Retrieving documents digitally reduces man-hours, cut trees and stress levels.
In addition to clearing the office space, the DocuWare solution tremendously decreased document retrieval time. Instead of locating boxes and then records within the boxes, information about parts can be retrieved nearly instantly. The company is saving approximately 10 man-hours a week by being able to retrieve the files digitally.
The speed and convenience of the digital solution became particularly important during audits. Prior to DocuWare use, audit preparations took several hours, but now the documents can be found by inputting job numbers and retrieving the records. "The biggest time save is being able to pull the document instantly," says Gottschalk. Having the information available instantly also greatly reduced employee's stress levels during audit-preparation time, she adds. "We know the job number and we can just look them up and produce documents on demand right in front of the auditor."
On the job training stations make it even easier for employees to start using DocuWare solutions
The company uses DocuWare for a variety of needs, including retaining documents for the FDA, the quality management system, preventative maintenance on machines and equipment as well as for storing employee and client records and for external documents used by the quality department for their customers. The company also installed DocuWare stations on its shop and office floors so that employees could train to retrieve records electronically rather than printing documents on paper. According to the company's internal records, using DocuWare helped save 41 trees just this year and several hundred dollars in paper costs.
