Delta Chemical Corporation began in the 1930s as a manufacturer of industrial and consumer grade sodium hypochlorite. With 120 employees in two locations, the company has expanded their products to serve both the industrial and municipal markets including water and wastewater treatment, pulp and paper manufacturing and chemical intermediates.
Advance implemented an electronic document management system for Delta Chemical to address issues of productivity and accuracy by replacing their paper process with an electronic one.
One of the new benefits to the Electronic Document Management (EDM) installation is that Delta Chemical’s customers can now easily import invoices directly into their own accounting systems. The new workflow allows Delta Chemical to verify that all signed bills of lading were turned in and the invoices created. By having an electronic control copy, missing documents can be re-printed and referenced instantly.
The Problem
Delta Chemical was physically out of space to store documents. As a small company, they didn’t want to add more man hours to the task of storing and managing their documents but rather wanted to invest in a solution to automate these processes. Systems from various departments needed to be linked in order to maintain consistency and improve processes while reducing the dependency on paper documents.
Challenges
- Paper document storage was running low, and Delta Chemical needed a solution to the cumbersome storage and retrieval process.
- Delta Chemical needed to find a document management solution that could be integrated into their existing custom software programs.
- Invoices and bills of lading needed to be linked with specific documents and certificates of analysis in order to streamline the management of information and improve their billing processes.
- Products are sold by weight and priced on the content of active ingredient, so the company needed a solution that could accurately link their sales and accounting documents.
The Solution
To automate Delta Chemical’s workflow and eliminate their dependence on paper documents, Advance implemented DocuWare and a Panasonic Kvs2046c scanner. Today, when an order is placed, the chemical is produced and tested to determine the content of active ingredient; the test result or certificate of analysis is created and stored in DocuWare. Prior to delivery, the product is weighed and the resulting weight certificate, a crucial legal document, is stored in an open order system until the invoice for that order has been created. The order number is added to both the invoice and certificate. Once the order number has been input, the documents are processed in the accounting program and automatically indexed and stored in DocuWare.
The bill of lading uses the order number in barcode form to automate indexing. A printed copy is given to the driver while an electronic “control copy” is automatically indexed and stored in DocuWare.
Next, the signed bills of lading are scanned and automatically indexed to the correct bundle of documents using the order number as a matchcode. At this point, the customer invoice is generated and sent to the customer and a copy of the invoice is automatically stored in DocuWare.
In the next phase of the project, DeltaChemical’s branch office in Ohio will process and store its own orders in the DocuWare system.
Results
Today, 10% of Delta Chemical’s workforce access DocuWare on a daily basis, using DocuWare’s Web Viewer, which is integrated into existing applications. Delta Chemical’s employees continue to use the programs familiar to them, but with a click of a button and a quick search –they can retrieve the documents they need.
“Having DocuWare integrated with our existing software applications was our objective from the very beginning and was easy to achieve, “said Bob LeBrun, Manager Information Systems at Delta Chemical.
Prior to implementing DocuWare, Delta Chemical’s bookkeeper spent upwards of 30 minutes per customer to scan and e-mail invoices. Today, they perform a query in DocuWare and select all relevant documents. One click on the e-mail icon and all invoices are sent to the customer as attachments. The entire process takes only 30 seconds.
Delta Chemical implemented DocuWare in order to eliminate their dependence on paper documents. Advance was able to integrate the document management solution into existing software applications, improving information access and expediting cash flow through electronic invoicing.
With DocuWare in place, Delta Chemical can now offer customers easy access to importing invoices, enhanced interactions with customers posting past due invoices, and a workflow that promotes version control and instant ability to reference vital documentation.
Client Testimonial
“Execution is the focus. If a machine would go down, no matter what the hour, we knew that we could count on Advance to be there to continue to move us forward. Advance has earned the confidence of our organization every day.”
