"The investment has paid off"
Steadily growing mountains of documents and their increasing complexity have led to a complete reorganisation of the mail-receiving process at Otger Terhürne, a timber-processing company. The approximately 3000 documents received each day are now efficiently scanned using an InoTec high-performance scanner and d.capture software, and the information is then archived in read-only format using d.3. The conclusion after 1 year of operation: faster throughput times, lower process costs and an extension of the digital mail-receiving process to further document categories. The costs of the input system had been recouped within 6-9 months.
"The question now is not whether we should restructure the internal mail-receiving process, but rather how we should do this", explains Mike Benning, system administrator for Otger Terhürne, a European market leader in wood panelling, laminated floors and solid wood flooring. He continues: "The IT system used thus far had reached its limits and could no longer keep up with our increasing requirements".
Every day, about 3000 documents require processing at the company's headquarters in Südlohn in North-Rhine Westphalia. The documents range from order confirmations to standard paper, from delivery notes in DIN A5 format to packing slips on very thin copy paper. These heterogeneous documents were frequently not clearly scanned and "downtimes and maintenance reached a level that was no longer acceptable", according to Mike Benning.
The old input system was also unable to integrate further document categories or to cope with larger document volumes. There was also a need for improvement in the work process: Incoming mail had to be manually sorted by the various divisions before scanning. "Our mail-receiving process was inefficient, required too much effort and resulted in correspondingly high costs", Mike Benning sums up the situation. "Made in Germany" is convincing
As its DMS software, Terhürne makes use of the d.3 system marketed by d.velop AG, as well as of the d.capture scanning module made by the same company. When choosing the document scanner, special emphasis was placed on a high scanning speed, reliability and flexibility.
At the end of the selection process, the InoTec 401 high-performance scanner was leading in all these categories. The InoTec scanner digitalises up to 80 pages per minute during operation - twice the previous scanning speed. If the document volumes increase further in future, a speed upgrade will bring relief.
InoTec also collected plus points for its equipment quality. Only solid, recyclable materials are used instead of plastic. The major scanner components can simply be unscrewed, repaired or replaced as necessary. At InoTec, "Made in Germany" stands for high product quality as well as for first-class service. A high-capacity problem-solving procedure ensures the smooth operation of the scanners. It was also important to Mike Benning that he could fall back on InoTec's skills as a contact partner in the event of questions.
During the test, the scanner had to prove that it could reliably process even heterogeneous documents - a task that had not been adequately carried out in the past. This challenge, too, was successfully mastered. "All documents 'fed' into the InoTec scanner were flawlessly scanned - regardless of their type", reports Mike Benning.
The reliable feeding system is based on an internally developed system of rollers and belts, which makes it possible to regulate the pressure exerted on the documents in the smallest possible steps. Paper Flow Control (PFC) is used to check the paper throughput, from feeding to ejection, and provides graphic information in the event of a fault. Specially adjustable ultrasound sensors are used to detect double-page feeding.
Despite all these product benefits, Mike Benning had to take into account another important purchasing criterion: "The acquisition costs for the new scanning solution were higher than originally planned". Ultimately, however, he calculated that work productivity would be clearly higher and that the mail-receiving process could be optimised, which would mean that the scanner system would pay for itself within a short time. Now, after one year of operation, it is clear that his optimism was justified: "The investment has paid off", is Mike Benning's positive conclusion.
All incoming documents - whether letters, invoices or delivery notes - are sent to the central scanning service. Here the documents are sorted by procedure and then processed in batches. To separate the steps of the scanning process, the input solution works with self-generated barcode sheets. The operator only has to place the batch of documents prepared in this way into the scanner and to press the start button. The d.capture software controls the scanner and stores the digitalised documents in the archive. If necessary, individual documents can be quickly and easily retrieved by using an efficient search function.
"The new scanning solution not only provides a significantly better image quality, but has clearly accelerated the entire work process", Mike Benning emphasises. The practical example he quotes relate to complex documents as well as to very thin paper.
The old scanner could not scan these documents. "We therefore first had to copy the corresponding documents and then scan them, which was time-consuming. The InoTec scanners, on the other hand, can process a large variety of document types without problems", explains Mike Benning.
Another major increase in quality was achieved by scanning in copy paper. In the past, the images obtained were merely black, whereas now all information is easily legible. Thanks to the high image quality of the InoTec scanners, several new document categories such as credit insurance could be integrated into the digital mail-processing procedure.
"When we used the old system, we needed an entire day to scan the 3000 documents, whereas today this volume can be handled in a single morning", reports Mike Benning. Doubling the number of documents to 6000 per day is therefore already in the pipeline.
"If the above-mentioned advantages are compared to the investment costs, we can assume a payback period of 6-9 months", Mike Benning sums up the situation.
The utilisation of OCR technologies to continue the automation of the mail-receiving process is still in the planning phase. The overall goal may be described as "early scanning".
This process involves:
Even if this scenario can only be realised at some stage in the future, Mike Benning knows that he is well-equipped for all eventualities: "The new input solution means that we are well-prepared for anything, that is, higher document volumes or the further optimisation of work processes when processing incoming mail".
