Purchase orders that nobody retypes
A precision manufacturer gets orders as PDFs in a dozen layouts, with quality clauses at the back. Someone types every line into the ERP. Here is how that typing goes away while a person still checks every order.
The problem
Customers email purchase orders as PDFs, each in its own layout, often several pages long with quality clauses and certification requirements at the back. The order desk reads every one, finds the part numbers, revision levels, quantities, prices and delivery dates, and types them into the ERP. On a busy Monday the backlog runs into the afternoon, and a missed revision or a missed clause becomes a wrong part or a rejected shipment.
What was really causing it
The ERP is fine. The problem is the gap in front of it: orders arrive as documents, and the only bridge between a document and a record is a person typing. Nobody owns the bridge, so nobody has fixed it. We confirmed this by sitting with the order desk for a day and counting: how many orders, how many layouts, how long each takes, and which mistakes come back as returns.
The ERP is fine.
What the research says
- 88% median perfect order performance; an order entered wrong cannot be a perfect order however well it ships (APQC Open Standards Benchmarking, Perfect order performance)
Order accuracy starts at entry. For a precision manufacturer the expensive mistakes are not typos in quantities, which someone usually notices, but a missed revision level or a quality clause that never reached the floor. Those are found at inspection or by the customer.
What we built
One inbox, one family of documents, one target system. Every incoming order is read, checked against the customer, part and revision records you already have, and shown to a person on one screen with anything doubtful highlighted. Quality clauses are listed for the quality team. Approved orders go into the ERP once, with a record of who approved what.
- Arrives The order lands in the shared inbox as it does today. Nothing changes for the customer.
- Read The document is read and its fields pulled out: customer, parts, revisions, quantities, prices, dates and quality clauses.
- Checked Every field is checked against your own records and rules. Unknown parts, old revisions and odd prices are flagged.
- Approved A person reviews the order on one screen and approves it, or fixes the flagged lines.
- Entered The approved order goes into the ERP once. No retyping, no duplicates.
What stays as it is
Your ERP, your part numbers, your pricing rules and your order desk. The team keeps the final say on every order; the software does the typing.
Who does what
| Step | Done by | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Saving the email and attachment | Software | A fixed rule; no judgment needed |
| Reading the PDF: parts, revisions, quantities, prices, dates, clauses | AI | Layouts vary by customer and change without notice |
| Checking parts, revisions and prices against your records | Software | Rules you can write down should be written down |
| Approving the order, or fixing flagged lines | A person | The order desk keeps the final say |
| Entering the approved order into the ERP | Software | Once, with a record of who approved it |
Where AI fits, and where it does not
AI reads the documents, because layouts vary and a template per customer breaks the first time a customer changes theirs. Everything after that is ordinary software: part lookups, arithmetic, price rules and the ERP connection. AI never decides a price and never approves an order, and orders under export control stay out of any outside service.
What it is worth
What comes next
Quotes from the same inbox, order acknowledgements sent back automatically, and a view of which customers' clauses need the most review.
Questions people ask
- What happens when the AI reads something wrong?
Every field is checked against your own records before a person sees the order, and anything doubtful is highlighted. Nothing reaches the ERP until someone approves it.
- Can it handle orders under export control?
Yes, by keeping them away from outside services: controlled orders are routed to a person, or read by a model running on your own systems.
- Do customers need to change their purchase orders?
No. That is the point of reading the documents rather than asking for a portal or EDI.
- Which ERPs does this work with?
Any ERP that takes sales orders through an API, an import file or a database staging table.
- Perfect order performance, APQC Open Standards Benchmarking
Canonical URL: https://ugibo.com/case-studies/purchase-orders-nobody-retypes