Whirlpool, an international manufacturer and distributor of major home appliances, has enhanced its credit management processes and improved relationships with its distributors and customers with the implementation of Alchemy and MetroNet, and the outsourcing of its secure document storage requirements to document management specialist Metrofile.
The appliance manufacturer needed an organisation-wide imaging system for the scanning and indexing of all its proofs of delivery, invoices and credit notes. It needed to safeguard these transactional documents against potential disasters; it needed to improve its filing system; and it needed to maximise the use of its document storage space, on- and off-site.
"Metrofile`s scanning and filing software, Alchemy and MetroNet, provides us with the means to access proofs of delivery and transactional documents immediately, to view an audit trail of these documents, and to resend duplicates of any documents that a customer might query," says Johnny Coelho, national credit manager at Whirlpool.
"By being able to resend duplicate invoices immediately, we have increased our cash flow as our customers can no longer delay payments with the excuse of not yet having received their invoices."
As an electronic archiving information system, Alchemy 7.33 runs against Whirlpool`s SQL Server database and provides designated users with direct access into the database to access captured invoices. Scanning proof of deliveries into the Alchemy database began in 2000 and scanning of credit notes and proofs of delivery for the Spares division began in 2004.
Newly generated documents that must be scanned and captured into the Alchemy database are packed into numbered boxes and collected weekly by Metrofile. These boxes are accompanied by spreadsheets that list all the document numbers and the boxes they are packed in. Once at Metrofile, the documents are scanned, indexed and built into Alchemy and MetroNet, the updates of which are then delivered back to Whirlpool in two days with an exception report to verify that all documents have been barcoded, scanned and captured.
MetroNet then enables the Whirlpool staff to search and retrieve online should any documentation be needed. They will also be able to see what the specific carton or file`s status is, such as client or warehouse status, for example. Complete boxes or files can be retrieved through MetroNet, depending on Whirlpool`s request.
"These exception reports, which were instituted in 2003, ensure the integrity of the Alchemy database," says Odette Barkhuizen, customer services executive at Metrofile. "Alchemy also integrates smoothly into Whirlpool`s existing internal business system, Scala, enabling all users, especially those in credit control and logistics, to access transactional information from anywhere, online." Since 1998, Whirlpool has also outsourced its secured data storage requirements to Metrofile, whereby the backup computer tapes run by the company are collected and stored in high-security vaults at Metrofile.
All Metrofile vaults are built to SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) specifications that require 24-hour guarding, closed circuit TV cameras inside and outside the vaults, restricted access, temperature and humidity control, fire control, and anti-static conditions.
"Before we turned to Metrofile to help us improve our document management and storage environments, everything was done manually," Coelho says. "We had a clerk who spent his day filing everything numerically into lever arch files. When he was not filing he was searching for information or documents that had been requested. The amount of time, money and effort that was consumed by such poorly managed and archaic processes was frightening."
Whirlpool staff has been trained to complete box input forms and to label the boxes that are being collected by Metrofile for content scanning and archiving. Application backup for Alchemy and MetroNet is provided by Metrofile`s call centre.
Having opened its doors in 1911 under the name of Upton Machine Company, Whirlpool now sells $12 billion worth of home appliances annually, it has 68 000 employees globally and maintains 50 manufacturing and technology research centres worldwide.
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