Gidu Sriram in an IBM video

Nacco Materials Handling Group Inc (NMHG) has cut cycle time to retrieve documents to one day from 30 days using IBM software.

"This was a significant change that enabled us to respond more quickly to user demands, gain control over our information and become more efficient with our business processes," says Gidu Sriram, director of information technology applications with Portland-based NMHG.

NMHG is using content from four separate FileNet options to manage different functions and achieve an integrated environment, says Craig Rhinehart, director of IBM enterprise content management (ECM) product strategy in Leesburg, Virginia.

NMHG is using IBM FileNet content manager, content services, records crawler and IBM FileNet records manager.

Now, NMHG employees at multiple locations in 14 countries can retrieve and manage documents such as engineering drawings and legal contracts on their desktop computers.

Previously, managers kept manual copies of all documents and legal contracts in various locations. Often, an employee needed to spend hours searching for a specific document. Introduction of the software eliminated the manual work of preparing microfilm cards.

Sriram notes that NMHG managers are "constantly trying to reduce cycle times" and with the software, were "able to reduce ours from 30 days to implementation the very next day."

Next, NMHG is adding regulatory compliance capabilities to the ECM system and will store finance reports and supporting records in a central repository.

IBM acquired FileNet Corp of Costa Mesa, California for USD1.6 billion in 2006 and has assimilated FileNet's ECM and business process management solutions. NMHG was a FileNet customer prior to the IBM acquisition.

Rhinehart says the IBM acquisition added value for existing FileNet customers because of IBM's scope and reach. Within the IBM world, "anything is a globalized product" with software available in the appropriate language of end users within a company, Rhinehart notes.

NMHG, a unit of publicly traded Nacco Industries Inc, designs, engineers and manufactures materials handling equipment under the Hyster, Yale and Sumitomo-Yale brands.