| The customer associated with this case study is a | | | | Solution |
| large, multi-national manufacturer of cars and trucks. | | | | - The OM Plus advanced spooling system is installed |
| Business Problem - Printers located on the production | | | | on the Windows System, along with the Electronic |
| floor have been installed to print instructions for | | | | Forms package, augmenting the functionality of the |
| production line workers. These instructions ensure that | | | | print spooler system on that server. |
| the production line worker can correctly install their | | | | - OM Plus receives jobs from the Electronic Forms |
| parts and components on a vehicle as it moves into | | | | software (without requiring changes to any forms |
| their production station. These printouts must be | | | | application), and then OM Plus delivers the jobs to the |
| correct (right part for the right vehicle) and "on-time" as | | | | printers on the production floor. |
| the company never wants the production line to stop. | | | | - OM Plus opens a bi-directional communications |
| Compounding the critical nature of the correct printout | | | | session with the printer and requests SNMP status |
| being available is the fact that this is a "build to order" | | | | information from the printer, which provides a detailed |
| production line. It is not the more traditional assembly | | | | status of the printer. OM Plus also waits for the "job |
| operation where a production worker assembles the | | | | complete" status to come from the printer (indicating |
| same component onto each vehicle as it goes by. This | | | | the job was accepted, printed and the pages were |
| production line builds vehicles to order, which requires | | | | sent to the tray). If printing is successful, OM Plus |
| assembly workers to know which specific | | | | marks the job status as "printed" on the OM Plus |
| components go on each vehicle based on what the | | | | Administration screen and no further action is required. |
| customer has ordered. | | | | - If OM Plus does not receive confirmation from the |
| However, we all know that printers will fail from time to | | | | printer that printing was successful within one minute, |
| time. Whether the printer problem is a jam, a media | | | | OM Plus updates the job status on the OM Plus |
| shortage, a Print Spooler error, or another problem, | | | | Administration screen as "failed", converts the SNMP |
| printer problems really do happen. When problems | | | | status codes to the appropriate MRP Application error |
| occur, it is imperative that the customer's MRP | | | | status codes, and then updates the MRP Application |
| Application Help Desk knows about it as soon as | | | | regarding the print failure, in real time. This allows the |
| possible so that the problem can be resolved. The | | | | MRP Application Help Desk to be notified of the |
| critical business problem was how to let the Help Desk | | | | problem, within the MRP Application screens that they |
| know that a print problem occurred and how to give | | | | are monitoring, virtually immediately. The notification will |
| them enough information about the problem to be able | | | | tell them what the problem is, what document is |
| to fix it quickly (within a few minutes) before the | | | | affected that needs to be re-generated and how to |
| production line was impacted. | | | | fix the problem. |
| Key Technical Challenge - The customer's MRP | | | | - In addition, if needed, OM Plus can send an email to |
| Application runs in an HP-UX environment and it sends | | | | Tech Support notifying them of the problem (in addition |
| text data to an electronic forms package running on a | | | | to the above notification to the Application Help Desk). |
| Windows system. On the Windows system, the text is | | | | - With the information gathered and provided by OM |
| merged with a "form template" then sent via the | | | | Plus, the MRP Application Help Desk knows when a |
| Windows Print Spooler system to the printer. The | | | | printer has failed and they know the nature of the |
| technical limitation in the Windows Print Spooler system | | | | failure. This enables them to rectify the situation very |
| is that it has no capability for bi-directional | | | | quickly and minimizes the production line downtime. |
| communications with the printers to see if the | | | | Other Features As a bi-product of installing OM Plus, |
| documents printed successfully, or request printer | | | | the customer also gained access to all the other |
| status, or pro-actively notify the Help Desk about | | | | features of the system designed to help them control |
| printer problems. | | | | and manage their print jobs and printers including |
| As a result of these shortcomings in their native | | | | re-routing, re-printing, audit, accounting and many other |
| spooling systems, the customer needed to augment | | | | functions. These features streamline operations and |
| their current system. They required print management | | | | reduce costs related to administration and support. |
| solutions that could provide: | | | | Implementation Installing, configuring, testing and training |
| - High reliability since this was a mission critical function | | | | were completed in a very short time. A Plus |
| - No changes needing to be made to the MRP | | | | Technologies engineer was on-site to assist the |
| business Application or the Electronic forms application | | | | customer with installation of the OM Plus software and |
| - Support for printers from multiple vendors | | | | to provide configuration assistance. Results |
| - Bi-directional communications with printers | | | | - Tech Support is now able to provide much faster |
| - Ability to capture SNMP data | | | | resolution to printer errors |
| - Translation of SNMP data into MRP Application error | | | | - Faster problem resolution resulted in a significant |
| codes | | | | reduction in production line interruptions |
| - Seamless integration with their MRP Application to | | | | - Improved production line productivity results in |
| return error codes to it should printing fail | | | | manufacturing cost reductions that were significant |
| - 7 x 24 support with 20 minute response time The | | | | enough to warrant rolling out OM Plus across the |
| customer approached Plus Technologies regarding | | | | customer's North America production operations. |
| their business problem and we recommended an | | | | Customer Quote "OM Plus solved our problem so |
| Advanced Spooling Solution based on our OM Plus | | | | successfully that we are rolling it out across North |
| Advanced Print Spooling, Document Delivery and Print | | | | America." Plus Technologies Case Studies The Plus |
| Management software. Customer Technical | | | | Technologies case study series includes real examples |
| Environment | | | | of how companies use Advanced Spooling Solutions |
| - Packaged MRP Application on HP-UX System | | | | to streamline operations, reduce cost and/or add |
| - Electronic Forms on Windows based system | | | | functionality to existing business processes. For more |
| - Printers from multiple vendors | | | | information on these case studies, contact Plus |
| - See diagram - At the end of this document Technical | | | | Technologies. |