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Order Processing Automation at Orthofix, Inc.

Taskmaster Medical Products Manufacturer Increases Fax Order Processing Efficiency and Reduces Cost and Cycle Time

Orthofix Inc., a sales and manufacturing subsidiary of Orthofix International, N.V., manufactures a broad array of minimally invasive surgical and non-surgical medical products for the orthopedic and trauma health care markets. These products help patients of all ages attain a more active lifestyle by focusing on their lifelong bone-and-joint health requirements. Located in McKinney, Texas, Orthofix distributes products to orthopedic surgeons and patients via more than 200 sales representatives located in nine markets across the country.

The Challenge

Orthofix receives 3,000 to 5,000 faxed pages per day ranging up to 10 pages each. Orthofix employed four full-time and one part-time order entry employees to manually sort these faxes into the nine regional buckets for processing. An additional three employees in the Sold Orders Dept. struggled to sort faxes in addition to their primary customer service responsibilities. Orders continued to come in all weekend, creating a huge backlog on Monday and requiring employees to scramble to catch up. Additionally, sales people anxious to have their orders processed, called and emailed continuously, tying up administrators and data entry staff.

Key Solution Facts

Components

ROI

  • Reduced labor by 50%
  • Reduced process time by 50%
  • Increased accuracy

The Solution

In 2001, Orthofix integrated Taskmaster with its Captaris® RightFax® fax server. With a few easy customizations, Orthofix was able to set up Taskmaster to locate order types and sales representative IDs on each fax cover sheet using zone and numeric hand and machine print recognition and verification, automatically routing the order into the proper regional bucket. Orders are then delivered with index information to a Global 360 Keyfile system. Additionally, each time a fax is received, Taskmaster automatically sends a confirmation email to the salesperson and administrator, eliminating the need for follow-up calls.

The Result

Immediately, Orthofix was able to reduce its Order Entry department to three full-time employees. Instead of spending all of their time sorting and entering data, now they focus on supporting the automated process, creating additional time and cost savings. The Sold Orders department is able to once again focus on serving customers, rather than salespeople checking on order status. Orders are processed more quickly with fewer employees and accuracy is increased with a drop in the number of “lost” faxes.

According to Suzi Manuel, Orthofix administrator, “The biggest benefit of Taskmaster is the automatic importing of the information from the fax coversheet and routing to the different regional buckets. It works seamlessly with RightFax. We no longer need to respond to emails and phone calls from the sales people asking, did you receive the fax? We can just check the system and see that a confirmation was sent automatically.

“The rules and the confidences were so easy to set up. Now 80% of our faxes go through with no problems and those are excellent numbers. It just makes everyone’s job a lot easier.”

For more information, contact Datacap.