Fleetwood Folding Trailers uses LaserVault Reports to reduce its storage space for documents.

Fleetwood Folding Trailers, Inc. was Drowning in Paper

"Our report archive area was a room in our factory. We were continually running out of space with the situation growing rapidly worse as our business grew." This statement from Dale Gindlesperger, MIS manager at Fleetwood Folding Trailers, Inc. describes the situation his company was in before discovering LaserVault Universal Server.

Fleetwood Folding Trailers, Inc. manufactures the Coleman brand of pop-up tent campers, and accounts for 37% of all camper sales. "As a vertically integrated company, we handle the entire life cycle of the campers from concept and design, to prototyping, to manufacturing, sale and shipping of the product…" states Mr. Gindlesperger. Like many manufacturing companies, Fleetwood must be able to access old reports, statements, and invoices as needed. Not only was the company running out of room to store paper copies of reports, they needed to cut down on their supplies costs as well.

A COLD (Computer Output to Laser Disk) System for Report Archiving

"All told, there is no question that LaserVault was an outstanding purchase..."
-Dale Gindlesberger,
MIS Manager

In 1993, Fleetwood Folding Trailers assigned Dale Gindlesperger a two-fold project. He was to reduce their supplies costs and find a better way to store the company's historical data. Mr. Gindlesperger knew exactly what Fleetwood needed. Since the business was operating an AS/400 midrange computer system, a COLD (Computer Output to Laser Disk) system for report archiving was the solution they had been looking for.

After contacting an international Fortune 500 company to see what solutions they offered, Mr. Gindlesperger was disappointed. "Their only solution was a full-blown COLD and imaging system, costing about $65,000. They did not offer just the COLD portion of the application. While their solution certainly would have worked, I felt it was buying a Ferrari to go to the grocery store - considerable overkill."

LaserVault Universal Server

Mr. Gindlesperger contacted Electronic Storage Corporation and was introduced to the LaserVault Universal Server. The next step was to physically see how the system worked and what it could do for his office. He visited a local bank to see their implementation of the LaserVault system and was pleased with what he saw. He learned how the LaserVault system creates a structured, computerized archive of reports, searches reports by key values, and extracts report information into PC spreadsheets or databases. Mr. Gindlesperger decided that LaserVault was exactly what he had been looking for: a system that fit his office and his budget. "I was impressed enough to place an order for the product for our AS/400, based on ease of installation, use, and especially cost."

"The accountants and the other users love the new system."

Fleetwood Folding Trailers, Inc. installed their new LaserVault system in the fall of 1993. A representative from Electronic Storage Corporation came on-site and trained the users on how to install and use the system and how to correctly configure it. Mr. Gindlesperger was thrilled. "We quickly modified the reports to print hardcopies of the totals only, and sent the entire reports to LaserVault rather than printing them. This was a very large savings, both in time spent printing and in paper costs." After installing LaserVault, the company realized a 35% reduction in paper and supplies usage. Mr. Gindlesperger further explains "It also took several hours from our month-end processing schedule due to significant reduction in printing time, which made my operators happy."

Other users loved the new system too  

• Paper handling was reduced.

• Less space was taken up with files and filing cabinets.

• Reports became easier to access with the various indexing options (operators can scan by account number, name, invoice, order, or date).

• Going to the archive room for old reports was no longer necessary since everything they needed was at their fingertips.

 

Another benefit of report archiving many companies may not have considered is, what happens if the paper copies of the reports are destroyed? Fleetwood solved this problem by using LaserVault. The company stores backup copies of their disks off-site. This prevents any loss of information should an unexpected fire or other disaster destroy the paper archives. "The auditors love it!" explains Mr. Gindlesperger.

"A really nice feature is that my system came equipped with a modem and ESC support can call into my system and fix problems over the phone. The support people are always knowledgeable and courteous," states Mr. Gindlesperger. Whether Fleetwood needs assistance in setting up new archives or upgrading to the latest version, the LaserVault tech support team is always available.

So how does Mr. Gindlesperger feel LaserVault has benefited his company? "All told, there is no question that LaserVault was an outstanding purchase, which has paid for itself many times over, both in reduction of paper and printer supply costs, computer operator time costs, storage space costs, and especially in user accessibility costs. I wholeheartedly recommend this product for any company that doesn't already have an archiving solution installed."

"Count me as a satisfied customer."

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