COINS Team Sets New Standard for Management Practices and Information Infrastructure
Washington, D.C., August 24, 2000 — The United States Mint today announced that members of the Mint's Consolidated Information Systems (COINS) Team received Vice President Gore's Hammer Award.
The Deputy Director for the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, John Kamensky, presented the Hammer Award to a 66–member COINS team for developing an information system and new standard for management practices and infrastructure in the Federal government.
"As a result of implementing the Consolidated Information Systems, over a 10 year period, Mintwide savings from COINS will reach $80 million in personnel efficiencies, mail and postage, and inventory," said Mint Director Jay Johnson. "This is a 2 to 1 return on investment and the information flow has been simplified."
In 1994, the U.S. Mint lacked timely financial, production, and customer service information. For example, plant managers could not tie production to orders. Customer service could not advise customers where their orders stood. Product delivery took up to eight weeks to as long as six months.
In October 1998, after a 12–month implementation and extensive investment, the Mint replaced and linked every administrative, manufacturing, sales and financial information platform with the first enterprise–wide resource planning system in the Federal government, known as COINS (Consolidated Information System).
COINS is 15 integrated information modules that link every core business function on–line in real time. A mail order and catalog module ties sales to inventory and shipping. A marketing and customer service module yields data about the customer's purchase, favored product, and preferred advertising. A production program monitors maintenance at each plant. Modules in personnel, finance, and budgeting expand analytical abilities.
As a result of COINS, employees and managers have fast, accurate data about customers, costs, production, promotion, inventory, sales and profits. Customer Service representatives can tell customers the status or orders and the location in the production–distribution stream. Books can now be closed within 10 days of month–end and financial reports prepared by business unit, production facility, product category, and product.
In 1999, the Mint made a record $2.4 billion in revenues and returned a record $1 billion in profits to the U.S. Treasury General Fund. This year, the Mint will double its revenues and projects tripling its profits, returning nearly $3 billion to the General Fund; this in turn reduces the amount of debt Treasury is required to issue. This could not have been accomplished without the state–of–the art functionality and metrics that COINS has provided. COINS also provided the foundation upon which the Mint launched its successful e–retail program, with sales this year projected to reach $150 million.
"COINS provides us with on–line, real–time data at our fingertips. It could only have been implemented in a remarkable 12 months with the dedication and commitment of our employees and private sector partners," said Mint Deputy Director and COINS Project Manager, John P. Mitchell. "COINS is a wonderful return on the American public's investment and trust in the U.S. Mint."
Since 1994, more than 1,200 Hammer Awards have been presented, recognizing teams of federal employees and their partners who create an innovative and unique process or program to make government better and achieve results Americans care about. The award consists of a $6.00 hammer, a ribbon, and note from Vice President Gore, all in an aluminum frame. This U.S. Mint's 12th Hammer Award.
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