Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions, today announced that it is working on a project with Hijos de Juan de Garay to manage the company’s accounts payable (AP) processes, with the goal of streamlining AP for better control and increased visibility.

Hijos de Juan de Garay, based in Guipuzcoa Province of Spain, manufactures components and equipment for the automotive industry. The company processes around 1,000 invoices per month, some that can have as many as 70 line items. Until now, the data capture process was largely paper-based, relying on one full-time employee and one part-time employee to handle all of the manual duties. Managing these invoices made for very stressful and complicated month-end closings.

Results after implementation

Operating in an SAP^® environment, the Esker solution is able to: scan the paper invoice; extract the invoice data using OCR technology; review the data using a workflow validation process outside of the SAP system; compare the findings against a master reference list; finalize the information; and enter the accounting record in SAP. The entire process now requires only one employee to approve the invoices, and can then dedicate the rest of his or her time to other value-added administrative functions.

As a result, Hijos de Juan de Garay achieved savings of 40 percent in its invoice management, with the goal of increasing its savings to 70 percent as its validation process becomes more straightforward. These savings are further reflected in zero document loss and reduced management time, which speeds up other administrative processes and optimizes dedicated resources.

“We needed a solution to help us streamline our complex process of managing and approving individual supplier invoices so that we can post them in the SAP accounting system,” said Miguel Antona, Director of IT at Hijos de Juan de Garay. “Esker helps us not only by automating our documents, but also by forcing us to improve our document flow management process so we can achieve our target efficiency ratios.”

Paper reduction

In addition, Hijos de Juan de Garay is open to digitizing, and thereby eliminating, all of its paper using Esker’s technology, which is certified in Spain, including the Basque Country. The amount of paper saved due to reduced photocopying of invoices alone is enough to eliminate enough paper in a year to save one tree, 1,291 liters of water, 200 kW of energy, and 124 kg of CO₂ emissions.

About Hijos de Juan de Garay

Hijos de Juan de Garay S.A. has a long tradition of technological development that began in the late 19^th century. The company specializes in manufacturing three distinct product lines at its plant in Oñate, which include: cold drawn welded precision steel tubing, automotive tubular components, and hot drawn and sized brass bars and shapes.

Its portfolio of products features prominently in automotive and critical industrial applications and is distributed worldwide. Most of the products are custom-made to meet individual client requirements and expectations. Hijos de Juan de Garay is deeply committed to the environment. It uses environmentally-friendly processes and promotes the use of clean technologies.

About Esker

Esker is the worldwide leader in document process automation solutions. Addressing all types of business processes from accounts payable and accounts receivable to sales order processing and procurement, Esker cloud computing solutions enable companies to automate the reception, processing and sending of any business document with one platform. Esker helps over 80,000 companies across the world to reduce the use of paper and eliminate manual processes while improving their productivity, efficiency and environmental impact.

With 36 million euros in sales revenue in 2011, Esker operates in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Esker is listed on the NYSE Alternext in Paris (Code ISIN FR0000035818). For more information, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter at twitter.com/eskerinc and join the conversation on the Esker blog at www.quitpaper.com.

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