Manufacturer Gets to Faster Revenue with Automated Invoice Processing

The leadership team at the Wilson Trailer Company was frustrated with their back office’s dependence on paper and manual tasks.

As a global manufacturer of commercial trailers, the company was no stranger to automation on the shop floor. But when it came to invoicing, sales orders and other document-intensive activities, paper and manual data input still ruled the day.

Working with the consulting firm RSM, Wilson Trailer deployed KnowledgeLake’s intelligent document processing (IDP) platform. The platform was integrated seamlessly with their Dynamics AX environment and SharePoint Online to capture, automate and route documents around the business to achieve key operational goals.

Results came quickly as the team saw dramatic improvements in their invoicing and supplier inquiry processes. Wilson Trailer was able to reduce their cost per invoice and free up the time of two FTEs. The company also reduced paper costs by eliminating the need to print invoices and other financial documents.  

One year later, the KnowledgeLake team caught up with the Wilson Trailer team to explore the results of their work and make sure these new efficiencies were sticking.

Improved data visibility

Automation opened a whole new world to the Wilson Trailer accounting department. Teams could easily visualize key AP metrics such as supplier payment timeliness, invoice exceptions, invoice processing time and approval time.  

• Reduced costs – As manual data input and review time shrunk, teams could focus on addressing other client needs. The company was able to process 25% more invoices without adding any new headcount.

• Faster supplier payments – With invoice bottlenecks eliminated, the team reduced the number of days invoices were outstanding and began benefitting from early payment discounts they’d missed out on before.

• Faster cycle times – With automation, documents moved through the system faster. When managers were able to see invoice status and send reminders as needed, bottlenecks disappeared and invoice processing time shrunk.  

All of these changes have brought further cost savings to the Wilson Trailer team, demonstrating the effectiveness of the KnowledgeLake Cloud platform for Intelligent Document Processing. Overall, the implementation of KnowledgeLake by RSM’s Modern Workgroup team has boosted Wilson Trailer’s competitive advantage – further separating them as a leader in the industry.

More Success Ahead

Today, the teams at RSM and KnowledgeLake continue to work with Wilson Trailer to identify and automate additional processes – using the methodologies introduced through the AP automation project – to drive more cost savings and performance improvements across the organization.  The team has begun decentralizing invoice operations at multiple remote locations by bringing the same technology process to each site. This allows multiple offices to scan and process invoices through the cloud without needing to send them to corporate headquarters for processing.

Download the case study here to read about the other improvements Wilson Trailer has seen with the KnowledgeLake Cloud.

Learn more about document automation for manufacturers.