Detroit Diesel Allison Australia (DD-AA) is one of Australia's leading distributors of diesel engines and heavy duty automotive transmissions. From small beginnings in 1948, DD-AA now spans a network of 17 branches across Australia with more than 480 highly trained personnel.

 

In recent years, the DD-AA product range has been greatly extended. Today, the company offers total product and technical support, 24 hours a day, through its strategically located branches and dealer networks across Australia.

DD-AA centralised their solution...and were able to create one set of forms across the multiple trading companies.

Challenges Faced

Using an AS400 based application with limited control of the output format; DD-AA needed the ability to assimilate the data from their spool file and produce business production documents which were professional looking, yet easy to read and would meet all of their forms requirements.

Previously pre printed stationery was used, and in some cases the NCR carbonised copies cost up to $1 for a multi-part form, with DD-AA producing over 3500 forms per day. The key solution requirements for DD-AA were as follows:

1. The presentation to the customer and suppliers had to be professional and represent the image of DD-AA.
2. The forms design tool had to allow for changes with ease, and allow for the form to change dynamically based on triggers from their spool file.
3. The flexibility for the version of the form to automatically change with the appropriate logos.
4. To present the form in some cases, in a portrait format on page one, and then dynamically go to a landscape format from page two onwards.
5. To completely eliminate the need for pre-printed stationery.
6. The solution had to be operational online, with 60 printers in 17 branches across Australia and needed to be based on an AS400 platform. There were over 16 forms that needed to be produced, including invoices, statements, pick and packing slips and transport notes.

Success Strategy

DD-AA partnered with Xcellerate IT and the Accelio solution, due to the experience of the Xcellerate IT team and the functionality and flexibility of Accelio's technology on the AS400. DD-AA centralised their solution on an AS400 platform and were able to create one set of forms across the multiple trading companies. This allowed for easy maintenance and control of all the designed electronic forms.

The Accelio solution was able to automate the printing process to decide what form to print, with which logo, to any printer on the network, says Bruce Nystrom, DD-AA's National IT Manager. This allowed us to streamline all of the forms across DD-AA and to have the freedom and control we were looking for in forms solution..

New forms can be uploaded and in production within minutes...

Business Benefits

The set up of the solution, allows for easy management from a central menu, making fine-tuning and modifications and testing simple. The product has a high capacity to handle the complexities of DD-AA's business, with lots of variation in output from purchase order to statements. New forms can be uploaded and in production within minutes for every branch and Xcellerate IT performs this task remotely, eliminating their need to work on site.

The advantage of working with the Xcellerate IT team was their skill set with the Accelio suite of products, their understanding of our AS400 environment and their commitment to servicing our needs.