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American Fastener Journal, March 2006

Managing the mountain of paperwork associated with the nuts and bolts in your warehouse isn't easy. Because you must keep multiple certifications and quality assurance documents for each lot - often lots within lots - you must maintain an organized system. And, because of the Fastener Quality Act, it's not just a service you provide your customers. It's the law.

For years, complying meant keeping rows of filing cabinets full of documentation. But technology can streamline this process by enabling you to store important certifications and QA documents online.

Document imaging, the power to store files related to each SKU in a database, is a cost-effective, reliable alternative to filing hard copies of documents in cabinets. Because it offers you the ability to scan paper documents and link them to records within your business's enterprise software solution, you can increase employee efficiency while cutting the time and expenses associated with maintaining traditional printed documentation.

How It Works

Document imaging gives you the ability to link maintenance and transaction records to any file on your network, from vendor invoices and customer purchase orders to specifications and product certification documents. You can even scan and save handwritten letters and faxed communications within the solution, or create links to e-mails that relate to specific orders.

And, because it's often difficult to tell the difference between one part and the next, fastener distributors can also associate images of certain SKUs with their corresponding item numbers. This way, your order entry personnel can double-check - or even distribute - images of different nuts, bolts, and screws before they put an order through your enterprise software solution.

Because this capability grants your employees better access to important customer and product information, service levels increase. And, because your solution allows your employees to e-mail or fax this documentation directly from their desktops, they save time they would normally spend thumbing through file cabinets to retrieve this information.

How It Works for One Distributor

Jeff Regensburger, director of operational excellence at Tower Fasteners, a Holtsville, NY-based distributor, says these capabilities will revolutionize the way he maintains files. Before this technology was available, he says his company maintained at least 15 file cabinets containing certifications and other documentation. "Order entry and sales personnel had to trek to the room each time they needed something," he says. "Eighty percent of our items have certifications or QA files, and we have to send those documents to customers more than 50 percent of the time," Regensburger says. "The footsteps really added up."

With document imaging, sales representatives can pull this information from their enterprise software solution. Pair that with the ability to fax or e-mail the information right from their desktops, and employees across the board realize huge time savings. "We have also been able to streamline the paperwork coming from receiving to the accounting department," Regensburger says. "Packing slips are scanned right to the purchase order, allowing Accounting to prove the incoming materials. "Our accounting department used to spend hours at times chasing down packing slips to prove an accounts payable invoice for payment. This also helps our purchasing department when they have a question on an order. They go right to the PO and find the scanned packing slip."

"It definitely makes life a lot easier," he concludes. "We're not spending time playing hide-and-seek with important documentation."

Activant, a leading technology provider for fastener distributors, develops technology solutions and services to help distributors increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating costs. For more information, visit www.activant.com

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