How a Global Industrial Manufacturer Automated 30,000+ Annual Invoices, Cut AP Processing Costs by 82%, and Captured $1.4M in Early Payment Discounts
A Cleveland-based precision manufacturer serving the aerospace, defense, heavy equipment, and automotive sectors operates with 3,200+ employees across six countries and manages a complex supply chain involving over 480 active vendors, ranging from raw material suppliers in Vietnam to specialty chemical providers in Germany, making its accounts payable operation both critical and high-volume.
Prior to implementing InvoiceAnywhere®, the manufacturer processed in excess of 32,400 supplier invoices per year entirely through manual workflows. AP clerks at the Cleveland headquarters manually keyed invoice data from PDFs and paper documents into the company’s Oracle ERP, conducted 3-way matching against purchase orders and goods receipt notes by cross-referencing printed records, and routed paper approval packets to cost center managers via internal mail. The company employed 14 full-time AP staff to manage this volume, a headcount that senior finance leadership recognized as unsustainable given the company’s planned acquisition-driven growth trajectory.
The company’s VP of Procurement estimated that between late payments, missed early payment discounts, and duplicate payment errors, the manual AP process was costing the manufacturer more than $2 million per year in avoidable costs. The manufacturer engaged InvoiceAnywhere® following a detailed RFP process in Q3 2022, with full deployment completed in Q1 2023.
Major Roadblocks & Opportunities
The decision to switch from one of the market’s most well-known travel expense management platforms was not made lightly. The firm’s CFO commissioned a comprehensive review that documented the following persistent, unresolved issues with their existing provider:
The total estimated annual cost of these failures, including staff time, error correction, write-offs, and reimbursement delays, was quantified by the internal audit at $1.9 million.
Our Solution
InvoiceAnywhere®’s Smart Autonomous Touchless Technology was deployed across the manufacturer’s entire accounts payable operation, integrating directly with the company’s Oracle ERP and connecting all 480+ active vendors through a dedicated Supplier Portal.
Core capabilities included:
Business Impact
The results achieved by the manufacturer in 12 months following InvoiceAnywhere® deployment were transformative, exceeding the projected ROI by 34% and fundamentally altering the economics of the company’s AP function:
32,400+ invoices automated annually
Achieving 100% invoice processing automation
82%
reduction
In AP processing cost per invoice from $18.40 to $3.30
$1.54 million captured
In early payment discounts, up from $142,000 in the previous fiscal year
85%
reduction
In invoice processing cycle time from 14.2 days to 2.1 days
$340,000
eliminated
In duplicate payments previously identified over 18 months, reduced to $0 in FY2023
97.7%
reduction
In late payment penalties from $180,000 annually to just $4,200
96%
reduction
In monthly supplier status inquiries from 240 requests to just 9
44%
increase
In VAT/Input tax recovered from $127,000 to $183,000 in the first automated year
57%
reduction
In AP headcount required, from 14 FTEs to 6 FTEs, with staff redeployed to strategic procurement roles
$3.1 million
realized
In first-year hard-dollar ROI from discounts captured, penalties avoided, duplicate payments blocked, and staffing efficiencies
The Early Payment Discount Module deserves particular recognition as the single most impactful individual feature for the manufacturer’s business. Prior to InvoiceAnywhere®, the company’s manual accounts payable automation process captured only $142,000 of an estimated $1.55M in available annual discounts, a capture rate of just 9.2%. In FY2023, the automated system captured $1.54M of that same pool, a 99.4% capture rate, representing a $1.4M improvement from this feature alone.
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About ExpenseAnywhere Corporation
We are a global leader in AI-powered corporate spend automation, offering end-to-end solutions for travel & expense automation, invoice automation, prepaid or debit card automation, and mileage automation. Our platform empowers enterprises to eliminate manual processes, ensure policy compliance, and gain real-time financial visibility across every transaction.
