Nissan are one of the world's foremost vehicle manufacturers with plants located in Japan, UK, Spain, USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa. Vehicles are assembled according to local market requirements for different models and specifications.

Nissan operate an IBM Mainframe system running MVS with JES2. Applications are run on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual schedule to produce the documents needed to manage the manufacturing process.

A system had been developed that used a Xerox on-line production laser printer to print the transaction documents and a light-lens copier / duplicator to produce client documentation in two languages.

Both the on-line, channel attached printer and the off-line copier / duplicator were towards the end of their useful life. A system was needed that would allow the existing jobs to continue being produced but at the same time provide a solution that would enable new applications to be created.

The data produced from the IBM system makes extensive use of Xerox DJDE printer commands. Moving away from this architecture would prove almost impossible with over 500 different document types being created.

Xerox South Africa proposed a consolidated solution to the problem. The on-line printer and the copier / duplicator were replaced by a single DT6180. Other components were needed to complete the solution so that the 6180 integrated seamlessly into the established production environment.

For new customer documents such as handbooks, the Digipath system was used. This allows high quality scanning and imposition of multi-page booklets with extensive graphical content.

So that IBM report production could continue, Paris software was installed. All current resources used on the Xerox printer (forms, fonts, logos, etc), were converted using the Paris Converter software. This one-off process allows other Paris modules to interpret the DJDE data coming from the IBM mainframe and create a PostScript print file suitable for the Xerox 6180. The result is that the documents printed on the 6180 look exactly as they used to on the old Xerox printer. This is the first phase of the implementation.

Now that all the IBM documents are managed in Paris, all future changes can be done in the WYSIWYG design system. Editing, compiling and testing changes are things of the past.

Future applications can be designed with no hardware restrictions. Data for future applications can come from any host system, and be printed on any printer connected to the network, since Paris is a networked solution providing host and printer independence.

In the future, PDF files can be produced for on-line viewing.

Paris is a powerful document design, distribution and retrieval system that enables you to effortlessly create attractive and informative documents from your existing printstream data. Integrated with complimentary products, Paris can then distribute those documents anywhere via print, fax, email and archive.

For more information about Paris and other Output Management Solutions and Services, please email us at info@outputpeople.com or click on the "request info" icon at the top of this page.