Xerox and Bradley Company Streamline Inventory and Forms ...

C ASES TUDY
Imagine having to manage a
100,000-square-foot
warehouse filled with over
11,000 inventoried items, such
as product kits, training
manuals, publications,
sweatshirts, and golfballs
Imagine adding to the mix
another 1,200 print-ondemand
(POD) documents
and forms And imagine
having to effectively and
capably distribute these items,
the majority of which are
mission critical, to nearly
100,000 customers nationwide
What may seem a daunting
task to some has been turned
into an efficient, end-to-end
fulfillment process for
Guardian, the seventh largest
life insurance firm in the
United States Their Office
Services group has
streamlined ordering, printing,
tracking, and shipping into
one seamless process with a
solution provided by Xerox
and their subsidiary, Bradley
Company
OFFICE SERVICES GROUP
Located in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, Office Services
is responsible for mail, record
keeping, supplies, and forms
requests to support the New
York City-based corporate
headquarters They also serve
Xerox and Bradley
Company Streamline
Inventory and Forms
Management for
Guardian Insurance
Guardian’s Office Services facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
two other home offices, 154
general agencies, 50 regional
offices, thousands of brokers,
and over 80,000
policyholders
The cornerstone of
Guardian’s inventory
management and fulfillment
operation is Bradley
Company’s Spectrum Plus
Software and Xerox
DocuTech Production
Publishers Spectrum Plus
offers seven modules for
managing all aspects of a
company’s supplies, forms,
and consumables—Forms
Management/Data Setup,
PrintLink, NetLink, Kits,
Inventory, Purchasing, and
Job Tracking An eighth
module—ReqDirect—provides
a convenient interface for
placing orders 24 hours a day
over the Internet or an
intranet
Financial
Services

“
We are always looking for new technology to save time
and expenses—and Xerox and Bradley Company keep
coming up with the solutions
The Spectrum Plus
Inventory Module
identifies stock
locations
automatically on
the pick ticket and
sorts them by row,
enabling the person
pulling the order to
make one efficient
pass through the
warehouse
A Xerox customer since 1975, Guardian’s current printer fleet
includes DocuTech 6180 and 135 models in Bethlehem, plus
nine other DocuTechs in other offices The Bethlehem
DocuTechs are fully integrated with Spectrum Plus, including
the PrintLink module; the others are used for local, centralized
printing Bethlehem also houses a 600-dpi, 12-page-per-minute
(ppm) DocuColor 12 Color Copier/Printer
Packed into its large warehouse are applications, forms,
booklets, kits, and supplies for each group of Guardian
products, such as mutual funds, pension plans, and life, group,
and disability income insurance
Stock on hand typically includes envelopes, two- and fourcolor
documents, and items that are ordered in large quantities,
generally 5,000 or more POD items range from one to 150
pages in length Most color items are produced in Guardian’s
Brooklyn, New York, print facility Black-and-white documents
for inventory may be printed offset or on the DocuTechs
Office Services currently works with over 100 document
owners nationwide to incorporate their pieces into the
fulfillment process
THE ORDER FULFILLMENT PROCESS
Office Services processes an average of 750 orders per week
through Spectrum Plus, 30 percent of which is POD With each
order comprising an average of nine line items, over 6,300
individual pieces must be tracked, picked, and packed weekly
Guardian anticipates adding 1,500 additional orders per week in
coming months as they
evolve the system into an
enterprisewide resource for
one-stop shopping
Requestors either mail, email,
fax, or phone in orders, which
are manually keyed into
Spectrum Plus Requisitions
typically include both POD
and inventoried items
The PrintLink Module
automatically captures the
DocuTech job ticket and,
together with the required
image files on the network
server, routes them to the
appropriate printer The job
ticket information helps
operators prioritize which jobs
to execute first by the rush
order status or by combining
similar job attributes
Requisitions or orders
submitted to the system link
directly with the Inventory
Module to generate pick
tickets for warehoused items
Guardian’s fulfillment staff
then picks the items and
combines both POD pieces
and inventoried items for
shipping to the enduser
Despite the heavy volume,
service commitments to their
customers require all
shipments to be processed
the same day if the order is
received before noon and by
the following day for orders
received afterward, according
to Erik Fritz, Manager of
Guardian Office Services
”
Fritz, an 18-year Guardian
veteran, remembers the days
before Spectrum Plus “Our
whole system was completely
manual back then, including
inventory control We had
just 4,000 forms to track, but
there were extensive
problems With limitations on
available staffing, we knew
enhanced technology was
required So we initiated
discussions with Bradley
Company With over 11,000
items and increases in the
number of staff and field
offices to support, we have
had to completely revise our
work processes,” he said,
noting that his fulfillment staff
has remained static over the
past decade
What also has changed
significantly is the scope of
Guardian’s Spectrum Plus/
DocuTech solution “We
installed the base Spectrum
product 10 years ago and
have added modules as they
became available,” said Fritz,
whose organization has
incorporated the PrintLink,
Inventory, Kit, and
Purchasing Modules into its
operations “We are always
looking for new technology to
save time and expenses—and
Xerox and Bradley Company
keep coming up with the
solutions”
The latest module added to
the system is ReqDirect,
which will automate the

“
With print on demand, you don’t have stock-out
situations because forms are always available Also,
problems related to the manual tracking of inventory
just don’t exist any more
fulfillment process even more
as users begin placing orders
through Guardian’s Web site
STREAMLINED WORKFLOWS
AND REDUCED COSTS
Office Services’ operations
have been greatly streamlined
since incorporating Spectrum
Plus with the DocuTechs,
since many problems
associated with the old
system have been eliminated
“With print on demand, you
don’t have stock-out
situations because forms are
always available,” said Fritz
“Also, problems related to the
manual tracking of inventory
just don’t exist any more”
The amount of time required
to pick orders in the Guardian
warehouse has decreased by
more than 50 percent When
they operated manually, the
location of each line item had
to be looked up on a file
locator card and recorded on
the requisition With a
100,000-square-foot
warehouse, excessive
amounts of time were spent
locating stock
The Inventory Module
identifies stock locations
automatically on the pick
ticket and sorts them by row,
enabling the person pulling
the order to make one efficient
pass through the warehouse
It also indicates when
warehouse levels are low so
staff can restock It has a
built-in purge process that
Guardian uses annually to
track obsolete forms,
according to Oscar Rivera,
Spectrum Plus Administrator
“It checks receipts and
disbursements for forms not
ordered in the past year,” he
said “This allows the
document owner to review
each form and determine if it is
still needed Under the manual
system, we had forms that
were 50 years old”
Obsolete items are not purged
from the system, however
Guardian tracks 6,242 obsolete
items in their forms and
supplies database, most of
which are maintained as
reference publications within
the highly regulated insurance
industry Products are
constantly changing as well,
so Office Services keeps
references to the old forms as
a courtesy to the field
Spectrum Plus also allows
them to capture multiple
revisions of the same item
The Spectrum Plus Kit
Module lets users assign
multiple forms under a single
item or form number For
example, Guardian’s New
Agency Kit requires 500
separate forms, including
stock-on-hand and POD
items When an order comes
in for this kit, all of its
components are integrated
into PrintLink, thereby
ensuring completeness
”
PrintLink tracks enterprise documents, manages POD, and acts
as the bridge between the software and the printers Guardian
currently archives 1,172 digital documents with this module
PrintLink also contributes to increased production capacity
The Xerox DocuTech 6180 and135 Publishers, with their
respective 180- and 135-ppm print speeds, are some of the
fastest PostScript printers on the market today—and when
coupled with PrintLink, capacity is expanded even more “This
solution has allowed us to increase production by 50 percent
without increasing staff,” said Rivera
Nine people working out of Guardian’s corporate headquarters
currently use the Purchasing Module to manage that office’s
entire purchasing process The Purchasing Module centralizes
control over paying and matching invoices, generating
purchase orders, and more “We just brought the Accounting
Department online to Spectrum Plus last fall,” said Rivera
“They extract a file from the purchase order system and export
it to a mainframe system, which routes payment information
back into Spectrum Plus Then they can easily tell whether a
check was issued”
INTERNET-ENABLEMENT WITH REQDIRECT
With fulfillment, printing, and purchasing well under control,
Guardian is getting ready to kick it up a notch with ReqDirect,
The DocuTech-based forms
management solution from
Xerox and Bradley
Company has allowed
Guardian to increase
production by 50 percent
without increasing staff

“
ReqDirect is really going to speed up the fulfillment
process There are a few Internet solutions out there
that support forms, but nothing is as fully integrated as
the Bradley Company software
which will put more power into the hands of Guardian end
users and automate fulfillment even further
ReqDirect enables customers to place orders through a userfriendly
interface accessed via Guardian’s intranet They select
needed items and place them into their online “shopping cart”
Their orders are instantly added to Spectrum Plus in Bethlehem
and follow the same fulfillment process as orders received by
mail, email, fax, or phone ReqDirect completely eliminates
manual entry of orders into the system, slashing time and labor
requirements and eliminating possible data entry errors
Once implemented, thousands of end users will be able to
place orders and check order status any time day or night
Spectrum Plus stores personal data on repeat customers,
minimizing their time online Rivera and Fritz anticipate that
ReqDirect will improve fulfillment turnaround time even more,
leading to higher levels of customer service and greater
customer satisfaction and retention “It is really going to speed
up the process,” said Fritz
Office Services has developed its own modest online
component to enable email orders, but are anxiously awaiting
the implementation of ReqDirect “There are a few Internet
solutions out there that support forms, but none provides a
corporate solution,” said Rivera “Nothing is as fully integrated
as the Bradley Company software”
Other features sure to please users include the ability to view
an electronic image of the item, to see quantities of stock on
hand, to view forms by revision number, and to use the online
tracking system that will be linked to UPS and FedEx
One internal user who is looking forward to the Internetenabled
ordering system is Ricardo Flores, Receiving
Operations Manager All requisitions pass through Flores’
hands before being entered into Spectrum Plus He verifies
budget allowances and makes sure the person placing the
order has authorization to obtain the requested items Once the
order is approved, Flores emails or faxes the orders to
Bethlehem
“ReqDirect has built-in checks and balances to ensure people
don’t order things they aren’t allowed to get When a user logs
on, all the approvals and codes are implemented,” said Flores
“It will reduce the time to place an order from 20 minutes to five
minutes It will save me hours of work by not having to verify
each order and then stand at the fax machine sending it”
”
SOLUTION PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS
The Spectrum Plus/DocuTech system is marketing itself
throughout the Guardian organization as Office Services expands
the solution even further “Lots of users are asking for it,”
according to Rivera “They have seen various components and
are finding out about its capabilities through word of mouth”
In addition to adding ReqDirect, Guardian plans to link all the
remote DocuTechs into Spectrum Plus for distributed printing
They also want to network the DocuColor 12 to handle full-color
POD forms They are even considering broadening the number of
users who have direct access to the system—first by opening it
up to Bethlehem customers and then later on to the field
Guardian is a national Xerox account, so it is not just the
Bethlehem office reaping the benefits of Xerox service and
support In addition to the DocuTechs, all Guardian offices and
agencies nationwide utilize Xerox personal copiers Customer
satisfaction is much higher with Xerox equipment and complaints
are down, says Rivera “Service, support, and quality are a lot
better than with past vendors”
The cost savings, improved workflow, and solution quality
provided by the Spectrum Plus/DocuTech solution are clearly
evident—and such solutions have been embraced by other
Xerox customers as well Customers either purchase hardware
and software that they manage themselves, or they let Xerox
manage the entire solution in an outsourcing arrangement
The partnership between Xerox and Bradley Company provides
customers such as Guardian with a comprehensive, one-stop
solution “It covers the whole loop,” says Rivera “We benefit
from their partnership, the shared experiences of their other
customers, and the seamless solutions they develop The
Spectrum Plus/DocuTech solution has enabled us to quickly
respond to our customers’ needs for enhanced services and new
technology”
XEROX ® , The Document Company ® , DocuPrint ® , and the stylized X
are trademarks of Xerox Corporation Spectrum Plus ® and ReqDirect ®
are trademarks of Bradley Company Other product names used herein
are trademarks of their respective owners 8/00
Printed in USA
610P702790