Intelligent Fujitsu Document Imaging Solutions Successfully Complete China Nationwide Census Project

Fujitsu, the leading ICT solutions and services provider, today announced that the company’s fi-Series scanner solutions and the form capturing and processing system have successfully contributed to the completion of the sixth nationwide population census in the People’s Republic of China. The census, which was carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC) and completed in April, effectively utilized 1,700 units of Fujitsu fi-Series scanners to successfully digitize and convert handwritten data, and help facilitate the project. The Fujitsu’s patented optical character recognition (OCR)¹ technology which was embedded in the form capturing and processing system, customizations as well as the comprehensive services were the key components to the success of the project.

The NBSC had specific requirements in mind when assessing potential solutions:

With more than 30 years of experience in the development of patented OCR technology, Fujitsu designed the form capturing and processing system embedded in the fi-Series scanners to quickly and accurately aggregate handwritten data and transform it into digitized data. For this project, the OCR software was customized for Chinese character recognition and optimized to recognize and capture different styles of handwriting from a number of Chinese provinces and minorities. In order to ensure the accuracy of Chinese character recognition and speed up the nationwide census project, Fujitsu solution consultants specifically gathered samples of handwriting from a few thousand people for establishing a powerful and unique database for China. Furthermore, Fujitsu solution consultants customized the scanners which can operate 24/7 under dust control.

"Fujitsu is honored to be selected by the NBSC to participate in the sixth nationwide population survey," said Christopher So, General Manager, Imaging Business Division, Fujitsu Hong Kong Limited. "We are proud to have been trusted with a project of such significance and are delighted to see Fujitsu document imaging solutions and our consultant team being able to stand up to and complete the scope of work assigned to. Fujitsu has always been committed to making contributions to the growing and vibrant China market. We will continue to produce cutting-edge technology, products and solutions that will serve the needs of our customers in China."

The NBSC census project employed 1,700 fi-Series large volume document scanners equipped with a form-capturing and processing system with OCR technology. For the duration of the project, Fujitsu scanners underwent customization and enhancement for dust-proof ability and durability so that they could operate in a 24/7 capacity and adhere to the established timeline. The scanner's rapid scanning speed of 90 pages per minute/45,000 sheets per day and a 99 percent accuracy rate helped the project team to successfully complete the project on time.

During the census project, Fujitsu also set up a 24/7 customer support hotline that offered around-the-clock support for scanner-related questions and troubleshooting. The professional Fujitsu solution consultants quickly responded to the need of the NBSC’s team from 600 scanning centers across the country by providing tailor-made services and speed up the census project.

The NBSC selected Fujitsu for the 2011 census project because of the outstanding test results of the fi-Series scanners equipped with customized solutions as well as the excellent track record of working with the Chinese government in the Second Agricultural Census in 2006. In particular, the NBSC was impressed by the technology know-how and professionalism possessed by Fujitsu consultant team during the selection process as the team was able to demonstrate the benefits brought by the adoption of scanner solutions for the project. According to the NBSC, users in various provinces gave positive feedback on the benefits brought by the scanner solutions and the form capturing and processing system in the census project. These include easy installation and configuration, simple operation, high recognition rate, comprehensive functionality, unparalleled efficiency as well as rapid and effective technical support mechanism. It is the scientific design of the system, which ensured the stability of the data-gathering process, and the significant accuracy of data for analyses that prominently contributed to the success of the sixth nationwide population survey.

The NBSC conducts a national census every 10 years, and the 2011 census surveyed China’s population of 1.3 billion people. Millions of surveyors were dispatched to go to households to collect relevant information. Afterwards, the information was collectively digitized and converted to data with Fujitsu scanners and OCR for accurate results in a timely manner. Around 740 million census forms with handwritten information were scanned total for the project.

Fujitsu will continue to partner with organizations and businesses to contribute to the growth of the Chinese economy by addressing the various needs of customers in China through comprehensive solutions – from hardware and software to services.

About the fi-Series Scanner

The fi-6670 scanners used this project are capable of delivering a (duplex) scanning speed of 90 pages per minute for A4 size documents and a duty of 45,000 sheets per day.

In addition to bringing results to statistics surveys by the NBSC, other models of fi-Series scanners have been used by China's "Big 4" state-owned banks², numerous major financial institutions and insurance companies, capturing a big market share in the China scanner market.

For further information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/fi/