FileNexus® Document Management Solution Drives Mack Canada and Volvo Trucks Canada Inc.

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Mack Canada Inc. and Volvo Trucks Canada Inc. rolled out the FileNexus® document management solution, eanbling the company to lower off-site filing storage costs, and increase overall efficiency by reducing manual workloads.

Technological development has barely made a dent in the mountain of paper generated by the typical office. Employees at many organizations are still spending valuable time filing, and sifting through file cabinets or off-site file storage facilities in search of crucial documents.

One organization determined to battle the paper-file bulge, and shed the high cost and productivity losses associated with manual filing, is Mack Canada Inc. and Volvo Trucks Canada Inc. Mack Canada Inc. and Volvo Trucks Canada Inc. are part of the Volvo Group of companies, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. With 2004 sales of approximately $28 billion, Volvo’s business areas include heavy trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace, and financial services.

Getting into Gear
In 2002, the two companies moved into a new location in Mississauga, Ontario. Gail Stockman, Manager, Information Services was with Mack Trucks before the integration. She knew that there had to be a way to reduce the filing nightmare caused by amalgamating two companies’ worth of paper into one office.

“After the integration, the filing problem became worse because we were generating about 100 per cent more paper documents than Mack Trucks had been creating as a standalone company. We needed a powerful, cost effective solution that would help our organization reduce the time spent filing and retrieving documents.”
Gail Stockman, Manager, Information Services
Mack Canada Inc./Volvo Trucks Canada Inc.

In early 2003, Mack Canada Inc. and Volvo Trucks Canada Inc. made two corporatewide decisions: to create a “paperless” working environment, and to no longer send documents to off-site storage facilities. It was estimated that the organization was spending between $3,000 and $4,000 per month to store older data off-site. Some of this information needed to be stored for 20 years, so it was a cost the company had been unable to avoid in the past.

The Rubber Hits the Road
Researching viable solutions led the company to Loris Technologies, a Toronto-based software developer of document management solutions. Its solution FileNexus® is an open document management application for any type of file – electronic, paper, forms, microfilm – from any source, including host systems, PCs, scanned images, e-mails and faxes. Once records are stored using FileNexus®, staff can retrieve files in a secure and easy way using a PC at their desktop.

“Having looked at a variety of solutions from several different vendors, we were impressed with the Loris Technologies FileNexus® product, since it was comprehensive, easy to use and required very little special staff training. And Loris Technologies really stood out among the competition for its ability to operate with the Xerox equipment we already had in place.”
Gail Stockman, Manager, Information Services
Mack Canada Inc./Volvo Trucks Canada Inc.

Going the Distance with FileNexus
The “paperless” process was rolled out in April 2003, when the company began scanning documents to FileNexus® for its finance and service departments. The finance department was generating a massive amount of documents, including invoices, dealer credit notes, and various types of sales information. The service department was also inundated with paper, in the form of hundreds of documents detailing the wide variety of vehicle warranty information.

Working alongside Loris Technologies Inc., the company acted fast and by the fall of 2004, more than 160,000 documents from the two departments had been scanned and archived with FileNexus.

“The biggest challenge has been to get staff to complete the process on a daily basis and scan information as opposed to filing it in a cabinet. The managers of the various departments have seen the benefit of tracking information using FileNexus®, and have been key in getting employees on board.”
Ray Duhamel, Manager, Canadian Systems
Mack Canada Inc./Volvo Trucks Canada Inc.

Driving Further Efficiencies
Beginning in early 2005, Mack Canada Inc. and Volvo Trucks Canada Inc. expanded the reach of FileNexus® into its customs department. Customs is an area that generates a large volume of paper documentation, since the majority of the parts and trucks come from the United States. The volume is so great that paper documentation from the past two years filled 150 file boxes, and there is only one Customs Manager who is responsible for all the information.

The company contracts with a customs broker who is responsible for completing all the paperwork for Canada Customs, and they use an electronic information format on a CD. With FileNexus®, the Customs Manager is now able to insert the CD into a computer drive and information is seamlessly uploaded into the system. FileNexus®, then populates all of the index values from the database provided on the CD and stores and routes the information accordingly. As a result, the company is now able to easily archive the information as well as enable staff to search the documents by a specific date, supplier or truck serial number, freeing up valuable resources and reducing data-management headaches for the Customs Manager. The next phase will be to EDI directly into File Nexus eliminating one more step in the process, making the information available sooner.

Rolling out FileNexus® has enabled Mack Canada Inc. and Volvo Trucks Canada to lower off-site filing storage costs, and increase overall efficiency by reducing manual workloads to give staff more time to focus on important tasks. The future plans are to implement FileNexus® in all the company’s departments, beginning in mid-2005 with the parts marketing department.

“Since implementing FileNexus® in 2003, we have dramatically increased our organization’s ability to retrieve and file information, while also seeing productivity gains in time and resources. We expect to see further cost savings as a result of our paperless environment and the decline in off-site file storage costs.”
Gail Stockman, Manager, Information Services
Mack Canada Inc./Volvo Trucks Canada Inc.

About FileNexus®

The FileNexus® Document Management System gives organizations, both large and small, the ability to capture virtually any type of document from any source (i.e., paper records such as maps, drawings, manuals; electronic files such as host generated reports, client statement streams, IVR recordings, emails, etc.), index and compress them for secure archival and future recall—providing a single cohesive repository for all document management, workflow, archival and business continuity needs.
For more information on how FileNexus® can improve your business efficiency, please visit www.loristech.com, or write to sales@loristech.com.