Hexcel

“These systems were getting old and reaching the capacity of the hardware they were running on,” says Raul Mital, Data Technology Project Leader for Hexcel. “To help our operations, we wanted to find a single system that could handle capturing more than 1,000 documents per day.”

Hexcel deployed an enterprise content management solution from KnowledgeLake because it would integrate seamlessly with the company’s SharePoint-based intranet and delivered the tools and functionality needed to create a highly efficient enterprise content management system. “We evaluated systems from three other vendors, but they did not have all the functionality we wanted or they did not offer a true enterprise-scale solution,” says Mital. Hexcel used a number of products for the solution, including:

KnowledgeLake Imaging for SharePoint, which is extensible server software that transforms SharePoint into a high-volume production-imaging system.

KnowledgeLake Capture Server, which is used to scan and save documents to SharePoint using networked devices. Hexcel uses the barcode-reading functionality in Capture Server to separate documents and populate index values, and to capture documents from legacy computer systems and from faxed purchase orders received from customers.

KnowledgeLake Connect, which lets Hexcel users scan, index, search, and store documents from inside line-of-business applications, including Microsoft Office documents and Office Outlook e-mails.

Hexcel uses a number of Fujitsu scanners, including the Fujitsu fi-5750C high-speed flatbed scanner; the Fujitsu fi-5530C2, a departmental-level scanner; and the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 desktop scanner.

The KnowledgeLake solution helps Hexcel increase the effectiveness of its enterprise content management. The integration of KnowledgeLake products with SharePoint delivers a shared familiar interface, which simplifies training and daily use of the system. Because SharePoint provides a central, company-wide document repository, it is easy for Hexcel employees to quickly locate information. The solution also proved invaluable in converting a huge number of documents from legacy systems.

Easy to Use

The tight integration of KnowledgeLake products with SharePoint is a key reason why Hexcel chose to deploy its current solution instead of going with competing technologies.

“The fact that KnowledgeLake captures documents and automatically saves them into SharePoint is a major benefit for Hexcel,” says Mital, noting the mission-critical role that SharePoint plays in the corporate enterprise and the fact that SharePoint is a familiar, daily tool used across the company.

“SharePoint is behind our company intranet and is the central repository for all our documents. Our user base was already familiar with SharePoint, so there was no need to deploy new or different software to search and view documents,” Mital says. “This solution makes it easy for employees to search for documents using the KnowledgeLake components that are integrated into SharePoint.”

Fast Information Searches

The KnowledgeLake solution has eliminated the often time-consuming processes of trying to find documents in different document management systems. Several departments inside Hexcel—including customer service, quality control, shipping, and accounts payable—have seen significant productivity gains by using the KnowledgeLake-based enterprise content management system.

“Instead of looking for their documents in three different systems as they did in the past, users can now find the documents they need in one central system, thereby reducing the costs, time, and effort that used to be spent in searches,” Mital says. “Plus the scanning and indexing of documents is very straightforward. The KnowledgeLake solution can validate document index properties by querying existing databases. This allows us to check for valid customer numbers and automatically supply the customer names, reducing the errors and the typing needed to maintain the indexes.”

Efficient Conversion of Legacy Documents

The KnowledgeLake software helped Hexcel manage a huge volume of documents stored on legacy systems, including mainframe and mid-range computer systems. To store the documents on SharePoint, Hexcel first accessed them by writing the documents and their indexes to a network folder using software from Streamserve.

“When we decided to deploy the KnowledgeLake Solution, over 90 percent of the documents we needed to capture were in our legacy manufacturing systems,” says Mital. “Once these documents were written to a network folder, KnowledgeLake Capture imported these documents, including the indexing values, to SharePoint. KnowledgeLake helped us move from out-dated technology to an efficient enterprise content management solution that helps our employees work more effectively.”