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My organization is looking to go paperless as much as it can in the coming years. One of the things that I have been tasked with researching is a document scanning solution for our receiving department. As I have little experience with scanners, and we have some specific requirements, I thought it would be a good idea to reach out to the SpiceHeads for some recommendations.

First thing that I need to consider, is that our ERP system that we would be scanning into requires that the scanner is TWAIN compatible. Secondly, the documents that will be scanned are going to, more often than not, be in terrible shape. Many of them are very wrinkled, and it’s not uncommon for them to have oil stains and other debris on them. So, whatever scanner we go with, it will need to be able to handle those conditions.

I’ve heard that Fujitsu scanners are the way to go, but I have no idea whether or not one of those would be able to handle the terrible conditions that we will be putting it through.

Do you all have any recommendations?

5 Spice ups
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I have used Fujitsu and Canon scanners extensively in Healthcare/Education/Government. Fujitsu has the best software if you ask me.

The scanner will take almost anything you throw at it, except staples. I had a user scratch the glass of a brand new Canon scanner by running a staple through it. $600 to replace the glass in that scanner.

I would consider not using automatic document feeders in this application.

Also be aware that scanners may heat up your document a bit and spread that oil/grease to your machine. One option to prevent this is to buy a document carrier to place documents in before scanning them.

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While I can’t attest to the oil covered part, the Fujitsu scanners I have in use are real workhorses, they easily scan crumpled documents including odd sized paper too. I just bought a fi-7160 and it works great just like the older fi-6130 models I have in my fleet.

You may have to train your users on protecting the documents now that you are moving towards a paperless environment. The invoice wasn’t covered in grease and oil when it was shipped, something to bring up with the shop foreman.

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It’s actually the documents that we receive from our customers and vendors that come in with oil and other debris on them. Nothing I can do to help that, as it is people outside of the company doing the damage to the documents.

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Fujitsu and Canon are fantastic. I have also had really good luck with Xerox. All 3 are workhorses.

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+1 for fujitsu and cannon, however they are expensive. There are other brands that will get the job done such as Kodak,

not as nice a unit, but it costs less.

Another option is large MFP type machines. If you have any in your environment already I would looking into its scanning abilities most of these machines are also work horse scanners but often this is an under used function as they mainly are seen as a printer \ photocopier

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We’ve currently got both Fujitsu and Kodak for our document imaging system. The Fujitsus are solid, but fairly expensive(~$900). The Kodak Scanmate i1120 is a good middle of the road unit (~$500). We also have some folks using Epson and Brother scanners (<$400). Our requirement for the document imaging system is ISIS drivers (an unfortunate name nowadays). We’ve had a couple of Canon scanners, great devices, but OMG expensive (>$2500).

As far as bad quality papers to scan, I understand that. We have a glass fabrication division that scans their work orders after production to capture any handwritten notes. These pieces of paper come in crumpled up, torn, having been wet, and often with lots of glass dust on/in them. The scanner back in that production area is a Kodak, and it eats through the pick pads faster than I’ve ever seen. As long as I keep those on hand, and am willing to clean it out from time to time, it keeps chugging.

Oil, on the other hand, would be something that might cause more issues. I’ve had scanners that came with page feeders, basically two pieces of heavy clear plastic that you put the paper between, then feed through the scanner. However, if you have a high volume of scanning that would become a major hassle for the operator.

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