DocuWare > Case Studies > Criterion Tool & Die Inc. Digitizes Document Management with DocuWare

Criterion Tool & Die Inc. Digitizes Document Management with DocuWare

Customer Company Size

SME

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

DocuWare

Tech Stack

Document Management System

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Cost Savings

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance
Human Resources

Use Cases

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Criterion Tool & Die Inc. is a third-generation family-owned company founded in 1953. The company specializes in manufacturing precise components for no-failure industries such as medical, aerospace, and photonics. With its 32 employees, Criterion Tool & Die Inc. builds and supplies parts for several hundred customers and also develops prototypes based on specific requests. The company is required to retain documentation about the parts it supplies for the lifetime of the products and instruments due to government regulations.

The Challenge

Criterion Tool & Die Inc., a third-generation family-owned company, manufactures precise components for no-failure industries such as medical, aerospace, and photonics. The company is required to retain documentation about the parts it supplies for the lifetime of the products and instruments due to government regulations. These requirements resulted in thousands of paper documents stored in the company’s facility over many years. The paper and large storage space made locating documents time-consuming and difficult. In addition, the company had to produce all supporting documentation in a timely manner when requested for audits.

The Solution

After considering several document management solutions, Criterion Tool & Die Inc. chose DocuWare. The company purchased its own servers and is currently maintaining 16,500 documents, digitized from nearly 100 big banker boxes and file cabinets. With a dedicated person who performs regular document scanning, 50 to 100 documents are being added on a weekly basis, including current and also some historical documents, which are still being digitized. All of the parts shipped during the week are now entered into the DocuWare system. Every manufactured part becomes a record in the DocuWare archives, which includes the part's dimensional drawings, copies of the inspection reports, certifications of the material and purchase orders.

Operational Impact

The DocuWare solution tremendously decreased document retrieval time. Instead of locating boxes and then records within the boxes, information about parts can be retrieved nearly instantly.
The speed and convenience of the digital solution became particularly important during audits. Prior to DocuWare use, audit preparations took several hours, but now the documents can be found by inputting job numbers and retrieving the records.
The company uses DocuWare for a variety of needs, including retaining documents for the FDA, quality management system and preventative maintenance on machines and equipment. They also store employee and client records along with external documents used by the quality department.
The company also installed DocuWare stations on its shop and office floors so that employees could be trained to retrieve records electronically.

Quantitative Benefit

The company is saving approximately 10 man-hours a week by being able to retrieve the files digitally.
Using DocuWare helped save 41 trees just this year and several hundred dollars in paper costs.