Case studies

Overview: Customer Name Lianbee-Jeco Pte Ltd (Singapore) The Challenge Need an efficient archival and retrieval system High faxing and printing costs Time consuming to monitor fax errors Control copying and printing cost Raise efficiency and productivity The Solution imageRUNNER C3100 The Results Saved document storage space and time Ensured fax message gets across and is three times faster Scan-to-email reduced telephone bills by about $400 Area designation feature facilitated sharing of information without losing confidentiality In-house printing of color brochures saved $350 a month Passwords assigned to users helped to monitor and reduce copying and printing cost

"On the whole, the iRC3100 saved us about $750 per month! We are pleased with the results it delivered."   Aric Ng Shipping and IT Department Lianbee-Jeco Pte Ltd

Business Overview

Incorporated in 1998, Lianbee-Jeco Pte Ltd. ("Lianbee-Jeco") is the result of a successful merger between two companies, Lianbee Corporation Pte Ltd and Jeco Pte Ltd which were set up in 1966 and 1972 respectively. Both companies are established in the retail, license and distribution of luxury goods and accessories in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region.

Led by the Company's visionaries, managing director, Sandy Liao and director, David Liao, Lianbee-Jeco is renowned for its leather goods brands and manages boutiques and apparel counters through shop-in-shop concepts and concessionaire counters in all major department stores in Singapore and the Asia Pacific Region.

For leather goods, Lianbee-Jeco is the exclusive brand representative of Braun Buffet, the time-honored premium brand
from Germany, in the Asia Pacific region, including China. It is also the master licensee of Renoma in Singapore and Malaysia and the licensee of Pierre Cardin in Singapore and Hong Kong.

The company also acts as the distributor for Bruno Magli shoes in Singapore and for Morgan carrywear in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. In addition to leather goods, Lianbee-Jeco is the distributor of Pierre Cardin watches and Esprit time wear and jewellery in Singapore and Malaysia. Since its inception, Lianbee- Jeco has developed a strong distribution network of more than 130 retail points in the region spanning Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Lianbee-Jeco uses many different kinds of documents during the sale and distribution of its luxury goods in the Asia Pacific region. "We have several departments which each face their own set of challenges when handling these documents," explained Aric Ng from Lianbee-Jeco's shipping and information technology department.

Advertising and Promotion Department
The problem here is with storage, as Valencia Teo, the Promotion Manager, explains:

"We work with advertising agencies to run many advertisements in newspapers and magazines," said Valencia, "These ads need to be archived for future reference, but keeping all these magazines means there is a need for a lot of storage space. The need for an efficient archival and retrieval system is a high priority for us."

Shipping Department
This department needs to fax large amounts of shipping documents, such as import and export packing lists and invoices, to the customers and forwarders. The department also needs to keep copies of these documents for itself. All this paperwork incurs high faxing and printing costs.

"To ensure that faxes are sent across, users have to waste valuable time monitoring the fax reports for fax error. Not only is it time-consuming, but this reduces productivity," said Aric.

Marketing Department
The marketing department needs to capture reviews from magazines for future product development and planning purposes. When launching a new collection, Lianbee-Jeco outsources the printing of color brochures for distribution to distributors around the region. This costs about $500 a month.

In addition, the designers need to fax drawings and artwork overseas, further adding to the company's cost.

As the printing and copying cost is substantial, Lianbee-Jeco very much wanted to control this cost. However, this was not possible with the equipment the company possessed.

"Lianbee-Jeco's management believes in maximizing the efficiency and productivity of their staff," said Aric, "We needed to find a solution which would address the needs of the various departments."

Lianbee-Jeco experienced multiple benefits using the iRC3100.

Advertising and Promotion Department
Valencia now finds it easier to manage the large amount of advertisements which come through the department. Instead of keeping huge amounts of magazines for future reference, images are simply scanned into the computer.

"With the clear scanning capability of the iR3100, we are encouraged to scan in the documents for archival and quick retrieval in the future. It saved us space and time," said Valencia.

Shipping Department
"We used to spend a lot of time printing out the shipping documents to fax them," said Aric, "Now, we scan the documents just once and it is automatically emailed to the customer, forwarder and ourselves for filing. Scan-to-email ensures that the message gets across and is three times faster than fax."

In addition, the iRC3100 has an area designation feature that allows them to mark off confidential portions of the original document to be excluded when photocopying. This facilitates sharing of information without losing confidentiality.

Marketing Department
The marketing department is now able to capture product reviews from magazines by scanning them into their desktop computer for future retrieval. In addition, by using the iRC3100 to print the color brochures instead of outsourcing it, Lianbee-Jeco saved $350 a month.

The designers also scan-to-email instead of faxing the drawings and artwork to their overseas factories to reduce telephone bills from about $1,000 to $600.

"The iRC3100 has many cost saving features," said Aric, "With the assigning of passwords to every user, their usage can be closely monitored to control and reduce cost. Incoming faxes are received in softcopy, where unwanted faxes can be easily deleted to save cost. On the whole, the iRC3100 saved us about $750 per month! We are pleased with the results it delivered."

The Results