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ABBYY FormReader Helps Grolier to Automate Order Processing

Groilier Logo

Grolier is a part of the Scholastic Group. Scholastic Corporation is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology. The company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks, and also direct-sales.

Challenge

Grolier has a very wide range of book products and multiple order forms. Customers mark their orders by filling up an order sheet, which is in the form of a catalogue. After indicating the type of books and quantity required, orders are faxed to Grolier for processing. A manual system of order processing was sufficient for some time when there were only a small volume of orders. Later, when orders increased significantly, especially during peak periods like school holidays or promotions, orders piled up to as many as 12,000 daily. A shortage in manpower resulted in delayed processing of orders. Manual retrieval of orders added to the inefficiency of Grolier. This unproductive working environment affected the entire processing flow and put Grolier’s business reputation on risk.

Grolier decided to improve this situation either by outsourcing or replacing their manual system with automation.

Order form

Solution

Scientific Digital Business Imaging Pte Ltd (SDB), an ABBYY's partner based in Malaysia, proposed a fully automated document processing solution to Grolier by using Panasonic KV-S1025C scanner and ABBYY FormReader 6.5, a data capture software. It is the most optimal, for it provides an entire set of required tools for automated data capture, and ensures smooth integration with customer's workflow. The ready-to-use solution offers the performance of a larger processing system on only one workstation and is fast and easy to use.
After the successful POC, SDB completely switched Grolier towards the automation system rather than outsourcing services.

Currently, all collected order forms are scanned by the Panasonic scanner and data in the order form are extracted by using ABBYY FormReader 6.5. The software processes fixed forms and recognises printed text (OCR) as well as handwriting in block letters (ICR), including alphanumerical characters. Finally, all extracted data are seamlessly exported to Grolier’s document management system.

Results

This automated system has improved Grolier’s performance significantly. Its order form processing solution requires a single operator to scan and process all order forms. Grolier is now able to process over 500 order forms in an hour; bulk order forms during the peak periods are no longer their headache.
In addition, all important data became easily accessible, saving time and cost for Grolier.
Now, Grolier can focus on their core business and allocate more resources for their expansion plans.

About Grolier Corporation
Grolier is a part of the Scholastic Group. Scholastic Corporation is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys.  For more information,  please visit http://www.scholastic-asia.com/

SDB LogoAbout Scientific Digital Business Imaging Pte Ltd.
Scientific Digital Business Imaging Pte Ltd. is headquartered in Singapore, has offices in ASEAN. SDB is a leading Mass Storage, Document Imaging and Printing Systems Value Added Distributor. In each of its businesses, the company represents ‘Top-of-Breed’ software and services. SDB has been recognized as a Channel leader in the region by ‘Channel Asia’, a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation, UK.   For   more   information,   please   visit http://www.sdbimaging.com/