Sydney, Australia — November 6, 2014 — Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and SAP® software solution and technology partner, announced today it was selected by Bag Makers, Inc., a leading imprinted bag supplier, to virtualise the company’s order entry and order archiving processes through the implementation of Esker’s Sales Order Processing solution. The successful installation and integration of Bag Makers’ SAP Business One system with the Esker DeliveryWare platform is the first in the US.
A recent implementation of SAP Business One prompted Bag Makers to improve its internal processes even more. Previously, customer orders would arrive via fax or email and be manually keyed into the SAP system, then printed and distributed to different departments throughout the building. Frequently, art files would arrive independently of their respective purchase order (PO), which posed challenges for matching orders with associated documentation. On the back-end side of the process, Bag Makers was scanning POs and internal documents and storing them on a server.
End-to-End Automation
Today, Bag Makers is using Esker to fully automate and streamline every phase of its workflow. Incoming orders, regardless of format, are automatically imaged into the Esker solution where data is extracted to be pushed into SAP and electronically stored for easy retrieval. After initially considering a basic archiving solution as replacement to its manual system, Bag Makers was introduced to Esker at an Americas’ SAP Users’ Group’s SAP Business One Summit, and, shortly thereafter, selected the industry leader to automate both the back- and front-end of fax and email order processing.
“Esker allows us to digitally archive our orders and eliminates our need to manually enter data,” said Jeremy Bayness, Director of Computer Operations at Bag Makers. “When you add up the cost savings, the integration capabilities with SAP, and the improved processing times and accuracy rates, it’s easy to see why Esker was our top choice.”
Benefits by the Numbers
- Reduced receipt-to-entry time from 4-5 hours to 1 hour
- Improved order-entry accuracy rate to 99.8 percent
- Reallocated two employees previously dedicated to scanning orders for archival to other value-added tasks
- Reallocated six employees previously dedicated to order entry, increasing overall productivity
- Enhanced customer response time thanks to instant order notifications and confirmations
In addition to the performance of the solution, Bag Makers was equally impressed by the level of support Esker provided throughout the solution delivery process. “I can’t say enough about the Professional Services team — we achieved ROI in only three months,” Bayness said. “The Esker team seemed to know the pitfalls before we even got to them and helped us avoid a lot of issues.”
About Bag Makers, Inc.
Bag Makers, Inc. is a leading imprinted bag supplier, specialising in non-woven polypropylene, paper, plastic and polyester bags. Exclusively serving the promotional products marketplace, Bag Makers prints more than 75 million bags each year through flexographic, hot stamping and screen printing services. Bag Makers was founded in 1980 to provide quality printing, fast service and lower minimum orders for imprinted bags. More than 30 years later, the company has earned a host of industry awards for outstanding service and quality that has solidified its position as a market leader.