James
Jones Company
James Jones Company was founded in the early 1890's by James
Jones, a trained machinist and craftsman who had emigrated
from England just prior to founding Jones. In its early years,
Jones manufactured all types of bronze products, including
bronze candelabras, casket handles and mausoleum doors, although
valves were the predominate product line.
In 1926, Jones built its first bronze fire hydrant at the
request of the Fire Chief of Monrovia, California. The Jones
bronze wet barrel hydrant remains the preferred fire hydrant
in most parts of California. Today, Jones remains the only
bronze foundry offering a full line of waterworks products
on the west coast.
The
Challenge
After spending years drawing traditional component diagrams
on paper and tracking files in cabinets, the company needed
a new computerized tracking system for different diagrams
of components.
Similar to many industrial companies, engineers and other
employees have to physically retrieve diagrams from file
cabinets. This method posed an expensive, time consuming
and frustrating process. This method also resulted in less
productivity since employees had to wait for a particular
diagram if it has already been checked out by another employee.
James Jones engineers wanted to alleviate this problem
and created electronic versions of drawings using an AUD
Cut program. The old hard copy diagrams were scanned by
the James Jones engineering department and saved in a PDF
(Portable Document Format) following a specific file naming
convention.
James Jones Company petitioned ONTRIX Solutions, Inc. to
create a tracking system for the PDF files. The challenge
for ONTRIX Solutions, Inc. was to create a user-friendly
and faster way to track these PDF files.
The Response
Working closely with the James Jones engineering department
and technical team, ONTRIX Solutions, Inc. built a tracking
system where all the PDF files would get added to a database
automatically and that was easy to track. James Jones was
elated with the results and noted that ONTRIX Solutions Inc.
exceeded their expectations. The James Jones Company Intranet
(internal communication) was set up by ONTRIX Solutions, Inc.,
which resulted in not only a user-friendly and faster way
of tracking diagrams but a complete intranet where different
departments of the company (Sale & Marketing, HR, Engineering)
could communicate and retrieve all necessary forms from one
centralized location.
ONTRIX Solutions, Inc. also worked on the James Jones Company
web site design, a user-friendly site with clear navigations
that allow all company employees and manufacturing shop
workers to access diagrams electronically. With this new
system, employees have the option to view, download, and
print documents as well as report errors or issues discovered
in diagrams to the Engineering department.
Additionally, ONTRIX Solutions, Inc. web consultants developed
a customized search engine to help employees find the exact
diagram.
The
Results:
