Who are Devro?
Devro is one of the world’s leading suppliers of collagen casings for food, used by customers in the production of a wide variety of sausages and other meat products.
Devro employs over 2,000 people, sells products in over 100 countries, and has manufacturing sites in the USA, the Netherlands, the UK, China, Czech Republic, and Australia.
Working with Embrace Digital, Devro automated its Accounts Payable operations to gain visibility over the process and improve efficiency.
The Challenge.
As a global manufacturer, Devro wanted to gain overall visibility of Accounts Payable operations across its international sites, standardise processes, and increase the quality of management information. The company processes 50,000 invoices each year and the existing process for invoice handling was inefficient and lacked visibility.
Devro recognised a need to change; its existing process for invoice matching and approval was manual and differed across each one of its business entities. It was difficult to track and trace invoice flow within the organisation and the system required a high level of intervention from the Accounts Payable team to resolve queries, sometimes across differing time-zones. Invoice data was manually entered in JD Edwards green screens and the process for invoice approval across the wider business needed improvement. A lack of transparency meant that reporting across the global AP function was difficult, inconsistent, and time-consuming.
Devro took the decision to establish Shared Service Centres (SSC) at its Head Office in Scotland and in its operation in the Czech Republic, incorporating IT, HR, Accounts Payable (AP) and Financial Reporting operations.
Unifying AP activity across the centres provided Devro with the opportunity to automate the AP process. This would improve the efficiency of invoice entry, matching and approval, to reduce costs and improve productivity, whilst providing much-needed visibility and real-time reporting.
Our Approach.
Devro investigated and trialled several potential solutions before selecting a Kofax solution delivered by Embrace Digital. Devro required an automated solution that would scale for use within its SSC environment and would act as a central point of control and reporting for the global business. Automated three-way matching, the capability to handle multiple currencies, languages, and VAT differences, and integrate seamlessly into the existing JD Edwards solution, were essential factors.
Embrace Digital worked alongside Devro to understand the company’s existing processes and to build detailed requirements based on the SSC model. Understanding the requirements and nuances of Devro’s process, Embrace Digital recommended Kofax AP Agility to best meet the requirements.
The Solution.
The first phase of the project saw Devro transfer Accounts Payable operations into their Head Office (Moodiesburn) from their two sites in Scotland, plus Australia and US.
Embrace Digital deployed Kofax AP Agility to provide a compliant, standardised, and efficient process for the AP Shared Service. Devro receives the majority of its 50,000 invoices per annum via PDF with a small proportion still received on paper. The new system digitises these invoices from a variety of formats, accurately extracts business information, and automatically verifies and matchesinvoice data. This has removed the manual burden of data entry and means that invoices can be easily traced from the moment they enter the business. Automated invoice workflows route successfully matched invoices direct to the company’s JD Edwards system, with exceptions entering a pre-agreed and compliant workflow for additional validation and approval.
Non-PO invoices requiring approval are routed direct to approvers within the business, where invoices can be viewed and actioned, speeding up invoice approval times and creating a seamless and fully transparent path.
Detailed reports and dashboards provide immediate access to invoice processing, supplier performance and business spend management, and the ability to track KPIs to continually improve processes and identify bottlenecks.
The company has completed the second phase of the project operationalising AP Agility for the Czech Republic element of its business while fulfilling the requirement to process all AP activity in either of the Shared Service Centres.
Product Spotlight...
To secure the positive outcome, Embrace Digital used the following...
Benefits...
KPIs and Reporting.
Reports had previously been manual and created from multiple
spreadsheets. As such they lacked consistency and many KPIs were
out of date by the time reports were made available. Now Devro can
easily access management information across the entire organisation
and the AP team can identify areas of focus for their continuous
improvement programme.
Improved Efficiency.
The ability to manage the company’s AP operations from one site
under a single solution, combined with reduced data entry and
manual intervention, has brought significant efficiencies and cost
savings.
Visibility .
Invoices are tracked as soon as they enter the business and
throughout their journey, giving a seamless view to aid query and
dispute resolution.
Faster Processing.
Automatically matched invoices can now be processed within days.
Exceptions are handled efficiently through pre-determined approval
hierarchy, increasing the speed of approval.
Compliant & Standardised Process.
The solution provides a compliant and standardised procedure for
invoice processing throughout the different business entities that
make up the Devro organisation.
What Was Said...
“Reporting and ownership is now driven from the
front end of the system. We have a lot more control
over the process and achieved great efficiencies
alongside compliance and standardisation.
Automatically matched invoices are now processed
within days; we have tight payment terms with some
suppliers, and they are now much easier to meet.”
“The solution has been very well received, not just within
Accounts Payable and the SSC, but across the business.
End users have told us that it is intuitive to use.
Communication around approval of invoices is
good and we can see the invoice journey seamlessly.”
“The project required a collaborative approach. This was
a complex undertaking where we were initially bringing
multiple business entities into one area, and
standardising into a single process through automation.
It was essential to the success of the project that our
teams worked closely with Embrace Digital. The level of
collaboration required demonstrates the value in having
an experienced partner and resilient individuals in both
teams who can use their knowledge and expertise to
anticipate and overcome challenges along the way.”
“The main benefit has to be the visibility we now have
across the organisation. We have access to real-time
management information and KPIs which allow us
to identify themes for continuous improvement, and we
have visibility to oversee the entire process, ensuring
adherence to our standards and working practices.”
Interested?Get in Touch
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Co-op Legal Services
Digital mailroom delivers compliant & efficient document handling
Find out more
Case Study
Lyons Davidson
Evolution of the automated mailroom capturing digital communications
Find out more
Case Study
PensionBee
Digital mailroom automation delivers digitisation, indexing and onward processing for award winning pension company
Find out more
Case Study
Global Shipping Company
Cloud based document management technology provides HR solution
Find out more
Case Study
Financial Services Company
Forms capture for major financial investment company
Find out more