Few manufacturers would disagree with the benefits of real-time, accurate, company-wide visibility of information, hence the reason why so many of them invest in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

While different ERP solutions use a variety of increasingly sophisticated technologies to deliver this, they all rely on the basic starting point of needing access to all the relevant data in the first place. Once this data is safely and accurately inside the system, all manner of IT wizardry can take place at unfathomable speeds bringing countless benefits across ever greater areas of the company.

Herein lies the problem for manufacturers, because much of the initial information required by the system exists and arrives on that most humble of tools – the document.

The humble document

While some information is able to be introduced directly into the system alleviating the need for an external document – for example online portals - more often than not, the document is something that exists outside of the system. Examples can include a handwritten purchase order, a faxed quotation from a supplier, an emailed memo from a salesman containing important customer relationship information, a note from the FD, a set of manual or CAD drawings, a Bill of Materials (BoM) breakdown and routing on a spreadsheet, or even a completed works order from the factory floor.

All of the above can be vitally important to the success of an order, an ongoing business relationship and/or the successful running of the company as a whole.

According to Jonathan Orme of Exel Computer Systems, UK author of EFACS ERP, herein lies the potential for significant competitive advantage: “The speed and accuracy of getting the information contained in any external documents into your ERP system is becoming increasingly critical to the overall efficiency of a business. Hours if not days can be wasted manually entering/re-entering information, which ties up human resources and gives rise to costly bottlenecks, especially where high volume activities are concerned.”

This is compounded when technical documents are involved such as specifications, designs and CAD drawings which need to be referred to throughout the manufacturing process. Even more so when these documents may be revised and updated by different employees throughout the entire enterprise, at times across different geographical locations.

Efficient access

This is why for Orme the role of integrated Document Management (DM) should now be a major consideration for manufacturers: “True document management needs to provide quick, easy and efficient access to information in a secure, controlled and traceable manner. It also needs to offer powerful revision management capabilities and interact with intelligent workflow to ensure that everyone working with information contained in a certain document is kept informed of any changes. And if the ERP system in question is browser-based, documents can be accessed, submitted and used anywhere in the world via an internet-enabled device, which allows everyone within the company and therefore the company as a whole to benefit.”

These are precisely the kinds of benefits enjoyed by UAV Engines Limited (UEL), a designer and manufacturer of rotary engines for Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs).

Operations Manager Nathan Bailey admits they discovered the potential of Document Management almost by accident but is 100% certain of the benefits it has brought the company: “It’s an incredibly powerful piece of functionality and we now use it to link all scanned paperwork in PDF format to the progress of an order through the system. Now, whenever anyone is talking to a customer or supplier, they have immediate access to the entire product history which is ideal when you are dealing with the nature of customers (military) we have that expect instant information and answers.”

In the field

A further illustration of the full potential of integrated document management can be seen in UEL’s future plans. This involves looking to extend document management control to its customers “in the field,” so that they can enter feedback directly back to UEL in order to form a complete documentary history of every process affecting every part of every product made by the company.