Global Manufacturer Eradicates Paper Bottlenecks, Saves $1.2 M Annually

The procurement division of a Fortune-500 manufacturer used to dedicate 18 full-time employees to re-keying supplier invoices, packing slips and certificates of conformity into its SAP instance.  After rolling out an AI capture layer that understands 28 languages and 400 form layouts, the same workload now requires 1.5 full-time equivalents. 

Purchase-order mismatches that once triggered monthly write-off accruals of $400 k have fallen below $25 k.  Month-end close accelerated by six calendar days, giving treasury earlier visibility into cash requirements.  Perhaps more important for operations, the plant no longer stops assembly lines while someone hunts for a misplaced CoC; the digital image is available on tablets within eight seconds of scanner arrival. 

Environmental metrics improved as well: eliminating pre-printed multipart forms saved 2.8 tons of paper last year, equal to 48 trees and 138 000 litres of water.  The project paid for itself in 11 months, a timeline the CFO calls “the fastest ROI in 30 years of IT initiatives.