Accounts Payable automation gives Mammoet control of the complete process

“We used to have payment terms of 60 days, and now we can process all invoices within 12 days”, says Paulo Steverink, Group Controller of Mammoet, a specialist in heavy lifting and transport solutions.

Mammoet is a Dutch family business headquartered in Schiedam and with offices around the world, including England, Belgium, Germany, Canada, USA, Dubai, Singapore, Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. “The invoices received by our offices around the world are now centrally processed immediately after local digitalization. Thanks to the seamless integration between software from Ricoh, ReadSoft and SAP, we now have complete control over the entire invoice process.”

Bottlenecks of the manual process
“Invoices were received centrally by our accounts payable department and then sent by regular post to the local offices for review. Our major problem was that with this long manual process, invoices where often found at the bottom of a pile of paper at the approver’s desk, or got lost. The payment terms of 60 days were hardly ever met. We were stuck in a reactive routine: only if a supplier called for a payment, we went looking for the invoice. Crazy, but that is what happens when you are stuck in a bad process” says Steverink.

Ricoh, ReadSoft and SAP software in seamless integration
Today, Mammoet has an automated invoice processing solution in place thanks to Ricoh, ReadSoft and CTAC, who joined forces to offer a solution that integrates perfectly with the SAP ERP system.

Steverink says “The SAP system is the lifeblood of our business. The condition for additional solutions like this is seamless integration with SAP, so we needn’t worry about it.”

An automatic process – from scanning to payment
All invoices arriving at Mammoet’s accounts payable department are scanned and ReadSoft’s software automatically extracts the key information, validates it, and checks that the data seems reasonable (supplier, sum, due date, VAT amount, purchase order etc). If everything is correct, the captured information is automatically transferred into Mammoet’s SAP system for coding, authorization and approval.

Mammoet also uses ReadSoft‘s statistics tool that provides full control of the invoice capture process. “With this tool, we can see where the process needs to optimized and we can quickly correct any errors” says Steverink.

In SAP, the solution checks if the invoice matches the purchase order. Any discrepancies are detected and presented to the appropriate user. If everything is correct, the invoice is automatically sent for approval, and eventually posted for payment.

Global implementation
“Invoices from our local offices worldwide are processed with ReadSoft’s software at the central headquarters. When the data has been checked, it is automatically transferred to the SAP system, where the payment is handled by our local staff. After a worldwide implementation of all necessary software, we can process all invoices from our local offices even without adding extra people.”

Increased control, knowledge and cost awareness
“The whole process is much faster, more efficient and we have much more control” says Steverink. “Previously we often did not even know how much we paid for something, but now we have full control. And that has made us very cost-aware. Automating the invoice process has in many aspects been a blessing for Mammoet!”

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