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Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co., Ltd.

As the world wide financial situation shows no signs of improving, we can observe a renewed interest in information investments. Accordingly, based on an acknowledgment that groupware is essential for raising profits, Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. is actively introducing Hitachi's Groupmax. Shin-Kobe uses most Groupmax functions: e-mail, bulletin boards and document managers. Also, they are developing different types of workflow systems quickly. Shin-Kobe succeeded in reducing their indirect staff by almost 15% in the first year after introducing Groupmax.

Sharing information to survive and prosper during periods of slow economic growth is essential.

"We cannot expect our markets to expand in these low-growth times," begins Mr. Shigetoshi Matsuda, general manager and a director of Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. "What can we do to maintain our present sales and increase profits? We came up with the answer of filling out and reinforcing our information system."

Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. was established through a merger of two different companies in 1969. In addition to manufacturing car batteries, Shin-Kobe uses its business resources in producing seal-type lead batteries that are used as backup power sources for information devices, laminated boards that are widely used in the electronics field, uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS), and golf carts.

However, like many companies caught in Asia's current recession, Shin-Kobe finds it difficult to count on the world market for secondary batteries-that accounts for more than half of their yearly sales-to expand. So, they have ventured to improve their profits by reinforcing their information system.
"We focused on the strategy that by sharing information and transmitting it speedily, we will increase our productivity and reduce our indirect staff," said Mr. Matsuda.

He first began construction on a LAN and WAN in the head office, sales office, factory, and related companies. The Client/Servers system was installed in the headquarters as a start in November 1997; the interoffice network was completed by April 1998; and by March 1999, nine related companies will be connected to the network. In tandem to upgrading infrastructure, Shin-Kobe introduced groupware.

Getting Groupmax running as soon as possible

"As a step in expanding the enterprise's infrastructure, we wanted to start using groupware as soon as we could. We chose Hitachi's Groupmax. Groupmax can be used immediately without developing applications. Moreover, we value Groupmax's expandability: it can be introduced in small units then expanded to company-wide WAN use. And, eventually Groupmax can be integrated with the Internet," said Mr. Matsuda.

Mr. Takashi Nishimura, who as planning manager of the Management Planning Department was in charge of LAN and WAN construction in Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery, says, "I value Groupmax's cost performance and the high potential for business applications. Even when introducing new applications in the future, we are confident that Hitachi and NISSEI COMPUTER LIMITED will ensure the compatibility between Groupmax and other software. And that is very assuring."

By introducing groupware as a vital part in corporate strategies, the spread and acceptance of Groupmax progressed quickly. The headquarters started using Groupmax from December 1997. Within a year, employees were using most functions such as e-mail, the scheduler, bulletin boards, and workflow.

Several background trends converged to help promote Groupmax's use in a short period.
"In January 1998, two months after introducing Groupmax, I investigated how much managers were using e-mail, and said, 'I'll wait two months, and those of you who are not using e-mail at the end of that time will no longer be necessary in this company,'" says Mr. Nishimura.

Publishing President's daily schedule online for all employees to view improved the mutual understanding among our offices. For executives, a system that uses graphs to show management conditions is being well received. In April 1998, photos of all new hires appeared on the bulletin board and became the talk of the company.

Workflows were also developed soon after Groupmax was introduced. Travel expense adjustments, attendance management, payment management, and a claim management system are now operating. The specifications were arranged within Shin-Kobe Electric, and NISSEI COMPUTER supported development of the program.

"For example, travel allowances were previously paid out 1 to 2 weeks after being settled; but now they are being paid with reliability on the day after being settled," said Mr. Nishimura.

Shin-Kobe's workflows were carefully created. The most interesting of all is the claim management system started in November 1998.

"The Sales Department collects complaints and inquiries from customers about products, and then contacts the factory's Quality Assurance Department using a so-called claim contact form. The Quality Assurance Department fills out the forms with feedback for customers. Previously, claims were handled in writing on paper, and sometimes claim contact forms stopped somewhere, or got misplaced. And it was impossible to know for certain whether the Quality Assurance Department actually received the paper form," explains Mr. Nishimura.

Constructing a workflow system using Groupmax enabled more accurate and quicker responses.

With our new system, the Sales Department inputs the details of the inquiry into a typical online format. The information is sent to the Planning Management Department and to the Quality Assurance Department at the same time. The answer from Quality Assurance Department is sent both to the Sales Department and to the Planning Management Department. This provides a speedy answer for the Sales Department-not to mention the customer-but also helps the Planning Management Department to create a database for claims with which they hope to discover problems before they occur. Also, the system helps clearly show where claims are being processed in the system-helping prevent delays or lost claims.

Original job flows for Shin-Kobe are also carefully created.
For example, after someone in Sales inputs claim information, he or she can select how the claim should be processed, especially if it needs the boss's approval, depending on whether the boss is at work, on a trip, absent, or whether the claim needs two bosses' approval. Also, the degree of priority is set and the most urgent claims are automatically sent to the planning manager.

"Most software specifically for workflows cannot create such a system with this kind of flexibility. But, Groupmax enabled us to develop an essential workflow system with high flexibility," said Mr. Nishimura.

Regaining investments within 2 to 3 years

Introducing Groupmax resulted in substantial labor savings in the indirect sector for Shin-Kobe.

"Since we now have Groupmax's document manager system, we do not need to copy and distribute as many paper documents, and the indirect sector need not handle expenses because the Travel Expenses Adjustment and Investment systems are operating," said Mr. Matsuda. He also commented that the head office and factory reduced a total of almost 15% indirect staff and moved them to other jobs.

He also emphasizes, "If we continue the plan for positively strengthening the indirect staff, the effect of the groupware will be even more. And we can surely regain our investment for introducing groupware in 2 to 3 years."

The next aim is to integrate with the Internet.
Mr. Matsuda says, "We use Nifty to contact our business partners. Otherwise, we need to use the Internet to contact research laboratories and universities. We are planning to integrate all of these with Groupmax and run our communications smoothly using Groupmax interfaces."

Groupmax provides a robust information infrastructure for not just surviving but prospering during periods of slow economic growth.