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With ELO's help, Coko Werk GmbH & Co. KG has gained a high level of working process transparency and minimised the resources used for complicated project management. The introduction has reduced costs sustainably in certain areas. Archiving of all relevant documents has been completely automated with ELO on a standardised platform. There is an electronic ordering file. The comprehensive workflow management has optimised processes in and between departments. Staff have direct access to the documents and deliveries they need.
Coko Werk GmbH & Co. KG, based in Bad Salzuflen, is a specialist in processing thermoplastic materials. With over 500 employees and an annual turnover of some 60 million euro, the company is one of the most modern in the industry. As a system supplier, Coko Werk provides complete services form a single source, from development to construction and tool-making to assembly of finished construction groups. The company occupies a top position on the German market, and is also adopting an increasingly international focus. Its own vehicle fleet processes a daily 1000 euro-palettes - and the curve is going up and up. Coko Werk stands for high product quality and exemplary service, far beyond the product itself. And the company also makes the same demands of its internal processes. It recognised the traditional storage of the mass of incoming and outgoing documents in physical files as an increasing problem.
Both the high volume of administrative documents and the wide variety of relevant information, available partly in physical form as paper and partly in digital form, made researching processes a tough task. With this in mind, Coko Werk made the decision to take the pressure off the various departments for good, by introducing ELOprofessional. The archiving of all relevant documents was entirely automated with ELO on a standardised platform. The comprehensive workflow management optimised working processes in and between the departments. With ELOprofessional, Coko Werk has made landmark progress towards sustainable minimisation of time and costs needed for these tasks.
Installing ELO was fast and uncomplicated. The ELO Business Partner's industry template and realisation method enabled speedy and cost-efficient implementation. The project kicked off in mid-December 2005. The ambitious initial target was to automatically archive all incoming delivery notes and invoices via ELOprofessional through a connection to ifax.OPEN, from January 2006. And that target was reached, in conjunction with the ELO Business Partner. The next stage was to integrate the PPS system ifax.OPEN for all outgoing documents - over only four days in January 2006. The delivery notes are entered in ELOprofessional in the incoming goods department. These documents are booked in the PPS system, automatically creating a barcode. The content of the barcode is the incoming goods number. When scanning the documents, this barcode is read and the information on the respective delivery note is added. Tagging also takes place via the barcode. When the invoice is received for a delivery note, it can be checked quickly and easily using the archived delivery note. Incoming invoices are also entered in the PPS system for invoice control. This also creates a barcode label, which is attached to the invoice. When this invoice is scanned in after payment, the relevant tags are read and the document is automatically filed via ELOprofessional.
In the sales and distribution department, all key processes are now also archived in ELOprofessional: from the order and order confirmation to delivery notes and loading lists right down to the outgoing invoices. It was also important for Coko Werk that the solution could be independently extended after the initial implementation phase. ELOprofessional can be controlled via a Visual Basic interface. Coko Werk has the required internal Visual Basic expertise, and now deals with many aspects itself in collaboration with the ELO Business Partner.
Thanks to the comfortable user interface of the ELO DMS, training the users was a complete success. Staff who scan the documents need a half-day of training to work independently with the new solution. Final users who only need the ELOprofessional search functions were already working confidently with the solution after two hours of instructions. The ELO Business Partner carried out the first training session, and Coko Werk was then able to train further user groups itself. The users are enthusiastic about how quickly and easily they can now find documents. "We used to collect delivery notes up over a whole working day and send them on to Accounts the next day for invoicing. So we had to wait a whole day before we could look at the delivery notes. Now, our staff have direct access to the relevant documents and see immediately whether a delivery has been dispatched," says the head of IT and Organisation, Andreas Kleinelanghorst.
As well as integrating external documents and information from the PPS system, in future the archiving process is also set to include Office and email documents. This will ensure complete documentation of communication with customers and suppliers. Coko Werk uses a project management programme from the tool-making stage to the final product. These processes will also be depicted in ELOprofessional in future. As these workflows are complex and involve many employees, this requires intensive internal preparations. In the current project phase, the team is looking at how the processes currently work and how they can be optimised with the aid of the new solution. That means Coko Werk will achieve a considerably higher level of process transparency, minimising time and resources spent on complicated project management.
"ELOprofessional is a solution that gives us continuous improvements. In a complex organisation like ours, there are infinite numbers of documents and processes. The solution offers us great potential for the future and can develop in line with our needs." Andreas Kleinelanghorst, Head of IT and Organisation, Coko Werk
"In the sales department, for example, we work with loading lists. We often process up to 60 trucks in a day. That means a great deal of documents like loading lists. Before, these were manually filed, and it was difficult to find a loading list again if you needed it. With ELOprofessional, that's now as easy as ABC." Andreas Kleinelanghorst, Head of IT and Organisation, Coko Werk
