Towles Edgar Jacobs (TEJ), the largest knitwear manufacturer in the Western Cape, has installed NetChauffeur, Ixchange`s electronic communication solution, for more efficient order processing.
The Retreat-based company employs 700 people, and services the leading high-fashion retail chains in South Africa, including Woolworths, Edgars, SKG and Truworths. It supplies a cross section of the local clothing industry, and produces its own line of fashion for local and international markets.
Paul Stohrer, IS executive at TEJ, says order processing is a primary challenge for local clothing companies in a competitive global marketplace.
"Installing NetChauffeur and empowering our users with instant communication via e-mail is paramount to the success of our company," says Stohrer. "E-mail provides the perfect conduit for us to collaborate with our local and international agents."
Without an efficient e-mail system, the company was subject to a manual transaction process that revolved around the seasonal trends of the clothing industry. "Our production is always geared six months ahead to the next season," says Stohrer. "Since the nature of our business is seasonal, our agents had to select the clothing they felt would sell on the market half a year down the line, and the orders had to be processed ahead of time for production to keep up with demand."
By enlarging the time frame in which agents have the option of selecting production material, the company can effectively produce on demand with less wastage and fewer reject stocks.
Another plus of the system is the significant reduction in paper usage internally. "All our executives have a connection to the network with individual e-mail boxes, so the amount of paper-based correspondence from assistant to executive has shrunk to nothing," says Stohrer. "Further, any executive can be contacted electronically, which helps us synchronise our schedules and deliver important messages in good time."
NetChauffeur has enabled the company to take a giant leap forward in terms of electronic banking. "By subscribing to select electronic banking facilities, we can bypass the manual cash flow system, depositing cheques directly into our staff`s and client`s accounts, and speeding up the process of collecting money from debtors," expands Stohrer. "We are trying to instil this philosophy in our clients, making the system work for everyone."
TEJ had no e-mail account or Internet access facilities before NetChauffeur was installed. "We relied exclusively on faxing for local and global correspondence, including orders, invoices and quotes," says Stohrer. "NetChauffeur has replaced our fax machine with its speed, its simplicity and its substantial time savings."
The company operates an IBMAS/400 mainframe system connected to a Novell local area network. It supports 40 users processing order entries, product information, debtor data, creditor data, production control, material control and finished goods. "NetChauffeur is an external service installed on its own server, so it doesn`t interfere with any mainframe functions or the network server," says Stohrer. "Further, it integrates seamlessly with the software on our workstations, and doesn`t place our workflow in jeopardy."
NetChauffeur has enabled TEJ to communicate cost-efficiently with the outside world. "We have shrunk our telephone bills and shortened the processing time for orders received from our sales force," says Stohrer. "This has had the knock-on effect of speeding up the raw materials collation process, and hence the systematic production cycle of the company as a whole."
Local Ixchange distributor, Pro Line, supplied and installed NetChauffeur on behalf of Ixchange. "We have an established dealer network in the Cape that allows us to extend our products and services beyond the capacity of our local office," says Jill Holmwood, NetChauffeur sales consultant at Ixchange Cape Town. "Our clients are assured of round-the-clock support from our distributors, as well as our own office and technical help desk in Johannesburg."
NetChauffeur Professional supports up to 100 users, and is sold with the option of setting up a free Web hosting service with Ixchange. "We have 25 users on the system, and intend to increase this number in the coming months," sys Stohrer. "It is scalable to our needs, and will complement our plans for future growth."
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