Canada’s largest Dairy food processor improves cash flow, cuts costs & streamlines proof of delivery processes
docAlpha intelligently captures proof of delivery documents for over 40,000 monthly deliveries, automating sorting and filing to achieve faster deliveries, improved traceability and enhanced customer service
Canada’s largest Dairy food processor improves cash flow, cuts costs & streamlines proof of delivery processesdocAlpha intelligently captures proof of delivery documents for over 40,000 monthly deliveries, automating sorting and filing to achieve faster deliveries, improved traceability and enhanced customer service
The Challenge
Parmalat dairy, in Canada and Australia processes over 40,000 deliveries monthly; each evening copies of daily delivery notes are collected and sent to the Customer Service department for sorting and filing. With many locations and drivers, the hundreds and thousands of manifests, delivery notes and proof of delivery documents often get misplaced, misfiled or returned late. The volume of paperwork alone that’s generated daily as a result of the in and out processes, generates a small mountain of paper requiring physical storage — even for smaller distribution networks.
The entire filing, storage and retrieval process was costly and time consuming; their paper based systems were inherently inefficient and unreliable. Continuing to rely on their existing physical document process, particularly when key documents become ignored or overlooked, misplaced, accidentally thrown away or lost, potentially exposed the company to compliance and/or legal risk every day.
The limitations of manual processes went beyond delivery and documentation to impacting the cash to order process. Matching distribution and delivery documents with proof of receipt documents in the field was cumbersome. Receiving delivery documents returned by drivers, manually scanning them and cross matching against their SAP ERP system records perpetually delayed the accounts receivables staff from generating invoices, lengthening the payment cycle and negatively impacting control over revenues and cash flow.
The Solution
Parmalat worked with Artsyl’s certified partner Connectis Group to architect an automated digital proof of delivery solution that incorporated Fujitsu scanners in two processing centers, the Artsyl docAlpha Smart Process Platform for intelligent document capture and data extraction and the MaxxVault document management system, implemented across multiple locations to archive the digital documents and captured business document meta-data.
The solution architected by Connectis was designed to be easy to use, enabling delivery records to be scanned and archived within minutes of a delivery driver returning to base, making the documents available for viewing either by Parmalat customer services via the web overcoming the delays associated with the manual paper-based system.
To address one of the most painful parts of the process — filing and matching documents to support proof of delivery and invoicing — Connectis configured docAlpha to intelligently sort and classify over 19 document types that supported the proof of delivery process.
The documents included:- Driver Return Forms
- Invoices
- Dechargement Bons Retours
- Dechargement Rebuts
- Factures
- Truck Unload
- Unload Sheet
- Case & Pallet Return Form
- Pick List
- Product Return Authorization
- Demande de Credit / Debit
- Invoice
- Retour Marche
- Goods Return
- Proof of Delivery
Parmalat was able to batch scan their documents without manual sorting, relying on docAlpha to classify and sort everything for appropriate filing and indexing. docAlpha’s ability to intelligently extract information from the document images meant that documentation could be automatically filed into the MaxxVault system and indexed with the appropriate metadata — eliminating hours of manual filing and data entry.
The Result: Instant POD Document Access, Shorter Billing Cycle Times
With an automated Proof of Delivery solution in place, Parmalat invoices are now effortlessly combined with proof of delivery documents and quickly made available across the organization for accounts, billing, archiving and queries. Missing PODs are automatically flagged for follow up by the appropriate user. The combined docAlpha MaxxVault system also enabled Parmalat Accounts and CSR staff to view completed PODs including supporting and linking documentation over the web.
Benefits achieved by automating the entire process included:
- Reduced accounts receivable cycle times and better cash flow control
- Reduced paper and paper handling costs and accelerated the flow of payment receipts
- Instant access to customers’ delivery, billing, and payment data, from any location
- Greater responsiveness and transparency throughout the delivery process
- Accurate record keeping and improved customer service
- Better traceability of product deliveries and drivers
- Mitigated legal risks due to lost documents
- Access to documents from anywhere, at any time
Parmalat Canada Inc.
www.parmalat.caFood Processing
Intelligent capture of delivery notes and proof of delivery receipts
Integration with MaxxVault Document Management System
docAlpha intelligent capture
Accurate automatic sorting,filing and indexing of deliverydocuments in support of over40,000 deliveries/month
With over 120 years of brand heritage in the Canadian dairy industry, Parmalat Canada produces milk and dairy products, fruit juices, cultured products, cheese products and table spreads with brands including Beatrice, Lactantia, Astro, Black Diamond and Balderson. Employing more than 2,900 people with 17 operating facilities across the country, Parmalat is one of the largest, most-dynamic food group companies in Canada.
For over a decade, Artsyl has delivered smart process automation solutions that begin with the most painful and inefcient step in any process — manual data entry. By leveraging data and documents to intelligently handle data capture, extraction, classifcation and routing, Artsyl streamlines end-to-end operations for improved efciency, visibility, compliance and control.
Artsyl’s docAlpha platform reduces manual document handling, eliminates data entry, increases data accuracy, accelerates workflows and ensures standards compliance. Supported by robust reporting that increases process transparency, Artsyl solutions empower organizations to monitor KPIs, eliminate approval bottlenecks and reduce cycle times while providing instant auditability.