Ship-shape digital documents at Lloyd’s Register

Boasting the world’s largest database of maritime documentation, Lloyd’s Register decided to outsource a major digitisation project to Xerox Global Services when it wanted to turn paper into pixels.

From the smallest tug boat to the world’s grandest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, via Roman Abramovitch’s yacht - boats of all shapes, sizes and uses are registered with London’s Lloyd’s Register.

The Register was founded in a coffee house in1760 and to this day operates to approve maritime and energy transportation assets. It claims to “check that assets and systems work so that people and communities around the world can get on with everyday life”, and to help Lloyd’s get on with its life, the Register has employed Xerox Global Services (XGS) to transfer its huge archive of paper, microfilm and microfiche records into the digital world.

To put this into context, there are around five thousand ships in the records, and each of those has around 100 documents, some of which are huge documents spread across several bits of fi lm. A major task is therefore to “join” these back together.

Xerox was already a supplier to Lloyd’s Register through providing mailroom and reprographics services and more than a hundred multi-functional print devices, when the requirement came up for the digitisation project. The electronic documents are used to provide a better records service to both its own Marine Data Systems department and to a global network of surveyors via a web portal.

"The most important benefit for Lloyd’s Register is the way in which XGS provides contemporary solutions to an age-old problem – how to improve document management?" Richard Neasham

An on-site team of Xerox staff handles scanning of documents, while larger jobs are outsourced to Xerox’s UK imaging centre at Mitcheldean. Physical copies can also be requested which Xerox Global Services will process within 24 hours, while original documents are stored at Lloyd’s Register or off-site, depending on how frequently they are used. Some information, deemed no longer required, has been destroyed.

Shipping is going through a boom period, partly fed by the rise of China and its insatiable demand for raw materials, so Lloyd’s Register’s database of shipping documents, the largest in the world it says, is constantly being updated with new reports and drawings. As many as one hundred new surveyors’ reports can be received every day. The scanning of the archives has now been completed, leaving an ongoing process of digitizing documents as they are received. There is no more need for film.

Richard Neasham, manager of Marine Data Systems, says: “The most important benefit for Lloyd’s Register is the way in which XGS provides contemporary solutions to an age-old problem – how to improve document management? The fact that XGS does it so well means that I and other managers can concentrate more on the strategy and leadership necessary to grow our business.”

Xerox has also helped Lloyd’s Register to improve its internal processes and skills to deliver an improved financial performance for a £380 million business that makes no profit, but ploughs funds into research. The Lloyd’s staff employed in the records department were transferred to Xerox as part of the contract and Neasham believes this has been very successful.

“It has created a great sense of identity for the people there, and improved service delivery throughout the organisation. There’s a much better consistency of delivery, and it really sets us apart from our competitors to deliver this smartly,” he says. Xerox has a contemporary approach to document management and how to future proof the system, and he estimates that process savings amount to about 10% of the cost.

Such is Lloyd’s Register’s confidence in Xerox that the supplier is now also scanning pension records and technical investigation reports, and providing imaging services for the Register’s offices in Croydon and Coventry.

Neasham concludes: “Our relationship with XGS is founded on common objectives relating to customer satisfaction and continual improvement. It’s vital that we help each other succeed at every level. We have made the records department an indispensable part of Marine Data Systems, and together we are delivering better service to our customers and achieving more value for money.”