Software provides electronic forms management.
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Press Release Summary:
Output PAK electronic document manager allows manufacturing customers to modify, maintain, and disseminate documents specific to their business requirements. User can select different forms at time of output, and fax and email purchase orders, quotes, and expedite letters to suppliers without manual input. Output PAK integrates directly into MLS plant maintenance, Maintenance Repair and Operational (MRO) inventory and procurement software system.
Original Press Release:
New Output Pak Electronic Document Manager Provides Value 'Out of the Box'
- FBOS' Maintenance System Sets Trends With Electronic Forms Tool
(June 14, 2002 -Atlanta) - All electronic document managers are not created equal! Nor do they meet the needs of most manufacturing environments. That is until now.
Atlanta-based FBO Systems, Inc. (FBOS), developers of the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system MLS®, have rolled out Output PAK, a simple-to-use electronic document manager that allows manufacturing customers to modify, maintain and disseminate documents specific to their business requirements. FBOS has also integrated the "out-of-the-box" Output PAK directly into the MLS plant maintenance, Maintenance Repair and Operational (MRO) inventory and procurement software system, making this, the company believes, the first EAM with an electronic forms tool.
"The maintenance department within any manufacturing facility generates huge numbers of documents," explains FBOS' Bo Hagler. "Even a simple work order typically demands a part be approved, ordered, received and tracked for accounting use and payment. This means hours of manpower be spent writing up the forms to meet supplier requirements, faxing the forms, disseminating the forms and on and on - non-value activities that often relegate the buyer to the role of clerk."
To resolve this problem, manufacturers have turned to report writers and forms programs, but with little success. Traditional report writers are not designed to create the sophisticated forms manufacturers need to operate efficiently and, despite adaptors that allow for the automation of fax and email messages, do not offer the efficiencies required to manage documents and distribute those documents to suppliers, shipping, accounting and the various audiences involved. Comparatively, forms packages have a myriad of capabilities that can make a difference, but they have proven to be complex to learn, much less implement, as well as time demanding on already overtaxed IT departments.
In fact, many of our customers have already paid as much as $30,000 for a forms package, but have been unable to dedicate the time required to leverage what those products offered," Mr. Hagler states. "So, to meet our clients' needs, our developers spent six months learning Adobe Accelio (then known as Jetform), developing MLS forms within that technical platform and writing a customized integration for customer use that works 'out-of-the-box.' And we priced it at $800 per user so it could fit comfortably within any budget." FBOS holds a restricted license with Adobe Accelio to use the product.
Output PAK can be installed and configured within, typically, two days. During configuration, customers can define each job within the system according to form, language and format needs by supplier, state specific terms and conditions, routing requirements and a myriad of other dictates. Then, with the push of a button, what took days of printing, faxing and distributing can happen behind the scenes in minutes. Customers can then personalize these dictates by supplier or activity at any time.
"Why touch paper if it doesn't add value?" says Mr. Hagler. "The distribution of purchase orders and other documents should be a background solution, freeing buyers to do other jobs that add value to the company. In the manufacturing arena, these kinds of efficiency gains go a long way towards offering the flexibility necessary to solve the hard problems of competition."
The Output PAK Product
FBOS' Output PAK:
- Faxes and emails purchase orders, quotes and expedite letters to suppliers without manual input.
- Enables a user to select different forms at the time of output.
- Generates multi-lingual purchase orders.
- Distributes multiple copies of a document to various departments automatically.
- Provides professional quality forms.
- Integrates directly with MLS.
MLS-created documents available through FBOS' new Output PAK include:
- Maintenance work orders (including instructions, parts and tool lists)
- Single- and multi-line requisitions
- Purchase orders
- Quotes
- Expedite letters
- Receivers
- Returns to vendor
FBO Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software and professional services that enable asset intensive companies to lower their maintenance cost while increasing equipment reliability. The 12-year-old company utilizes comprehensive software and skilled consulting services to assist clients in integrating plant maintenance activities into their manufacturing processes. FBOS' primary software solution, MLS®, which is available in eight languages (English, Castilian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish), is used in hundreds of local and multi-national, single and multi-site manufacturing segments in 18 countries around the world including: automotive, consumer products, food & beverage, industrial, electronics and medical. FBOS can be reached at (770) 723-1011 or fbos.com.
