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SANTA BARBARA, CA - Earle M. Jorgensen Co.
(EMJ) was chosen as one of the InfoWorld 100 companies for
their innovative and inspiring use of information technology
(IT). EMJ is a leading manufacturer of precision
crafted steel for wholesale, retail and distribution with
annual sales of over $1 billion. Key to EMJ's breakthrough
IT is IMAGE-X's core software integration system
for scanning and retrieving documents and IMAGE-X's
Enterprise Edition Document Software.
"The results of this project did not just meet, but
exceeded our expectations," stated Solomon Legesse,
Special Project Manager, EMJ. The imaging solution connects
34 sites with one document imaging system. The IMAGE-X
optical system supports 2300 users who can print
and fax documents from any jukebox to any of their locations
in the US and Canada. The new system links all of EMJ's
operations, procedures and information from sales through
distribution, testing procedures and analysis. EMJ receives
anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 orders a day. Almost a third
of those orders have to be customized to meet the client's
needs. That's a lot of paperwork.
EMJ was challenged by the need to maintain speedy, efficient
customer service without compromising the essential accuracy
of specification orders. Like diamonds or pedigreed Shar-Peis,
steel products must be accompanied by certificates that prove
their history and authenticity. Without papers, manufacturers
that require precise tolerances from materials, such as Boeing,
won't touch the stuff. Imaging the documents and placing them
online makes it possible for both EMJ and customers to check
the paperwork at any time to verify the steel materials. This
innovation also has allowed EMJ to consolidate all materials-verification
personnel into a single office to improve efficiency.*
Costly Delays
Improving customer service was priority one, according
to Legesse. The ability to provide the mill specification
reports is critical. Delays in providing these reports -
not infrequently up to one business day - could and did
cost the company an estimated $12,000 in sales per facility,
per month. The IMAGE-X document Imaging
System allows the distributor to scan, store, retrieve,
and print or fax mill test reports with less paperwork,
manual filing, and storing, making it possible to regain
any report almost instantaneously. In addition to the reduction
of lost sales, Jorgensen is now saving over $100,000 annually
in data entry costs.
Interesting Innovators, Elegant Technology
"We chose IMAGE-X for two reasons,
1). The strength of being a small vendor allowed them to
focus primarily on EMJ using full flexibility and creativity
and, by virtue of the firm's size, the ability to respond
quickly to our needs. 2). More importantly, we wanted to
maintain our current database, tying the application to
link document management with the order processing system,
without adding another database, as some of the larger vendors
recommended, states Legesse.
The company now provides some of the best customer service
in the industry. EMJ has increased both revenues and sales
while simultaneously dramatically diminishing the number of
staffers needed to run the ordering process. According to
Legesse, workflow across the company is better than ever.
InfoWorld 100 judges looked at how IT leaders are using technology
in an innovative fashion to solve today's toughest business
problems. Kathy Lou Schultz, editor, InfoWorld Magazine, explains
that "Rather than defining where we thought innovation
was taking place, we went to our readers to tell us. We took
nominations via telephone, e-mail, and a dedicated Web site.
We received many excellent entries in the areas of year-2000
fixes, remote-access solutions, and Web-based projects including
business-to-business Internet-commerce sites, and sophisticated
Intranet architectures." An InfoWorld editorial review
team chose the 1998 InfoWorld 100 winners from 300 entries
Winners were selected based on the complexity of the business
problem and solution, as well as the business benefits of
the project.
"The entries show examples of courage in the face of
seemingly insurmountable problems, creativity on a shoestring
budget, and effective uses of cutting-edge technologies,"
states Schultz. IMAGE-X is a nationally renowned full-service
document management company. The firm won the 1998 Process
Innovation Award for the superior application of information
technology to solve business problems and also received Advance
Imaging Magazine's Solution of the Year award. Clients include
American Airlines, Nordstrom, US Tax Court, Universities,
as well as European and Asian clients.
IMAGE-X is strategic business partners with
companies such as IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard,
Data General, Compaq, SUN Microsystems, Microsoft, Novell,
Computer Associates, Oracle, Sybase, Progress, Fujitsu, Kodak
among others.
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