Distribution Company Saves Thousands of Hours with AI Automation Tool

The client, a commercial products portfolio company in the distribution industry, sought to automate their manual process of entering expected ship dates from vendor confirmations into their ERP system. Handling supplier invoices 300-400 times a day was time-consuming and prone to errors, significantly impacting operational efficiency.

The company utilized Epicor P21 as their ERP and relied heavily on manual data entry from emails and PDF documents. They needed a robotic process automation (RPA) solution that could seamlessly extract ship dates and invoice details from various document formats and accurately input them into Epicor P21. Ensuring data integrity, maintaining compatibility with existing systems and achieving scalability were critical challenges to address.

BluWave connected the client with experienced AI/ML advisory firms specializing in robotic process automation. The experts the portco chose from the short list of options assessed the client’s existing workflows and developed a tailored RPA solution.

The implementation firm ensured the automation bots could effectively read and process ship dates and supplier invoices from centralized inboxes, integrating the data into Epicor P21 without disrupting ongoing operations. BluWave facilitated ongoing collaboration to refine the solution and prepare for full-scale implementation.

The implementation of the RPA solution significantly reduced the time and effort required for manual data entry, minimizing errors and increasing overall operational efficiency. By automating the extraction and input of ship dates and handling supplier invoices 300-400 times a day, the client saved more than 2,000 hours annually. This automation streamlined their order processing workflow, allowing their team to focus on more strategic tasks and supporting scalable growth.