Case Study: Optics Balzers achieves Industry 4.0 readiness and process transparency with iGrafx

Optics Balzers, the high-quality optical component specialist, takes a big step towards Industry 4.0 by making its processes transparent with iGrafx

Optics Balzers, a leading high‑precision optical component specialist with around 500 employees and three production sites, faced growing complexity as its business expanded: offers and supply management lacked transparency, process documentation was managed in Word, approvals and links between processes, risks and KPIs were not mappable. To move toward Industry 4.0 and gain clear, auditable process control, Optics Balzers chose the iGrafx process management platform to replace ad‑hoc workflows and enable role‑based, web‑published process documentation.

iGrafx was used to migrate and standardize processes to BPMN 2.0, add web publishing, role‑based access and integrated approval workflows, and deploy dashboards and automated reviews. As a result Optics Balzers now has a fully integrated process landscape (rolled out at Balzers and Jena), automated document reapproval cycles (at least every 24 months), risk reviews every 6 months (high) or 12 months (low), simplified ISO 9001/IATF 16949 audits, faster onboarding and clearer KPIs — outcomes the company says exceed its original objectives and have led it to expand iGrafx as a central management tool.