Fujitsu Personal Systems and Karhu Canada Bring Mobile Sales Force Automation to the Big Leagues
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — May 15, 1995 — Fujitsu Personal Systems, Inc. and Karhu Canada, makers of hockey and outdoor sports equipment used by professional athletes around the world, have developed a sales force automation solution based on Fujitsu's Stylistic 500 tablet computer. The solution, developed in conjunction with Filbitron, a Toronto-based VAR, automates Karhu's order processing procedure, reducing paperwork and increasing efficiency throughout the organization.
At the heart of the Karhu solution is the Fujitsu Stylistic 500, the world's fastest and lightest tablet computer. Running electronic forms software, the system allows the Karhu hockey division's 45 North American sales representatives to easily record customer orders during sales calls, then download the orders via modem directly to Karhu's mainframe for processing. When linked to the mainframe for order transmission, Karhu representatives can also download real-time data such as the status of a customer's order or inventory availability information. By completely eliminating the need for paper-based transactions, Karhu has significantly reduced delays in order processing, slashing order cycle time for their famous lines of professional hockey equipment by over twenty-five percent.
"Karhu is an excellent example of the benefits mobile computing can bring to sales force automation," said Lou Panetta, executive vice president at Fujitsu. "Utilizing the Stylistic 500 as a strategic business tool, Karhu has cut out waste and increased the productivity of its sales organization, which will ultimately result in return on investment for the corporation and competitive advantage in the marketplace for the long term."
Prior to automating with the Stylistic 500, most Karhu representatives took customer orders by hand on paper-based forms. These forms were then mailed to Karhu headquarters, where they were entered into the central computer system by customer service representatives. As the company grew and more and more orders flowed in, this repetitive and labor-intensive procedure created severe backups in the customer service department and unnecessary delays for the customer.
"When it became obvious that we needed to automate our system to accommodate the rapid growth of our company, we began an extensive search for a mobile computing solution that would fit our needs, " said Michael Liquornik, assistant general manager of Karhu's hockey division. "We wanted it all — high-end processing power to run our compute-intensive application, ruggedness in both the system and the screen to withstand heavy use by our sales force, and long battery life to survive sales calls up to six hours long — in a compact, easy-to-carry form factor. The Stylistic 500 is the only tablet computer on the market today that gives us all of these features, uncompromised. In fact, the system has been successful enough that we are in the process of expanding it to our Merrell Footwear division, with another 50 representatives."
The Stylistic 500 is a 2.6-pound tablet computer designed for mobile workers involved in high-end decision support activities. Powered by an Intel 486DX2-50 CPU, the system features RAM expandable to 20 MB; two PCMCIA version 2.0 expansion slots — one for a Type III ATA hard disk card or Type II solid state flash card and one for a Type III card or two Type I/II cards; and an 8-inch transmissive backlit, 64-level VGA screen. It is the only tablet computer to operate on standard Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries, which can be purchased in most consumer retail outlets.
Karhu Canada was founded in 1976, and today is the largest worldwide manufacturer of hockey sticks, and a leader in the hockey protective and goalie equipment markets. Karhu markets its products under the KOHO(R), Canadien(TM), JOFA(R), Titan (R), and Heaton(TM) brands, which are used by some of the top NHL players, including Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, Felix Potvin, Martin Brodeur, Luc Robitaille and Doug Gilmour. Karhu is also a leader in the cross-country ski and outdoor footwear markets with its Karhu, Trak and Merrell brands. Karhu's head office is located in Lachine, Quebec, with offices in Burlington, Vermont (Karhu U.S.A., Inc.), Sweden (Jofa AB), Finland (KHF Sports Oy) and Germany (Solte).
Fujitsu Personal Systems, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., is a leader in providing solutions for data collection and decision support applications through the development of super portable palmtop, pen-based and communicating computers. Its solutions are designed to meet the needs of applications where light weight, small form factor and long battery life are essential. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu, Ltd. Fujitsu Personal Systems, Inc. corporate headquarters can be reached at 408/982-9500. Product information can be obtained by calling 800/831-3183.
CONTACT:
Fujitsu Personal Systems, Inc.
Susan Wald, 408/982-9500
or
Karhu Canada
Michael Liquornik, 514/636-5895 ext. 212
or
Walt & Sommerhauser Communications Inc.
Stephanie Edwards/Cynthia Lempert, 408/496-0900