WORLDWIDE INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS
Embracing Change
Creative New Uses
Even when there is a last minute
Electrolux also relies on the DocuTech
manufacturing change to a product for
to produce stack slips, which are bar-
which there are no manuals in reserve,
coded sheets applied to the product
Electrolux employees can turn out
containing vital product tracking
manuals for the new model without
information such as product number,
slowing down the assembly schedule.
manufacturing week and serial number.
Previously, these slips were printed on
“The DocuTech saves us from the
desktop laser printers — a task which
awkward position of needing to change
would take an Electrolux employee an
or being without a user manual,” says
entire day to complete. Now, by using a
Nygren. “Often someone from the
label program and the DocuTech Media
assembly line will come up to the
Server, this printing task is completed in
computer department and simply bring
a fraction of the time previously required.
Not surprisingly, Electrolux has reaped
substantial savings from the Xerox publishing system. “Our costs in this area
have been reduced by approximately 45
CASE STUDY
percent after the DocuTech installation,”
says Nygren, who bases his figures on
lower capital costs, decreased waste
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Electrolux
from outdated manuals and reduced
storage requirements. Perhaps most
importantly, ready-to-ship products no
longer have to languish in an Electrolux
warehouse until their new manuals
are completed.
the user manuals with him back to the
assembly area. We no longer produce
“We are very creative in finding new
products without user manuals.”
uses for the DocuTech,” boasts Engman,
The past five years, however, have
who says that Electrolux employees use
the system for everything from business
cards to self-adhesive labels. “The
ELECTROLUX
CLEANS HOUSE
been particularly challenging for
Electrolux as it faced increasingly
strong competition from a handful of
DocuTech has even made it possible for
rival European and US-based appliance
us to help some of the local community
Assembly Area and
sports organizations with game programs
In-House Printing Keep
concentrated its efforts on becoming
and publications. It’s very popular.”
Company Competitive
even more nimble and flexible regard-
Electrolux, a Stockholm, Sweden-based
ing production schedules in order to
company, produced what is considered
meet customer demand.
manufacturers. In response, Electrolux
to be the Cadillac — or, perhaps more
accurately, the Volvo — of vacuum
The glitch: keeping user and instruction
cleaners, refrigerators, stoves and other
manuals updated and available without
household appliances. Having been in
overstocking or being forced to wait
the appliance business for more than
four weeks for new manuals to arrive
75 years, Electrolux has seen its share
from an outside printer. Although a
of market changes.
majority of Electrolux’s manuals are
printed in English, a substantial number
©2000 XEROX CORPORATION. Xerox®, The Document
Company®, and the digital X are trademarks of XEROX
CORPORATION. All rights reserved.
701P33709
are also printed in Swedish, Finnish and
Changing to Stay
approximately
Manuals in Days,
Norwegian with some manuals using a
Competitive
100 PCs and a
Not Weeks
Digital Equipment
mix of all four languages. These manuEach facility had to keep hundreds of
Today, manuals are produced while the
Corp. (DEC) VAX
als had to be stored until they became
manuals in stock in order to keep up
products are being built, using the two
minicomputer.
outdated, then they were thrown away.
with demand. These storage costs,
DocuTechs which are installed at the
combined with printing and typesetting
assembly line. Engman explains the
Nygren explains: “We decided to invest
“The type of production we have in
expenses, made maintaining updated
production process: “We have a writer
in the DocuTechs for three reasons. One
Motala (one of Electrolux’s four assembly
manuals a substantial expense.
in Stockholm who updates current
locations in Sweden) involves assembling
is cost savings, of course. After looking
stoves, refrigerators and kitchen fans in
at all the cost components, we believe
manuals or creates new ones using
The most difficult situation, however,
Mac/QuarkXPress publishing software.
the DocuTech is more economical. We
small batches — 12 to 250 batch sizes
was when the factory ran short of cur-
When she’s finished with the document,
also consider time as an important con-
with approximately 350 product models,”
rent manuals. “Even if we did not have
she transfers it via modem to our DEC
sideration, especially when we’re able
explains Hans Nygren, Controller for
the manuals available, we still had to
VAX computer located in Essingern in
to reduce the time it takes to produce a
Electrolux. “These small batch sizes
produce products,” points out Bo
Stockholm. When it has been received
manual from four weeks to three days.
often mean that the assembly line may
Engman, Computer Operations
Finishing of the manuals is performed
in-line, using DocuTech’s Signature
Booklet Maker with Cover Insertion
Module. The finished manuals are then
stored temporarily next to the assembly
line until needed.
by the VAX computer, she sends us a
production is
The third reason is the risk of obsoles-
produce several different kinds of products
Manager for Electrolux. “These products
fax informing us that the user manual is
cence. We often change models here,
in one day. User manuals must always be
would go to the warehouse without
ready. Then, I transfer the user manual
which means there are large obsoles-
available in a timely manner if we’re to
user manuals, which meant that we
to my disk, and then into the media
cence costs.“
get these products shipped out on time.
“
Now, manual
had to go back and enclose them later.”
server through my PC for translation
into the DocuTech.
“The big difference,“ Nygren continues,
Electrolux uses DocuTech Extended
Storage for virtually unlimited storage
as flexible as
on optical disk or magnetic tape, to hold
Electrolux’s
the electronic versions of the manuals
product
for future printing.
To accommodate last-minute changes,
manufacturing
“is that now we produce manuals ourreduce storage space and cut costs,
“When we go to press, we run the
selves in a timely manner in the correct
Electrolux purchased two Xerox
manuals batch sorted,” Engman adds.
amount and at a low cost.”
DocuTech Network Publishers. A Token
“The result is that the first user manual is
Ring network links the DocuTechs to
finished when the last page is printed in
the first batch. That is a clear advantage.”
“Storing 3-4 weeks worth of manuals
was a major expense — both in terms of
printing expenses and in required storage
space,” Nygren says. “By printing manuals as we need them, we’ve managed
to reduce capital expenses related to
Now, manual production is as flexible
as Electrolux’s product manufacturing
system. Two days before a particular
storing manuals to one tenth of what
we previously spent. The freed-up
capital is substantial.”
model is to be assembled, Electrolux
employees run the product’s user
manuals, printing only as many as
the assembly area plans to produce.
WORLDWIDE INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS
WORLDWIDE INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS
system.
”