Powerway scores largest order ever for suite of quality software solutions

Powerway, Inc. (Indianapolis, Indiana), a provider of business process performance solutions, has received what it's calling "the largest single order in company history." Placed by Inland Paperboard and Packaging, Inc. (Indianapolis, Indiana), the order is for Powerway's entire suite of quality products.

Inland Paperboard and Packaging, international manufacturer of paperboard and packaging products to protect, move, and display products more efficiently and effectively, serves industries including produce, beverage, processed food, meat, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, appliance, glass and plastic bottles, and resin. The company will be implementing Powerway's solution across the whole supply chain, which is comprised of 46 converting facilities and six paper mills.

Inland was looking for a methodology to deliver critical documentation electronically to the plant floor for its IQP9000 quality business system. The packaging company chose Powerway products, which include document control, business standards implementation, quality planning, SPC, and gage management, as a way to enhance its overall performance and efficiency.

"After identifying the companies that could assist us in our goals of simplifying and streamlining business processes across the supply chain, Inland chose Powerway because they have the best and most logical solutions for delivering critical information to the plant floor," states Ralph Locke, manager of Inland's material solutions group. "Because of our in-house ERP efforts, coupled with the new quality management solutions from Powerway, Inland is now able to better provide superior quality products and deliver them quickly and more effectively."

According to Locke, guidelines on company processes such as process specs, raw material specs, and test equipment calibration procedures total several hundred documents and exist in multiple formats. Because they are cumbersome and inconsistent with each other, the documents haven't been used as much as they should be. With Powerway's products, this documentation will now be available electronically, which not only will increase their use but also will make the documentation more valuable because of more regular timely and simple updates or revisions that will ensure their accuracy and timeliness.

For Inland, the Intranet Publisher will be one of the most beneficial features; it gives each plant the capability to conduct its own quality checks on equipment and file the documentation directly to the company intranet. The collection of documentation in one common area provides a method of sharing knowledge with employees. Instead of recreating from scratch, employees can look check the data on the intranet to determine if the documentation or process already has been created at another facility. This will help the company save time in training and development, save money by eliminating duplication of efforts, and can ultimately speed time-to-market by having the required resources and documentation available immediately.

Another benefit is the auditing and corrective action capabilities, which will enable employees to access instructional information about auditing equipment online instead of performing time-consuming research. They will be able to access the data needed to conduct the audit quickly. Corrective actions then can be filed via the intranet and accessed and addressed in real time by the appropriate departments. It's expected that this process could save as much as several days from the previous auditing and corrective action processes.

"Powerway is very pleased Inland Paperboard and Packaging chose our full suite of business processing solutions to improve productivity and performance across their entire supply chain," says Powerway CEO Michael Campbell. "Utilizing our process performance solutions at all of their plants will provide Inland with the maximum benefit and full functionality of our solutions to enhance their quality, increase performance and productivity, and speed delivery to their marketplace."

For more information, contact Powerway Inc., 6919 Hillsdale Ct., Indianapolis, IN 46250. Tel: 800-964-9004 or 317-598-1760; Fax: 317-598-1740.

Edited by Nancy Katz