Well optimized - is that "cool

The Upper Austrian aluminum specialist HAI achieves cost-effectiveness and quality assurance through production of the recycled starting material, extrusion of the aluminum profiles and mechanical processing to the finished part.

In 2018, HAI generated sales of around 500 million euros with more than 1200 employees in the three production areas of casting, extrusion and processing. Prominent reference: the new car bodies of the Wuppertal suspension railroads, which were manufactured by HAI.

The company has six sites in Austria, Germany and Romania. The headquarters is in Ranshofen, Austria. This is also where the financial accounting with auditing is located.

Around 49,000 invoices from six companies at three locations are generated here every year for processing in SAP - the vast majority of them PDFs and only a few paper invoices.

A central e-mail address acts as the input channel, to which PDF documents are sent directly and, in the case of paper documents, the scanned document is sent.

The entire processing of these invoices in SAP now takes place digitally throughout with Tangro. And thus meets the goal of the automation project, as Franz Biereder from HAI explains:

"Our vision was the paperless office. With Tangro, we have achieved this goal in invoice processing."

Five employees ensure that invoices are entered, checked and posted in SAP. This is particularly fast for purchase order-related invoices, which account for around 80 percent of all invoice documents, and requires almost no manual intervention:

The Tangro software automatically recognizes the contents, compares them in real time with the master and transaction data in SAP, and generates a parked document.

A quick check by the clerk and the invoice is posted at the push of a button. Theoretically, these documents could even go into the payment run completely automatically, but so far a final check is deliberately desired.

The new software also significantly simplifies processing for the remaining 20 percent of incoming invoices that are not related to a purchase order or for which clarification is still required.

The software automatically recognizes the vendor and the purchase order number and automates the workflows for release and account assignment. The processes here have been kept as simple as possible:

According to the dual control principle, the document first goes to the responsible approver and then to the clerk or buyer who checks the goods receipt and carries out the account assignment. This is all done with a mouse click directly from the Tangro Cockpit and automatically goes to the correct recipient(s).

"The time-consuming sending of invoice papers back and forth by mail or email has come to an end thanks to Tangro"

says Franz Biereder. And so is the search for the right contact person.

The danger of a document being lost or forgotten somewhere is now also averted: As soon as a planned processing period is exceeded, the responsible agents automatically receive a reminder e-mail.

The five employees in the accounting department have a complete overview of all invoices received and can see at any time exactly who is currently processing an invoice.

In retrospect, the entire process can be traced thanks to the workflow log. This comprehensive transparency also facilitates controlling.

"In monthly reporting, the status of pending invoices is immediately visible. This means that unplanned, larger invoices can now also be scheduled."

explains Franz Biereder, head of finance. In addition, there is no need to go to the archives.

"We already had to outsource our folder archive for space reasons, which of course involved costs. Now the paper filing has finally come to an end. The documents are stored electronically and can be retrieved at any time."

In the search for a suitable solution for invoice processing, compatibility with SAP played a particularly important role. This was a criterion where Tangro scored particularly well due to its direct embedding in SAP - without interfaces. This is also because the switch to S/4, which is scheduled to take place in a few years, can take place without complications.