AECI Explosives has implemented a locally developed document management system from Exsol to manage the explosion of documents being generated by daily business.
An investigation at AECI Explosives had revealed an urgent problem developing in the central distribution centre. With rooms full of cabinets and boxes of delivery and receiving documentation, the situation was untenable. Administration often lacked proof of delivery to customers, double billing occurred and internal deliveries went astray. Staff spent hours "mining" the boxes to find documents. Generally, resources were not being effectively used, internal and external customer relations were at risk and the delivery process was being disrupted.
Ron McConnell, sales administration manager, summarises the situation: "We provide companies with chemicals, explosives and detonators. We need records of all our signed delivery notes and associated documentation. Not only was the business process being impacted, this quantity of paper is a fire hazard, especially in an explosives factory."
Leon Bester, from services company EDS Africa, the IT representative to AECI Explosives, and responsible for both strategic and operational management, identified document management as the solution of choice for this challenge.
An analysis revealed an average of 25 000 documents a month would be produced in the central distribution centre alone. Unchecked, this would become a major operational risk. A shortlist of three companies was drawn up and Exsol`s DIS was chosen because it is a South African product; and there is flexibility of design as it can be customised.
"Because of the urgency, the first phase consists only of implementation for the central distribution centre," says Bester. "Next phases are implementation at the more remote distribution centres and human resources and engineering departments."
The software will be installed on a Compaq Proliant 1600 with 128MB RAM and 9GB disk space, expandable through RAID. The JVC jukebox, a 200-platter CD rack, can store 130GB of data, the equivalent of 3 million scanned pages. "The potential throughput of this system is only limited by the hardware," says Exsol consultant Athol Hill. "Indexing and document retrieval can be done on delivery note number, client name and date and there is cross-indexing on associated documentation such as invoices and statements. All related documents can be pulled in for a single query."
This project is placed by Bester in the context of the recent realignment of IT strategy with AECI Explosives` business strategy. "Future phases of this system will be implemented in conjunction with the expansion of infrastructure. We are also looking at other technologies such as Web-enabled systems with intranet and extranet, as well as satellite communications into Africa. IT is becoming a major enabler at AECI Explosives."
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