Veritas Aktiengesellschaft
Stettiner Strasse 1-9
63571 Gelnhausen, Germany
Pressure management from a single source
Automotive supplier company optimizes workflows with print application for Lotus Notes and gains resources for its core business
Innovations - a keyword on which above all the automotive industry lives. New developments ensure that mobility becomes increasingly comfortable and environmentally friendly. For companies involved in these developments, quality management is an important area - after all, safety is also an issue here. A partner company in the automotive industry from Hessen, which like many companies worldwide manages its databases with Lotus Notes, is also aware of this. Even though the software is now one of the standard systems, the output options are still limited: In order to print more than just screen-oriented views, many users resort to external programs. In Hesse, the company was not satisfied with this solution and was looking for a tool that would not unnecessarily interrupt workflows in quality and project management. They found an application that allows users to create high-quality prints directly from Lotus Notes, be it plans, customer information or article lists. This keeps the workflow flowing and the employees can concentrate on their core task - developing innovative products.
Veritas AG from Gelnhausen sees its primary task in the development of ideas for the mobile world of tomorrow. Today, the family-owned company is present at eleven locations worldwide and employs over 4,500 people. These are engaged in research and development of tailor-made solutions for customers in the automotive industry as well as project management, without which the complex process of creating products in industry would hardly be controllable. The company's other areas of expertise are fluid and injection molding technology. In addition to fuel line and charge air systems, the product range also includes multi-component injection molding products and pulleys, to name just a few. In order to be able to guarantee the continuity of services and products from the development process to the end of series production, special emphasis is placed on quality management. For 12 years now, Veritas AG has been using a tool that also makes its contribution: With the software NotesToPaper of the SoftVision Development GmbH one overcomes the limited printing possibilities of Lotus Notes. "NotesToPaper enables us to print out precise printouts of, for example, quality management plans and failure mode and effect analyses", explains Karl Obernitz, application developer for Lotus Notes at Veritas AG. "These are an important basis for employees, and otherwise only views can be printed from Notes. That was not enough for us.“
Professional prints for professional work
NotesToPaper as a printing tool enables the formatted and controlled output of data on paper and the creation of electronic documents and reports. Users and developers can create printouts of, for example, forms, invoices or labels and generate electronic reports in various formats such as PDF, XML or DOC, thus overcoming the limited printing capabilities of Notes by using the tool directly in the Domino application. As a developer, Mr. Obernitz makes the various printing and evaluation options available to users directly in the Notes front-end, without the need to use an external program. "Our employees simply use a button to print, and they can also easily generate reports themselves," says Mr. Obernitz, describing the handling of the tool. The software is now used at four locations in three countries, namely Germany, Hungary and Mexico. "The way it works is easy to explain, so the introduction at the international locations was uncomplicated.“
Also the implementation at the headquarters in Hesse went smoothly, as Mr. Obernitz remembers: "A training was not necessary at all, we discussed all this with SoftVision over the phone. The program is really self-explanatory". At the introduction SoftVision was one of the few providers on the market of Notes printing applications - and the only one in Germany. "Whether generating reports, creating headers and footers or changing printers, everything worked smoothly from the beginning", says Mr. Obernitz. Meanwhile, SoftVision's support is hardly needed anymore and if it is, the problem solving is fast and efficient.
Reliable partner for the future
Meanwhile 54 users use the possibilities offered by NotesToPaper. Even though many work steps are done digitally, project and quality management clearly benefit from well printed plans and analyses, especially when it comes to presentations to customers. Since this is important at all international locations, Veritas AG is considering to expand the use of the application. "New locations may be added, the expansion possibilities are always open to us," explains Mr. Obernitz. "And because of the simple handling, such an introduction is also easy. Veritas AG continues to rely on NotesToPaper and professional printing from Lotus Notes. The tool has proven itself and is appreciated as a convenient solution that makes work in an innovative company easier.
The articles published here reflect the opinion of the customers of the SoftVision Development GmbH and not that of the SoftVision Development GmbH. The copyright for the contributions, as far as they are copyrightable, remains basically with the author, with the obvious restriction that the author gives the SoftVision Development GmbH the right to keep the contribution permanently on the internet pages of the SoftVision Development GmbH with the release of his contribution. However, any publication of the contributions by third parties requires the consent of the author.
