Thought leadership

Sponsored by APIS North America

APiS North America, LLC

An emergency drill onboard AIDAsol cruise ship in 2019. Image: MikhailBerkut / Shutterstock.com

For all of us in the automotive industry, the past year has been a journey filled with continuous challenges and changes to accommodate them. There were plants shut down, retooling for the production of personal protection equipment and ventilators, and reopening of closed plants with safety precautions in place to maintain a safe work environment. The Failure Mode Effect Analysis took on an important role in ensuring plants’ processes were maintained throughout all of this change. It has been a time of great growth as well, both professionally and personally for so many. We will all be stronger for this past year, I am confident, but for many there was a lot of change that was difficult. We worked with our customers to maintain consistency and ways to ensure that all quality and safety was maintained and also expanded to meet today’s new challenges.


As an introduction to our role in the automotive industry, APiS North America is the Americas’ distributor of the IQ-Software and we provide IQ-Software, training, consulting, and support to our customers in North and South America. We have worked with our customers since our inception in 2016. Our team works to implement, maintain, and grow companies’ quality and safety programs. 


The APiS North America Basic DFMEA and PFMEA training is offered in both English and Spanish, which is invaluable to the teams that span across the territories we serve. We offer Advanced IQ-Software training, consulting, and expert best practice work for the APiS North America customers. APIS® IQ-Software drives critical thinking to ensure that reviews are thorough, robust, usable across product lines and is easily reportable to management and the users’ customers and the APiS North America team provides the expertise to maximize the effectiveness. The combination of the tool and engineering and quality and safety expertise, reduces waste, increases productivity, and ensures that the standards and requirements of the industry are met.


As the demand for the IQ-Software continues to increase throughout North America, the demand to deliver the most effective training solutions and consultation services continues to grow. Our team provides training to global companies to meet the needs of their quality and safety programs and maintain our services through web based delivery since our industries pivoted in early 2020. From the beginning, APiS North America has consistently driven customer needs into the IQ-Software’s capability and functionality and we have provided this without disruption.


The APiS North America parent company, APIS® Informationstechnologien GmbH in Wörth, Germany, and APIS Information Technologies (Shanghai) Ltd, in Shanghai, China and our team have maintained our strong, and growing, presence across the globe. All three locations function remotely when required and even hosted our 2020 IQ-Software User Conferences through virtual delivery. In 2021, we anticipate the 4th annual APiS North America IQ-Software User Conference will have the possibility of a hybrid delivery through a virtual platform that will provide the best option with the current uncertainties.


Our many years of experience, customer development, additional industries, and implementation of new service offerings provide our customers. The knowledge that we are a very well respected, trusted, and robust team and addition to the APIS® company is important for our customers and interested customers. We will provide each with the best customer service each and every time we represent ourselves, the IQ-Software, and the APIS® legacy.


The IQ-Software provides flexibility for companies’ implementation and a cost effective way to implement the robust functionality and utilize it to meet the needs of each specific industry, customer, and user. The IQ-FMEA® and IQ-RM® licenses will provide a robust 7-step methodology as met by the AIAG and VDA FMEA Methodology. Global companies have the ability to work together using the 23 supported languages, including unicode for Asian languages with the PRO expansion stage of each, and the flexible server access within companies’ own networks to ensure the highest safety and confidentiality of the data’s security.


APiS North America’s mission is “to revolutionize how our customers leverage FMEAs within their risk management & functional safety efforts to improve their products and processes through our offering of innovative, high quality software products, expert training & consulting, and impeccable attention to customer service”. The APIS® IQ-Software and the APiS North America, LLC team will provide best practices for your organization’s quality and safety program.


To learn more about the IQ-Software and the APiS North America services visit www.apis-iq.com and contact info@apis-iq.com



APIS ® is a registered trademark of APIS Informationstechnologien GmbH IQ-RM®, IQ-FMEA®, and CARM® are registered trademarks of APIS Informationstechnologien GmbH

Muster 2.0 removes friction on board

When looking at the new Muster 2.0 drill process in the context of Royal Caribbean’s digital transformation, it is a natural development for a company striving to reduce passenger friction on board.


“The innovative programme is the first of its kind and reimagines a process originally designed for larger groups of people into a faster, more personal approach that encourages higher levels of safety,” says Royal Caribbean’s vice president of sales Ben Bouldin for Europe Middle East and Africa.

The safety drill has always put a pause on the cruise experience

Over the last few years reducing friction has been the focus of Royal Caribbean’s digital department and the goal of the Royal app, which, among other features, allows guests to avoid queues by finding out information and booking dinner tables, activities, excursions and shows online.


In 2018, at the launch of Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of digital Jay Schneider explained to Future Cruise that building guest products that “get people out of lines and let people enjoy their vacation first and foremost” has been one of his main missions.


Recently he said that: “Muster 2.0 represents a natural extension of our mission to improve our guests’ vacation experiences by removing points of friction.”

Ben Bouldin is Royal Caribbean’s vice president sales for Europe Middle East and Africa. Image: Royal Caribbean

Schneider and Nick Weir, the senior vice president of entertainment at Royal Caribbean were instrumental to the development of Muster 2.0. Weir is behind some of the most original and innovative entertainment experiences guests can have at sea and has successfully mixed and transitioned formats and blended technology into traditional structures, such as turning an on-board ice rink into laser tag, back again into an ice show with synchronised drones and moving image effects such as those that transform the ice into an emotive Arctic whale scene.


“The safety drill has always put a pause on the cruise experience, and I felt like it could be more efficient,” explains Nick. When he was a cruise director he explains how he was responsible for the welcome party as well as drill announcements which always brought a halt to the fun as guests were starting to enjoy themselves.


“I happened to be outside on one hot, sweaty day during the drill, and I thought why not put it all on a device so it can be done individually and monitored? Technology naturally played a big part, location services on smartphones is essential, and a big team at Royal Caribbean came together to make it happen.”

Muster 2.0 removes friction on board

When looking at the new Muster 2.0 drill process in the context of Royal Caribbean’s digital transformation, it is a natural development for a company striving to reduce passenger friction on board.


“The innovative programme is the first of its kind and reimagines a process originally designed for larger groups of people into a faster, more personal approach that encourages higher levels of safety,” says Royal Caribbean’s vice president of sales Ben Bouldin for Europe Middle East and Africa.

The safety drill has always put a pause on the cruise experience

Over the last few years reducing friction has been the focus of Royal Caribbean’s digital department and the goal of the Royal app, which, among other features, allows guests to avoid queues by finding out information and booking dinner tables, activities, excursions and shows online.


In 2018, at the launch of Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of digital Jay Schneider explained to Future Cruise that building guest products that “get people out of lines and let people enjoy their vacation first and foremost” has been one of his main missions.


Recently he said that: “Muster 2.0 represents a natural extension of our mission to improve our guests’ vacation experiences by removing points of friction.”

Ben Bouldin is Royal Caribbean’s vice president sales for Europe Middle East and Africa. Image: Royal Caribbean

Schneider and Nick Weir, the senior vice president of entertainment at Royal Caribbean were instrumental to the development of Muster 2.0. Weir is behind some of the most original and innovative entertainment experiences guests can have at sea and has successfully mixed and transitioned formats and blended technology into traditional structures, such as turning an on-board ice rink into laser tag, back again into an ice show with synchronised drones and moving image effects such as those that transform the ice into an emotive Arctic whale scene.


“The safety drill has always put a pause on the cruise experience, and I felt like it could be more efficient,” explains Nick. When he was a cruise director he explains how he was responsible for the welcome party as well as drill announcements which always brought a halt to the fun as guests were starting to enjoy themselves.


“I happened to be outside on one hot, sweaty day during the drill, and I thought why not put it all on a device so it can be done individually and monitored? Technology naturally played a big part, location services on smartphones is essential, and a big team at Royal Caribbean came together to make it happen.”