Quality Software Reduces Company's Total Annual Cost
Vintara
Ryerson Tull, one of North
America's leading distributors and processors of metals,
recognized the need to leverage technology that would enable
it to streamline the key business processes associated with
quality while ensuring that customer satisfaction wasn't
compromised. Corporate quality executives at Ryerson Tull
had been searching for an online solution that would automate
and integrate the company's quality management system. With
more than 30 ISO 9000-registered facilities throughout the
United States, the company was using a paper-based quality
management system that was cumbersome to manage and administer.
Ryerson Tull was also managing individual quality systems
for multiple regions of the company.
Ryerson Tull came to Vintara with the challenges of converting
its existing paper-based documents to an online format,
consolidating multiple quality systems, establishing a fully
integrated enterprisewide quality management system and
completing the transition from
ISO 9002:1994 to ISO 9001:2000. The company's Pittsburgh
facility--located in Carnegie, Pennsylvania--was chosen
as the pilot implementation site. Vintara and Ryerson Tull
incorporated the existing paper documentation into a paperless
management system within 30 days.
"As the corporate ISO manager, I was assigned the
task of selecting a system that could fulfill the needs
of the company--a reputable, user-friendly, fully integrated,
Web-based system," explains Frieda Sarji. "With
Vintara, we found a consistent quality system that involves
the entire company in the process. The ease of documentation
changes facilitates implementation of continuous improvement
across all departments of our company."
Vintara, founded in 1997, helps small and large companies
prepare for and cost-effectively maintain compliance with
standards. The Vintara application features an intuitive
interface, seamless integration and the ability to customize
to a company's business needs, providing the basis for a
complete solution. From centralized document management
to real-time information and enhanced internal communications,
Vintara's solutions enable a company to gain complete control
over every aspect of its management system and maximize
return on investment.
The transition to Vintara's Web-based application provided
Ryerson Tull with a fully automated quality management system,
featuring centralized management, real-time access and easy
transition to ISO 9001:2000. "The largest benefit of
the Vintara application is its ability to effectively manage
the quality process across the entire enterprise by using
a system that provides complete visibility to every aspect
of our quality function, regardless of activity or location,"
says Jerry Smith, Ryerson Tull's director of corporate quality.
Using the Vintara application, Ryerson Tull has eliminated
the cost-related and administrative burdens of maintaining
a paper-based quality management system. "Prior to
implementing the Vintara application, our quality documentation
was managed by three people; now it can be managed by one,"
explains Smith. "Additionally, the time to complete
revision, review, approval and distribution of documentation
has gone from weeks to hours. Document management is now
a simple process, and internal communication is fully automated."
The Vintara application has allowed Ryerson Tull to consolidate
multiple ISO 9001 registrations and reduce its annual ISO
9001 registration expense. Since implementing the application,
the company has streamlined its internal audit processes
and drastically reduced the number of auditor days, all
of which has resulted in annual savings in excess of $600,000.
Through the implementation of the Vintara system, Ryerson
Tull has realized significant cost savings and benefits.
The company has realized annual personnel-related cost savings
of more than $400,000 through the consolidation of staffing
resources required to operate the new system. The Vintara
system enables Ryerson Tull to conduct desktop audits remotely
from any location, significantly reducing internal audit
days. Prior to its experience with Vintara, Ryerson Tull's
audit costs were $165,000 per year. These have been reduced
by more than $150,000.
In the past 18 months, Ryerson's implementation of the
Vintara application has expanded in stages to include 35
company locations and hundreds of users. In addition to
the application, Vintara provided on-site user training
for 12 training location managers, ensuring each was able
to fully administer and manage the application.
Vintara
- Centralized document management
- Real-time information
- Seamless integration
www.vintara.com
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