Case study

Vitakraft U.S. revolutionized maintenance with QRmaint

QRmaint has exceeded our expectations in every way. It is so well designed and effective that I can confidently say it is the best software I have ever worked with.

Brian A. Pierce – Vitakraft, U.S.

For a global leader like Vitakraft , the pursuit of excellence isn’t just about the quality of pet food—it’s also about the efficiency of the machinery and infrastructure that produce it. When the company’s US branch decided to move away from outdated processes, they found a solution that proved groundbreaking in improving their production operations .

With a history spanning nearly two centuries, Vitakraft is more than just a brand—it’s a pioneer in the global pet industry. Founded in 1837 by Heinrich Wührmann as a small feed store in Heiligenrode, Germany, the company has evolved over generations through constant innovation. From the industrialization of production in 1929 to its expansion across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, Vitakraft has remained committed to pet welfare.

Today, as part of the Tiernahrung Deuerer Group, Bremen-based PFI Vitakraft GmbH manages a massive global operation. With over 1,100 employees and a presence in 20 countries, the company delivers approximately 1.2 million products daily . To maintain this massive production scale while maintaining a long-standing tradition of quality, Vitakraft relies on state-of-the-art operating tools – and this is where the partnership with QRmaint and Vitakraft USA plays a key role .

Here’s how one of the most recognizable brands in the pet industry transformed its maintenance department.

Challenge: Saying goodbye to “cumbersome” systems

Before implementing QRmaint, the maintenance team at Vitakraft US struggled with a system that was rarely used and poorly reviewed. Like many industrial facilities, the company faced classic challenges:

Lack of centralization: Lack of dedicated, effective task tracking software.
Low adoption: Team members found previous attempts at CMMS implementation too difficult to use.
Data visibility gaps: Difficulty planning preventative maintenance and tracking spare parts.

Solution: Why QRmaint?

After analyzing the market, Vitakraft selected QRmaint for its unique combination of usability, functionality, and reliability . The goal was to find a solution that wouldn’t be just a “dead” tool, but a real support for technical staff in their daily work.

Key Results and Benefits

Since its implementation, the American branch has seen a radical change in work organization:

Intuitive processes: Reporting faults and scheduling preventive maintenance (PM) has become a seamless task, not an administrative burden.
Efficiency with QR codes: The team used QR codes to make spare parts inventory management incredibly simple and transparent.
Cloud access: The ability to manage tasks from anywhere has meant that management does not have to be constantly tied to a desk.
High team engagement: While changing habits is always the hardest part, the intuitive interface quickly turned even reluctant users into enthusiastic system enthusiasts. A voice from the front lines

“Of the many CMMS solutions available, QRmaint stood out for its best combination of usability, features, and reliability. We hadn’t used any dedicated maintenance software before (we had a cumbersome, rarely used system with a poor reputation), but we knew it was time to take the leap—and we couldn’t be happier with our decision.

From the very beginning, working with QRmaint has been a pleasure. The software is incredibly intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy for our team to log issues, schedule preventative maintenance, and seamlessly track work orders. The use of QR codes makes tracking spare parts inventory incredibly easy to manage and maintain. Cloud-based access allows us to manage tasks from anywhere, while automated notifications and powerful reporting tools help us stay organized and optimize the performance of our equipment. Beyond the software itself, the customer service is the best I’ve ever experienced. They clearly have a personal commitment to our success using their system.

— Brian A. Pierce, Vitakraft, U.S. division

Summary

For Vitakraft, switching to QRmaint wasn’t just a software purchase—it was a qualitative change. Thanks to exemplary customer service and a platform designed with real-world needs in mind, the company successfully optimized the performance of its devices and streamlined its future plans.

“QRmaint exceeded our expectations in every way. It’s so well-designed and effective that I can confidently say it’s the best software I’ve ever worked with. I’ll definitely recommend it to all my friends in the industry. If there’s a challenge, it’s simply getting people used to it—but that’s always the hardest part with any new system. Fortunately, QRmaint makes this transition as smooth as possible with an intuitive interface that instantly turns even the most hesitant users into active advocates. It’s truly groundbreaking.

— Brian A. Pierce, Vitakraft, U.S. division

Learn from our clients and their stories

We work with different sized businesses and all types of industries. The thing they all have in common is that they trusted us to keep their equipments and properties safe and sound.

Interesting insights into optimizing charging infrastructure with software. Does QRmaint meet all our requirements and enable us to meet the challenges of modern maintenance in multiple locations at the same time? We believe that QRmaint is a key element in ensuring that our conveyors and sorting systems are in the right condition so that we can keep our quality promises to our customers in the future.

Sandro Wanko

Manager

QRmaint znacząco uprościł nasze procesy utrzymania ruchu. Wszystkie zadania, awarie i przeglądy są teraz centralnie rejestrowane, przejrzyste i w każdej chwili możliwe do zweryfikowania. Aplikacja mobilna oszczędza czas w codziennej pracy, a przejrzysta struktura zapewnia większą efektywność i mniej przestojów.

Felix Jakob

Prokurent

The support is impeccable and always has an open ear for questions and ideas, and the SaaS structure means that there are always extensions available

Maintenance Technology Team

Schäfer Metallurgie GmbH Hennef

I think the UR department's biggest challenge is to organize its work in a way that allows it to get ahead of corrective actions through prevention and prediction. In this way, the UR department prevents unplanned machine downtime from occurring. This comes from the fact that when we have very little time to produce goods and deliver them to the customer, every minute of downtime is very costly.

Jakub Skowroński

Optimization coordinator

I see a big improvement, especially in the speed with which employees report faults. In the past, it used to happen that we had already taken action and completed the repair long before we received a formal report. Now this happens much, much less often (...)

Maciej Szypryt

Maintenance Engineer at Keylite Roof Windows

The QRmaint system is certainly a great convenience for all employees, as they no longer have to manually note down all the activities they perform during the day. All they have to do is enter the data into the system, and then they can easily download a comprehensive report of their work.

Szymon Wąsik

Head of Maintenance Department

QRmaint has significantly improved our workflow, especially in terms of recording key data for annual reviews. The ability to track and document issues has proven invaluable, providing valuable information to optimize operations. The system provides excellent value, and its benefits are evident.

Josh Magkasi

Engineer Technician

The biggest benefit for me in QRmaint is the attachments that I attach scans to, and the comments that keep me up to date with what's going on at the booth. These hints from the comments, which appear in the cloud, allow me to see in real time what is going on.

Agnieszka Stachowicz

Systems assistant for maintenance

The QRmaint system significantly improves our processes. It gives us better control over submissions, reviews and resources. The system also enables us to analyze data, which allows us to optimize costs and make better decisions. QRmaint's mobile application facilitates the work of our technicians in the field, giving them access to the necessary information in real time. In our experience, accessing the protocol in the app alone saves us about 30 minutes to 60 minutes per inspection.

Daniel Małysa

CEO of ProFM

One of the most valuable features of the QRmaint system for us, turned out to be the ability to comment on requests and attach photos and videos. This visual form of communication has significantly sped up the process of diagnosing problems. Instead of describing a malfunction in words, employees can now present it in a pictorial manner, which eliminates misunderstandings and allows for faster understanding of the problem.

Tomasz Bartkowski

Brand Manager at Bartkowscy Bakery

We are thrilled with the simplicity and effectiveness of the program! After only a short time, we noticed a significant improvement in our internal processes.

Christopher Stinges

Sales Manager and Certified Bread Sommelier

We analyzed the market. We wanted to choose a service where price goes hand in hand with quality. We had one assumption - we have to understand the program in an hour. If we don't understand it in that time, it is not for us. QRmaint is a very clear program, made for Maintenance. Here there was no problem.

Jarosław Kurach

Maintenance coordinator

The system was very well received, and its implementation went smoothly. It won high praise among the auditors. In particular, in our case, the function of viewing the machinery park on interactive plans and the overall presentation of the most important information from the UR department proved very useful.

Marcel Menne

Head of maintenance

Customers quickly notice when equipment is damaged, and this can negatively affect our image. With QRmaint, defects are fixed in no time, which increases the number of people using our clubs.

Anna Socha

Manager

The QRmaint system is a piece of software that perfectly satisfies the needs of Industry 4.0.

Tomasz Wachowski

Deputy Technical Director

We plan to continue developing and using QRmaint to its full potential. Our goal is to further streamline maintenance processes, as well as to incorporate additional functions that will support warehouse management and other areas of the business. We are currently implementing a fault reporting process.

Raphael Groß

Employee of the Design Department

If someone wasn't responsible for the part in stock, we bought new ones. We generated additional costs. The second thing when it comes to the warehouse - in a situation where we have a description of the parts and we have them cataloged in the program, so that there will be no problem with purchasing the same ones. You don't have to look for them. They are sufficient in the program.

Tomasz Jaroszewski

Associate Manager of the Maintenance Department

The most important part for me is that my employees know how many work orders are left to be completed and what the priorities are. Technicians have access to all tasks in real time. We have basically completely eliminated situations which would occur frequently in the past, e.g. certain work orders were often missed, overlooked or entirely forgotten.

Arkadiusz Tetloch

Manager of Maintenance and Innovation

We wholeheartedly recommend QRmaint to other manufacturing companies. The system facilitates interdepartmental communication and offers many useful features that improve work efficiency.

Klaudia Mielczarek

Maintenance and Facility Specialist

The Qrmaint system, which was implemented in our business, has greatly enhanced both the work of our Maintenance team and the team's response to persistent production difficulties.

Rafał Topolski

Production Process Optimisation Engineer

Thanks to the QRmaint CMMS system we could finally forget filling out tons of paper. We now have easy access to the history of failures, repairs and services. Also the response time to each reported failure has been significantly reduced.

Anna Ciesielska

Process Engineer

Reporting a failure by scanning the QR code on the machine has technically ruled out any inaccuracies concerning the device affected by the problem submitted. Saving all the requests within the system results in an excellent overview of which machines are causing issues the most.

Krzysztof JANIK

Automation Service Supervisor

I divide my work at the company into 2 stages: 1. Numerous pointless phone calls, constant updates on the status of fault rectification, and a vast array of issues that went unresolved existed prior to the implementation of QRmaint. 2. When QRmaint is used, everyone is interested in staying informed, the ability to focus attention on pertinent issues, and 100% of reported issues are resolved.

Aleksander Penkowski

Head of the maintenance

I set up QRmaint myself in one evening, and already in the following days there were reports of failures by technicians and serial workers :)

Tomasz Pruszyński

Production Director

The QRmaint system replaced hundreds of emails, which, regardless of the subject matter, were sent to everyone on the list, instead of just to the individuals they were intended for. Previously, when the failure had already been taken care of, nobody really knew about it. Today we have an insight on an up to date status of each failure.

Mariusz Staniszewski

IT Department Manager

The system works flawlessly. The reaction time of our teams has significantly decreased. This is a much better communication model than phones and writing notes.

Maciej Hartfil

Dean, University of Physical Education, Warsaw

From the moment the Qrmaint system has been implemented at our company, it is still being adjusted to our needs - the functions are being adapted to the specifics of our industry, e.g.: there was no schedule in place when we got the program off the ground but now it not only exists- it looks pretty much like a Google calendar.

Jacek Turkowski

Property Maintenance Coordinator

QRmaint has proven to be a reliable, flexible company that is responsive to user ideas and feedback. The system has made our work easier, and its reporting functionalities have been well received by our clients.

Sławomir Pinkowski

SEO

The QRmaint system increased the competitiveness of our services within the property management industry. In addition to standard maintenance services, we can now provide our clients with a tool allowing them to quickly report any failures that may occur and to report on the work performed on their property.

Mateusz Czerwiński

The implementation of the QRmaint application turned out to be THE solution for the greatest challenge of all: instant damage control. The next step in the implementation will be to use it to support the work of those managing cleaning service companies.

Pawel Migacz

Managing Director

For us, every minute of downtime represents a very high cost factor. At this point, thanks to the QRmaint system, we have a close eye on operations and can even measure micro downtime of machines when a fault occurs that the machine operator fixes himself. As we can now also accurately measure repair turnaround times, we are able to introduce an efficient remuneration and reward system for the maintenance team.

Marcin Sikora

Maintenance Manager

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