IRIS was contracted by Einkaufsbüro Deutscher Eisenhändler (E/D/E) to provide a solution to automate invoice capturing in centralized invoice clearing.
E/D/E, is Europe’s largest purchasing and marketing association with approximately 1,500 members. These members are German medium-sized trading companies that sell tools, machines, steel, construction fittings and components, sanitary and heating equipment, installation and industrial technology, and safety products.
The organization provides centralized invoice clearing, a service that is critical for its members. In addition it ensures a smooth flow of trade and offers extensive services such as centralized marketing, consulting concerning project lines, and public relations.
E/D/E decided to switch from a manual to an automatic invoice capturing system in centralized invoice clearing and chose IRIS as its solution provider.
«We are focusing on two goals with this project: quality and costs,» says Peter Reinhardt, Head of Accounts Payable at E/D/E. «Increasing quality basically means that we use automatic data capturing and testing to prevent capture errors as much as possible, which in turn has a positive effect on overall process costs. Of course, in terms of costs, we are also expecting an increase in efficiency and a rapid return on investment.»
Daily, up to 8,000 invoices have to be captured and processed at E/D/E, this is about 2 million invoices a year.
The documents are captured using the IRISXtract™ invoice processing solution, which transfers the captured and pre-tested data to the SAP R/3 system using E/D/E’s own centralized invoice clearing process. At the same time, the scanned invoice documents are transferred to an optical archive.
Following E/D/E’s decision in favor of IRIS, all three parent companies of ZEUS (Zentrale für Einkauf und Service) – E/D/E, EK-Großeinkauf and Hagebau – have opted for IRIS data capture solutions.
ZEUS is an independent joint subsidiary of these three purchasing associations. Their task is to strengthen the market position of member companies in construction, home improvement, gardening, hardware and lumber through joint purchasing, professional location planning and the provision of effective marketing concepts.
We decided to go with IRIS based on our confidence in the company‘s performance, the quality of the solution, and the company‘s experience in centralized invoice clearing.
Thomas Taschner, Head of Informatics, E/D/E
