Case Study: Alberta Machine

Overview

Alberta Machine manufactures an array of precision metal parts and components for other heavy

industrial machines. They are known globally for the quality of their products. Alberta Machine is a familyowned business that was launched in $1955.$ It has a single facility in Sherwood Park, Alberta, that includes

all production facilities and offices. Many of the $450$ workers are second and third generation employees.

The company has always been profitable, and it is common for employees to stay with the company for

$30$ to $40$ years. It is widely thought that a job with Alberta Machine is a job for life.

The change

Due to alleged damage to one customer$$s equipment caused by a faulty component manufactured by

Alberta Machine, last year Alberta Machine had to pay a $$7$ million court settlement. During the court

proceedings, Alberta Machine was unable to retrieve and produce email correspondence that would have

shown they were not at fault. After the settlement, one of the recommendations from Alberta Machine$$s

legal counsel was to implement an enterprise$-$wide document management system. Ever since Alberta

Machine introduced computers into the workplace, the normal practice for many employees has been to

store all correspondence in their email inbox and store other documents on their PC hard drive.

In accordance with their council$$s recommendation, Alberta Machine$$s leadership team leadership team

has just implemented a new Records Retention policy and the IT department has implemented a new,

industry$-$leading, enterprise$-$wide document management system.