure, ensuring secure storage and full compliance with corporate data protocols.
The Results: A New Standard for Final Inspections
flowdit brought immediate improvements to SPRELA’s daily work. Documentation time decreased. Paper usage was nearly eliminated. Findings were saved consistently and securely, with full traceability — including timestamps, photos, and reviewer names.
The quality team now evaluates results monthly with a few clicks, instead of flipping through folders. Customers can receive digital summaries, complete with visual evidence and structured commentary. And when audits happen, the team has nothing to scramble for — the records are there, clear and complete.
Highlights of the transformation include:
- Time savings during documentation and post-inspection reporting
- Flexible templates for customer-specific quality standards
- Secure storage on SPRELA’s server system
- Transparency and professionalism during customer audits
- Better collaboration between inspectors, supervisors, and the QA team
Importantly, the change has also been well-received internally. The inspection team didn’t just accept the digital shift — they embraced it. With less paperwork and easier workflows, inspectors can now focus on what they do best: applying their experience and judgment to ensure product excellence.
“Our product quality was always high,” the quality manager shared. “But now, we can document it in a way that matches that level — and share it with our customers in a format they immediately understand and trust.”
Looking Ahead: Beyond Final Inspection
Currently, flowdit is used to document final inspections of laminated surfaces and panels. But SPRELA is already considering the next steps. The system’s adaptability opens doors to other quality-related processes, including incoming goods inspection, internal audits, and machine maintenance tracking.
As part of the Kronospan Group, SPRELA continues to set high standards in quality and performance. With flowdit in place, those standards are no longer just met — they’re proven, shared, and continuously improved.
Still relying on paper to prove quality during your final inspection?
