Efalia ECM – Larson Manufacturing-Brookings Manages 15,466,499 Documents Efficiently & Effectively

At Efalia, we work with trusted partners such as Active Data Systems (ADS) to provide state-of-the-art document management solutions. Larson Manufacturing, located in Brookings, South Dakota, is a perfect example of the benefits of this collaboration. Larson has been manufacturing high-quality windows and doors for over 40 years, and with the help of ADS, they have managed over 15 million documents efficiently and effectively. Find out how Efalia partner ADS has helped Larson automate and optimize its document management processes, while reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction.

 

When Oscar Larson started a small door, window, and awning company in his hometown in Albert Lea, Minnesota in 1954, he had little idea in terms of what it would grow into in 52 years. Larson Manufacturing now has production centers in Brookings, South Dakota and Lake Mills, Iowa, as well as an affiliated manufacturing facility in North Carolina.

Larson’s has grown into the largest manufacturer of storm doors in the nation, and it generates the paper work to prove it. Since 1991, it is estimated that the document volume at Larson’s has increased ten-fold.

“We put over 11,000 documents into our system every day,” says Erick Weber, Network Administrator for Larson Doors.

Larson currently has 15,466,499 documents stored in their system. Conservatively estimating, more than 1,950 fourdrawer file cabinets and nearly 20,000 square feet of room would be required to store that many paper documents.

 

“A solution that fits the way we do business”

In 1991, Larson decided they needed to do something about the amount of paper documents they were generating and filing on a regular basis. At that time, they chose Active Data Systems as their provider. Today, Larson is using Efalia ECM to manage their documents.

Says Weber, “A lot of times, with bigger firms, you have to adjust your business with the way their software works.” They felt that Efalia ECM offered great flexibility in creating third-party programs that feed into it without requiring changes in the base product. He added, “Active Data Systems has always been able to come up with a solution that fits the way we do business.”

Nearly all ADS support staff are Certified Document Imaging Architect (CDIA) certified. This certification program is the global standard of competency and professionalism in the document imaging and document management industry.

Larson initially just wanted to get rid of paper, but then it discovered that great cost benefits could be derived from automating their document imaging processes.

“In 92 or 93, ADS wrote us a software program that allowed us to duct tape a bar code reader on top of our scanner that could read each piece of paper and file it automatically,” said Weber.

Though crude by today’s technology, this innovative thinking has kept Larson on the cutting edge in terms of combining bar coding, scanning, and auto-filing. The benefits have been truly remarkable.

“Our system has paid for itself several times over.” According to Jean Osthus, Larson’s Accounting Manager, “Our system has paid for itself several times over by just being able to track down orders that haven’t been invoiced, or by quickly finding invoices that customers may bring into dispute.”

Osthus pointed out another cost benefit, saying that, at one time, Larson had four people filing Proofs of Deliveries (PoDs), plus another person at the front desk helping with orders.

“Now we have just one or two people scanning, and almost no manual processing of the PoDs.”

 

“Everything goes in automatically… It’s wonderful!”

On an average day, one thousand orders may be faxed to Larson. ADS wrote a program to cue up the fax orders. We may get up to 1,800 fax orders a day,” pointed out Judy Sebring, a Larson billing and Stellent specialist.

“Everything goes in automatically…it’s wonderful!” she added.

Juke Box Storage Unit at Larson Manufacturing used to store many of the 15,466,499 documents in their system.

This and other automated processes have reduced or eliminated work and help to assure Larson’s ongoing growth. Added Mary Jensen from Larson Customer Service, “We have a lot less customer frustration because we can access their records immediately.

Disaster recovery in less than two hours.

Since 9/11, organizations have become more concerned with the devastating effects that disasters can have on them, whether they are natural or man-made. Disaster recovery has always been in the forefront of Larson’s planning and growth processes. Larson maintains daily offsite back up of its system.

“At one time, complete recovery of our system would take about a week’s time. Now we are working to get our time down to one or two hours to have the entire system back on line somewhere in the system,” Weber added.