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EMS Collaboration

OTIS delivers staggering time savings

Established in 2003, EMS offers extensive expertise in pallet management, assisting clients throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe, and North America in managing their returnable equipment resources effectively. For more than 22 years, EMS has been committed to helping clients achieve cost-saving efficiencies through its specialised services. As part of their continuous drive for operational excellence, EMS spotted an opportunity to improve their own processes. One significant task involved extracting data from PDF invoices and entering it into Excel spreadsheets. This time-consuming, labour-intensive effort demanded considerable resources from their team.

Historically, we have had the need to extract elements of supplier PDF invoices from a PDF and then transfer this data in a specific format into specific spreadsheets. Depending on the client, this exercise needs to be completed on a weekly or monthly basis and will either be 1 invoice for an entire company or 100’s of invoices for individual cost centres.

Craig Lodge

Head of Operations, EMS

The Problem

Prior to partnering with OTIS Development Ltd, EMS faced several challenges with their invoice processing system:

  • Time-Consuming Manual Process: Extracting elements of supplier PDF invoices and transferring the data into specific spreadsheets required up to 15 minutes per invoice. This involved copying and pasting up to 10 individual data elements per invoice. For clients with hundreds of invoices, the process became overwhelming.

  • Resource Intensive: The manual nature of the task required the equivalent of one full-time staff member dedicated to this work, which diverted resources from more valuable activities.

  • Prone to Human Error: The repetitive nature of the task increased the likelihood of mistakes, leading to potential inaccuracies.

  • Impact on Staff Morale: The mundane and tedious nature of the work affected employee satisfaction and engagement.

Project Objectives - EMS sought a solution that would:

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Automate or semi-automate the data extraction process from CHEP PDF invoices.

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Reduce resource requirements, translating into cost savings.

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Improve data accuracy and eliminate errors caused by manual handling.

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Free up staff to focus on customer needs and higher-value tasks.

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Improve overall staff morale by removing mundane tasks.

The Solution

OTIS Development Ltd designed and implemented a tailored software solution to address EMS’s challenges. Key features of the solution included:

  • Automated Data Extraction: The software could read CHEP invoices in PDF format for multiple regions and languages, eliminating the need for manual input.

  • Built-in Calculations: Relevant values were automatically extracted and calculated, streamlining the process.

  • User Verification: The system allowed users to review the extracted data and calculations before acceptance, ensuring accuracy and control.

  • Automated Output: Once verified, the data was automatically processed and added to a chosen Excel workbook.

  • High-Speed Processing: The solution reduced processing time from 10-15 minutes per invoice to the ability to handle 4-5 invoices per minute.

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Results and Impact - The implementation of the OTIS solution had a transformative impact on EMS’s operations:

  1. Significant Time Savings: The new system processes invoices in under 5 seconds, enabling EMS to manage up to 4-5 invoices per minute. This is a dramatic improvement compared to the previous 10-15 minutes per invoice. Based on an average of 12.5 minutes per invoice, that equates to a 99.33% increase in performance.

  2. Increased Efficiency for Backlogs: The system’s capacity to handle high volumes of invoices is particularly valuable for onboarding new clients or addressing backlogs, which can involve hundreds of invoices.

  3. Resource Savings: EMS reported achieving 50-60% of their planned resource savings within the first stage of implementation.

  4. Improved Staff Morale: Employees are no longer burdened with mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on customer-centric activities.

  5. Enhanced Data Accuracy: The automated process reduces the risk of human error, ensuring more reliable financial records.

Client Feedback

EMS provided highly positive feedback regarding their experience and results:

The new software has very quickly got us to a place where we no longer need to copy and paste data from the PDF invoice. The whole process takes less than 5 seconds... the first stage has been a huge success, with us already seeing circa 50-60% of the planned resource saving.

Craig Lodge

Head of Operations, EMS

At the start of the project, EMS described their previous process as highly inefficient and labour-intensive, requiring extensive manual effort to extract and transfer data. They highlighted the strain on resources and the repetitive nature of the work.

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After Implementation: The new software solution significantly streamlined their operations. EMS noted the ease of selecting a PDF invoice, extracting the data, and importing it into the correct spreadsheet with a single click. The process is now seamless and exceptionally fast.

Conclusion

Through their partnership with OTIS Development Ltd, EMS successfully transformed their invoice processing system. By automating a previously manual and time-consuming task, EMS achieved significant time and cost savings, improved data accuracy, and boosted staff morale. This project exemplifies how tailored software solutions can drive operational excellence and create measurable business value.

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