FCE Bank
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Jalema equips FCE Bank archives with customised document folders
“Find files at a single glance”
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When the FCE Bank needed new document folders in the middle of last year, they automatically thought of Jalema, with whom the bank has been doing business since 2000. “We’ve never seen any reason to consider approaching any other company in the market,” says Casper van Duinkerken, a bank employee. It is hard to think of a better compliment for a supplier. “We’re satisfied with Jalema, both with their products and service.”
The FCE Bank is a financial service provider that grants credit for buying cars. The company operates worldwide for various car makes. The finance company for Ford is established at Ford Nederland in Amsterdam, where several thousand client files are stored every year in an extensive archive installed by Jalema in 2000. It is primarily used by the staff of the Acceptance and Accounts Receivable Management departments. |
As a credit analyst (“I evaluate credit applications”), Casper van Duinkerken can often be found in the archives. “We keep a document folder for every client, or entry, as we call it. This folder contains all relevant information on the client, such as the application form, evaluation, copy of valid I.D., salary specifications, copy of parts IA and B of their registration number, preliminary advice form, administrative prints and a copy of the contract. The folders are stored for the duration of the financing contract and then for another five years in compliance with statutory regulations.”
Easy, fast retrieval with colour coding
A statutory amendment early last year meant that the bank needed to make some changes to its files, such as creating more space on the collective files for text. So Van Duinkerken contacted the account manager at Jalema, Marcel Nobel, who immediately set to work on a solution.
The files, which come in a variety of colours, have a special imprint. They can also be printed on the inside. In order to find them quickly and easily a colour coding system is used. Every client has a contract number and every number is linked to a colour. Since the files are suspended in the order of the contract numbers, they are easy to find. In addition, they are stored in mobile racks (also from Jalema) to save space.
Van Duinkerken adds, “What I like most about this system is that you can see the contract numbers at a single glance. That makes it much easier to find a particular file. We can also store a huge amount of files, another clear advantage considering our growing order book. What’s more, the archive is well-organised. And that’s pretty important. After all, we can’t afford to have certain information just lying around.”
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Satisfied with products and service
The 25,000 files can be delivered as needed. “We don’t need them all at the same time,” clarifies Van Duinkerken. “Around a year’s supply is produced at a time. Jalema offers the possibility to keep a stock of the files. The best part is that we don’t have to pay any storage costs.” This employee of FCE Bank is clearly satisfied with Jalema. “Both with their products and service,” he adds. “They’ve been a great help and have done an excellent job with translating our wishes as far as the new document folders. The entire process, which has taken around two months in total, has gone smoothly.”
Why does the bank prefer this system to a digital archive? “Naturally we’ve considered digitalisation. But this raises the question of how to process all information that is received. And whose responsibility is that? And when? Scanning documents, for instance, takes a great deal of time. And what about converting the current archive? That costs both time and money. No, we’re extremely satisfied with our current filing system. It more or less takes care of itself, as it should.” |
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“FCE Bank suspension file is customised”
Account Manager Marcel Nobel of Jalema: “The FCE Bank has been a valued client for many years. When Casper van Duinkerken called me early last year to say that their document folders needed to be changed, I devised a new layout and we then developed the folder ourselves. It’s completely customised especially for the FCE Bank. It’s got more room for text, is imprinted on both the outside and inside, and is fitted with the famous Jalema suspension point. Incidentally, this project is a great example of how we work, i.e. our solution-oriented approach. We don’t offer products, but solutions. Our added value is found in our know-how, knowledge, which we share with our clients by means of, for example, targeted advice.”
About the FCE Bank
The FCE Bank, established in 1970, is the world’s largest brand-related finance company. In addition to Ford, the company also serves Volvo, Mazda, Landrover and Jaguar. The FCE Bank operates from two locations in the Netherlands, one in Amsterdam and one in Beesd. This financial service provider has the same status as a bank, but focuses exclusively on car financing. The advantages compared to a ‘regular’ bank are considerable market knowledge and special products, such as options, a unique financial product that allows clients to drive a new car every two years.
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Rabobank
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The Rabobank Heel and Thorn realized space savings and improved ease of use with the Jalema filing system
It is impossible to overestimate the value of a good and easy to use filing system for an organization which considers a reliable filing system to be of vital importance, even though it is not part of its core business activities. A good system is well-organized, accessible, flexible and user-friendly and makes efficient use of available space. In s hort, a good filing system is indispensable to the smooth execution of an organization’s business processes. It was therefore logical for the Rabobank Heel and Thorn to carry out a thorough review of its existing filing system when a natural opportunity presented itself in 2002: a move to a soon to be constructed accommodation.
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| The move, which had been planned for January 2003, was at the tail end of an operation which consisted of consolidating the operations of four branch offices in Wessem, Beegden, Heel and Thorn into a single centralized location. Prior to the construction of a new building, these four branches had been operating from a temporary location for several years. Only the Client Advisory Services divisions continued to operate from the original branch locations for two days per week until July 2002. Once these branch offices had been permanently closed, it was possible to start work on the physical integration of the different branch filing systems. |
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The Jalema system meets all our requirements
Prior to the actual physical move, all client data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet which was then used by Jalema to create the colour coded labels. This made it possible to deliver all outer files with the proper coding already in place. This represented a welcome timesaving for the bank during their already hectic moving period. New files are now coded by the bank’s own employees using Jalema’s user-friendly Code in One on-Demand software.
In the relatively limited filing space on the second floor of the new banking building now hang about 4,000 Jalema Arnato outer files in close formation in three racks, with a total suspension profile of 67 meters. This results in an unusually high filing density per square meter. However, thanks to the colour coding it is possible to retrieve any one file in the blink of an eye. Storing a file in the wrong place has become almost unheard of, because any deviation in the colour scheme immediately stands out like a sore thumb.
| “This is information about our clients. As a bank, you want to treat that information with the utmost care,” declares Van der Borgh. “The Jalema system was able to meet all of our requirements in this regard. It is efficient, yields significant space savings and the retrieval of files is much simpler. This represents significant progress. It takes a bit of getting used to at first. But after the third time it is evident that the ease of use has much improved in comparison with the old system. And because it has such a beautiful and tight appearance, everyone does his/her best to keep it that way. That is a nice side benefit.” |
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The first step involved the implementation of a consistent methodology, because one branch had been filing by name, while another branch had been using the postal code and house number as its filing criteria. The next step – in the new building – would be to define and implement the final system. The requirement was to clean it up, streamline it and make it extremely efficient. In this context, the bank also took a close look at the evolution of electronic filing systems, but decided to continue to work with paper-based files, particularly because in this case the files primarily involved legal agreements and associated correspondence. The Rabo umbrella organization is carrying out an in-depth review of the complex processes involved in electronic filing and is involved in pilot projects with a number of banks. The Rabobank Heel and Thorn is awaiting the results of these trials and in the meantime, is acquiring an appropriate physical filing system solution.
Raymond van der Borgh, a Facilities Management officer, served as the central coordinator during the new system selection process. “Because each division had its own issues, needs and requirements, each division appointed its own filing coordinator,” he says. “These coordinators identified the requirements to be met by the system, as well as any specific issues that had to be taken into consideration. Once you know exactly what you need, it becomes possible to start looking for the system that meets these needs. Based on the information we collected, we carried out a market analysis and held exploratory meetings with different suppliers. We also visited other banks which had recently completed similar initiatives. The results of our findings were fed back to the divisions, until we were all in agreement.” And that is how Jalema ended up being the final choice. Jalema delivered a lateral system with racks, outer files with colour coding and different types of inner files, with and without attachment mechanisms.
The Rabobank Heel and Thorn’s organizational structure is subdivided into a Personal Banking Segment and a Commercial Banking Segment. The Personal Banking Segment consists of the Client Advice, Financial Advice and Home Owner divisions. These divisions previously had their own filing systems and used their own methodology for filing documents in suspension folders stored in drawer cabinets. In the new environment, each Personal Banking Segment division has its own inner files for each client. These are filed together in a collective outer file. The files are suspended in filing racks, sorted by postal code-house number. The Commercial Segment uses a single file for each client, filed in name sequence. Raymond van der Borgh: “One division prefers to file by postal code and house number, while another division prefers to file by name. It was essential to adopt a single approach as part of the new system because the files are stored together in a common outer file. This highlights the importance of holding proper consultations ahead of time. Everyone has to be able to buy into the choices made.” “It was also very important to clean up the files before converting them to the new system. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to fit three client files into a single outer file. In principle the files only need to contain agreements and important correspondence. However, over time there is a tendency for the files to bulge with information that is no longer needed or which is redundant. The cleanup was a massive undertaking, particularly because the work had to be carried out over and above regular work activities. But once this is done, it becomes a question of properly maintaining the files.” “This represents significant progress” |
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