Book Manufacturer’s Job Management Solution Improves ...



Overview

Country or Region: Canada

Industry: Manufacturing

Customer Profile

Based in Toronto, Canada, Webcom Limited is a leading book manufacturer specializing in custom orders and e-printing technologies. It has more than 300 employees and 175 desktop computers.

Business Situation

With 18 different systems, Webcom’s IT infrastructure contributed to a disconnected, manual, and inefficient workflow. The company wanted a single IT platform to support integrated operations.

Solution

Webcom Limited retired its AS/400 solution and deployed an integrated job management solution based on Microsoft® Business Solutions—Navision®, Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, and the Microsoft Windows Server System™.

Benefits

■ 33 percent improvement in automation of job workflow

■ 25 percent improvement in tracking jobs

■ Reduces time to generate quotes from weeks to minutes

■ Improves customer service

■ Increases competitive edge

■

| | |“Microsoft technologies work together to ensure a seamless flow of information. We are seeing a 33 percent improvement in the automation of job production workflow.”

Mark Delvecchio, IT and ERP Business Manager, Webcom Limited

| |

| | | |Webcom Limited is a leading book manufacturer in Canada specializing in custom book production. Its |

| | | |heterogeneous IT infrastructure and aging AS/400 solution did not support the company’s |

| | | |state-of-the-art integrated manufacturing facility. Discontinuous information flow impeded staffers’ |

| | | |abilities to collaborate throughout the steps of a book’s production, forcing them into inefficient |

| | | |manual processes and data entry. When Webcom Limited migrated to an integrated Microsoft® business |

| | | |management system, it saw a 33 percent improvement in the automation of job production workflow and |

| | | |is saving U.S.$217,000 or CDN$250,000 annually. Now that Webcom Limited sales representatives are |

| | | |able to generate quotes in minutes instead of days, customers are thrilled. Added efficiency |

| | | |throughout the business gives Webcom Limited a competitive edge in tackling current market pressures |

| | | |to reduce prices and absorb costs. |

| | | | |

|[pic] | | |[pic] |

| | | | |

Situation

Founded in 1975, Webcom Limited is an independently owned Canadian book manufacturer based in Toronto, Ontario. Since that time, the company has worked hard to differentiate itself in a competitive market through superior customer service and through the latest book manufacturing technologies.

Webcom Limited was the first printer in North America to offer ultraviolet (UV) coatings for book covers. It was also among the first in North America to offer customers the efficiency of Web offset printing and to offer Otabind as a lay flat alternative to perfect binding. Recently, Webcom Limited launched Digital Print Technologies, with full in-house manufacturing capabilities. Its more than 300 employees produce approximately 50 million books annually.

Poor IT Integration, Fragmented Workflow

Webcom’s custom-designed manufacturing facility integrates core services and production machinery under one roof, facilitating the smooth flow of books from one stage to the next in the manufacturing process. However, the same could not be said of Webcom’s IT infrastructure. An aging AS/400 DB2 system, along with approximately 17 other computer systems, did not promote the smooth flow of information the company required to achieve optimal operational efficiency.

As a result, Webcom’s business processes were rife with inefficiencies and communication breakdowns, incurring extra expenses, and impacting customer service. “No two books are ever printed in exactly the same way, especially at Webcom Limited where we have an expertise in producing custom orders,” says Mark Delvecchio, IT and ERP Business Manager at Webcom. “This requires a sophisticated level of collaboration throughout the entire manufacturing process.”

Delvecchio cited three main areas where the company’s heterogeneous IT systems negatively affected employees’ ability to do their job: order entry, pricing, and manufacturing. Sales representatives manually recorded order information on two-part carbon forms. Each representative had a slightly different way of entering order information, which could lead to different interpretations of an order’s value when it came time to generate a price for the customer. Webcom Limited maintained an estimating department with eight people to manually determine a price for each job, based on the order-entry information. This could take several days, and with more complex books it could take up to a week. A pool of typists was kept busy typing out quotations and confirmations for the customers.

“We needed to reduce the pricing turnaround,” says Delvecchio. “The longer our customers waited to hear back from us, the more opportunity they had of taking their business elsewhere. We also wanted to eliminate redundant data entry and the room for manual errors and misinterpretations.”

On the manufacturing side, Webcom’s AS/400 solution performed rudimentary material routing and created a few work orders. Staffers printed out the work orders and delivered them to different departments. Tracking work orders and keeping the departments in sync with each other was difficult for project managers, who also had to keep everyone informed of customers’ frequent last-minute changes.

“There was no flow of information from one area to the next,” explains Delvecchio. “Our AS/400 couldn’t handle custom orders very well. This knowledge resided in the heads of many of our staff who manually executed the necessary steps. We needed more flexible, intelligent IT solutions to do some of that legwork.”

Facing a Decision: To Upgrade or Migrate

It was more than three years ago that Webcom Limited began to think about moving forward with a solution. Even at that time, Webcom’s AS/400 system required too much time and money to maintain, and the company had no intention of finding another expensive COBOL programmer to replace the developer who was the only employee capable of supporting the system.

“This pretty much negated any thoughts of upgrading to IBM’s iSeries systems,” confirms Delvecchio. “Besides, we didn’t see how it would do away with our integration problems. We are a midsized company with fairly limited IT resources and the goal was to simplify, not complicate, our environment. Thinking back three years, we were already leaning toward the idea of wiping the plate clean and standardizing our IT platform. An integrated, end-to-end solution would provide the flow of information required to support all our business processes.”

Back then, Webcom Limited recognized an opportunity to protect its competitive position through the judicious use of technology. The company was enjoying the sheltering effects of a high U.S. dollar, so it embarked on a plan to migrate to an IT environment that would carry it forward, through the inevitable tough times as well as the good. At the same time, it understood the importance of finding the right technology solution for its size and in-house IT resources. With an IT department of eight staffers, none of whom had any experience in Linux-based systems, Webcom Limited was not interested in exploring any open-source solutions.

Solution

As a first step, Webcom Limited engaged Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Ideaca to help determine the right business management solution to replace the AS/400 and form the basis of its new infrastructure. “When we saw [Microsoft Business Solutions–]Navision® version 3.0, we were immediately impressed by its flexibility and simplicity,” recalls Delvecchio. “Microsoft Navision is both easy to use and simple to maintain without taxing our IT resources. Compared to the AS/400 it was like night and day.”

Webcom Limited deployed the accounting and inventory modules of Microsoft Business Solutions—Navision (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™), which acted as a catalyst for change. The company began developing a new intranet site and created a new Microsoft .NET connection software reporting solution that bolted onto the front end of Microsoft Navision.

“This was an excellent beginning that illustrated how we could exploit the values of easy integration that come with Microsoft products,” says Delvecchio. “However, there were many aspects of our manufacturing process that were so complex they would require a custom solution if we were going to achieve efficiencies throughout an entire title lifecycle. Using Microsoft technology offered the most integration, for the least amount of work, at the best price. Adding to our Microsoft Navision investment would be the most efficient way to reap the benefits of a seamless, end-to-end flow of information to support our business.”

Webcom Limited invited Ideaca back to develop and deploy a custom collaboration solution to automate more of its business processes. This was the beginning of a three-year project that culminated in an award-winning business management application called Production Order Estimating Management (POEM).

“Throughout the entire project, Ideaca’s commitment to the project was huge,” says Delvecchio. “We developed an excellent rapport. They encouraged us to take some of our key stakeholders and get them involved in the project 100 percent of the time. This was invaluable for creating groundswell and ensuring the success of POEM.”

Ideaca began by analyzing Webcom’s business requirements and sitting down with executives and key stakeholders to go over the application’s technical design using an iterative approach. Following a series of user tests and incorporating feedback to refine the solution, Ideaca supported the application into production through three major releases that solved efficiency problems in order-entry, pricing, and manufacturing processes.

The completed solution is a Microsoft Web application built using the Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET version 1.0 development system and is powered by a mix of the Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating systems. POEM integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Navision and a Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 database that stores Webcom’s operational data and is more than 24 gigabytes (GB) in size, with approximately 200 tables. The company has also rolled out Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 company-wide. All employees access POEM from the company’s intranet. SQL Server 2000, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows Server 2003 are part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software.

“The benefits of a Microsoft integrated solution begins at the development stage,” says Richard Iwasa, Lead Architect at Ideaca. “The Microsoft suite of tools automates a lot of detail work, so that deploying this application was almost trivial. Our customers like that they can see the efficiencies gained from Microsoft tools and technologies—even during the development phase.”

Using POEM, sales representatives collect information about customers’ orders in a consistent format— number of pages, cover, ink, and binding type —and input it into the solution. POEM then calculates a price for those specifications and provides a cost breakdown that aids the sales representatives in further negotiations with the customer. When they come to an agreement, the sales representative accepts it and POEM turns the quote into a job.

On the manufacturing side, a project manager is assigned to the job. POEM creates a project plan that assists the project manager in the steps required, and in staff and material allocation. Based on the project plan, POEM generates work orders that are electronically delivered to the various departments on the manufacturing floor, where staffers open them on their computers. Staffers’ work time is recorded by another solution built by Webcom Limited that feeds back to Microsoft Navision accounting modules.

When the customer submits the content, in either a PDF file or a Microsoft Word document, to the prepress department, staffers take the electronic file and use POEM, which follows Webcom Limited business rules, to determine the most efficient way to layout the pages on the press. “Webcom Limited was very impressed with how POEM handled this complex stage of the manufacturing process,” recalls Iwasa, “especially as they had attempted this previously on the AS/400.”

Post printing, the book may go through several other stages depending on the binding required and the cover treatment. Some jobs are done by an outside vendor and POEM handles the outsourcing by creating purchase orders. Finally, the book goes to the shipping department where POEM expedites the invoicing for jobs delivered around the world.

Benefits

Today Webcom Limited is enjoying the benefits of POEM as it automates virtually all business processes—from order entry to pricing to manufacturing. The entire lifecycle of a book’s production is impacted by the new solution, which empowers Webcom Limited employees to work more efficiently and provide better customer service. “Microsoft technologies work together to ensure a seamless flow of information,” says Delvecchio. “We are seeing a 33 percent improvement in the automation of job production workflow.”

By using POEM to automate and streamline its operations, Webcom Limited is increasing operational efficiency, cutting costs, improving customer service, and expanding its competitive edge in an increasingly challenging marketplace.

Increasing Operational Efficiency

POEM supports the seamless integration of business processes that lead to operational efficiency because it is made up of Microsoft products that are built from the ground up to work together. These products also work with any other solution built using the Microsoft .NET Framework, so Webcom Limited can take advantage of its home-grown reporting and time-keeping solutions by integrating them with POEM.

“Now 100 percent of all book lifecycles are tracked, from quotations to planning to scheduling to production to invoicing and delivery,” says Delvecchio. “That’s an improvement of more than 25 percent compared to our old systems.” (See Figure 1.)

“The Microsoft solution works so well because there are many points of integration that Webcom Limited never achieved before,” explains Iwasa. “POEM and Navision run on the same SQL Server 2000 database. This would have been virtually impossible with the AS/400. At various stages of a title’s lifecycle, such as when a quotation is generated, the information is picked up by Microsoft Navision, which then updates its financial tables.”

And because Webcom’s reporting solution integrates with Microsoft Navision, all staff can see updated and accurate business information from a central source. “With access to the same data through our reporting system, POEM keeps all employees up to date with the latest information, helping to unite the sales side of the business with the manufacturing side, providing quick answers to customers’ enquiries,” explains Delvecchio. “We are making better operational decisions because everyone can see where each job is in the manufacturing process.”

POEM also integrates with Office Professional Edition 2003, so sales representatives can save their quotations into Microsoft Office Word 2003 and customize each quote’s presentation for individual customers. Similarly, automated messages created in the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client and sent out during specific stages of the title’s lifecycle keep staffers up to date on the job’s progress and any required actions.

Cutting Costs

Because POEM automates manual processes and eliminates data re-entry, Webcom Limited is saving money throughout the production cycle. This is especially true of the order-entry and pricing stages of a book’s production. Now that sales representatives enter data directly into POEM, which calculates a quotation for each job, the estimating department’s typing pool is a thing of the past. “The reduction of manual estimating and data entry represents annual savings of approximately $250,000,” states Delvecchio. “We are saving money in paper handling, filing, and storage as well.”

Improving Customer Service

All of the efficiencies that Webcom Limited has gained with POEM support one of the company’s key goals for the project: improved customer service. “We can provide better customer service with more than 80 percent of all quotations produced in minutes instead of weeks,” continues Delvecchio. “I don’t know of any of our competitors that can get pricing as quickly as we can. Our customers are thrilled. They get some numbers back right away to work on their own budgets

|“Now 100 percent of all book lifecycles are |

|tracked …. That’s an improvement of more than|

|25 percent compared to our old systems.” |

|Mark Delvecchio, IT and ERP Business Manager,|

|Webcom Limited |

| |

without having to do the number crunching themselves.”

Now that the sales side of the organization can see exactly where every job is in the production workflow, Webcom Limited can respond instantly to customers’ order enquiries. And because POEM eliminated manual estimating for pricing, 100 percent of those staffers are now working directly with customers, increasing Webcom’s ability to provide personal service.

Generating a Competitive Edge

Today, with the Canadian dollar value reaching new heights, Webcom’s Microsoft infrastructure ensures the company will succeed in a tougher market. This was accomplished thanks to Webcom’s farsighted approach to taking advantage of the right IT infrastructure to support an integrated and complex manufacturing process. Applying the resulting efficiencies to the creating integrated publishing solutions can only lead to a more efficient, cost-effective company that’s on top of its customers’ needs. Today the company can more efficiently manage a larger portfolio than a traditional book manufacturer.

“POEM really differentiates us with responsiveness and cost-effectiveness. It also allows for adaptability in changing market conditions,” concludes Delvecchio. “We are now one of the few privately owned book manufacturing companies left in Canada, and I believe one of the reasons we are here is because we made the decision to go with Microsoft.”

Microsoft Solutions

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:

dynamics

For more information about Windows Server System, go to:

windowsserversystem

For more information about the Microsoft Office System, go to:

office

For more information about Microsoft solutions for the manufacturing industry, go to:

resources/manufacturing

-----------------------

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:

For more information about Ideaca products and services, call (866) 816-4332, or visit the Web site at:

For more information about Webcom Limited products and services, call (800) 665-9322 or visit the Web site at:

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© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Navision, Microsoft Dynamics, Outlook, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows Server, Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation or Microsoft Business Solutions ApS in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft Business Solutions ApS is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published February 2006 | | |

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h?mQh¹h+P›h |&W“We are now one of the few privately owned book manufacturing companies left in Canada, and I believe one of the reasons we are here is because we made the decision to go with Microsoft.”

Mark Delvecchio, IT and ERP Business Manager, Webcom Limited

| |

“The Microsoft solution works so well because there are many points of integration that Webcom Limited never achieved before.”

Richard Iwasa, Lead Architect, Ideaca

| |

| |Software and Services

■ Microsoft Windows Server System

− Microsoft SQL Server 2000

− Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

■ Microsoft Office System

− Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003

|Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

− Microsoft Office Word 2003

■ Microsoft Dynamics

− Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision

■ Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003

■ Technologies

− Microsoft

− Microsoft .NET Framework

Partner

■ Ideaca | |

Figure 1 – Now that Webcom Limited uses a Microsoft business information management system, the company is seeing a 33 percent improvement in workflow efficiency. Today, Webcom Limited is tracking 100 percent of its titles throughout the entire manufacturing cycle, an improvement of 25 percent over the previous system.

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