ArcelorMittal nippon steel India (AM/NS), a steel manufacturer, has integrated UiPath Document Understanding to streamline vendor invoice processing. The automated system allows the AM/NS India to handle an extensive vendor network and process an estimated 300,000 invoices annually.
The company had previously experienced difficulties in timely vendor payments due to unstructured and decentralised invoice processing. The manual handling of diverse invoice formats was time-consuming and susceptible to errors. Invoice processing had a turnaround time of 7 to 10 days, with less than 40% of vendor payments being punctual.
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To solve these issues, UiPath said that AM/NS's finance team turned to Robotic Process Automation (RPA). UiPath was selected based on its document understanding and cloud orchestrator features, as well as its capacity for API integration. The system provided compatibility with AM/NS's existing internal systems.
The automation solutions from UiPath were implemented in phases, beginning with the main location of AM/NS and then extended to other locations. An Accounts Payable Centre of Excellence was set up at Hazira, and a Vendor Invoice Portal was launched for invoice submission.
After the implementation, five UiPath bots handle the vendor invoice processing. The processing time has been reduced to one day from the earlier 7-10 days. Consequently, payments to vendors have become more timely, and employees previously engaged in routine tasks have been reassigned to other tasks, said the company.
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AM/NS India uses UiPath's Document Understanding feature, an AI image reading technology, for data extraction and validation. The automated features have transformed the vendor invoice process, increasing efficiency, said the company.
According to UiPath, following the successful implementation in accounts payable, AM/NS India plans to extend automation to other departments, including logistics, HR, operations, and marketing. The company's goal for 2024 is to implement enterprise automation across all business units and develop a workforce of citizen developers. This is part of AM/NS India's larger objective of incorporating intelligent automation into its business operations.
