Trinseo AP Automation with SAP VIM

Cadence delivered a simplified but modern invoice ingestion process using the SAP Vendor Invoice Management solution.

The entire project team, Trinseo and Cadence Solutions, came together to form a cohesive group aligned to the same goal: deliver a simplified yet modern digitization solution to streamline and automate a manual process. We all learned from each other along the way and ultimately delivered what we committed to do.
- Tracy Blumenthal, IT Director, Strategy and Planning, Trinseo

Introduction

Trinseo is a large publicly traded global materials company supplying goods across a wide range of industries.

Trinseo had an AP invoicing problem. SAP ECC was operating well but all invoices sent to Trinseo had to be scanned and entered manually, requiring resources to do this non-value add work.

Trinseo recognized significant improvements could be made to increase efficiency by implementing automation. During the pandemic, as digital invoicing grew, the inefficiencies became evident to Accounts Payable. Invoice processing and validation was all completed manually, including all AP downloading, uploading, 3-way matching, and data entry with SAP. Additionally, there was not a proper audit trail as there was no set path for each invoice to follow. Not only did these issues slow down their workflow processes but they were naturally prone to human error. Time and dollars were being wasted; to stay in line with their company goals and keep ahead of industry competitors, a change was necessary.

Solution

For their solution, Trinseo selected OpenText Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) for SAP and Cadence Solutions as their experienced implementer. Trinseo narrowed their strategic focus into streamlining invoice ingestion and needed the project to be completed on time and on budget. Cadence delivered. The VIM project was completed and fully implemented globally in five months encompassing three continents and three distinct Go Live Events.

Outcome

Trinseo now has a reduced, but professionally trained staff using a sophisticated Invoice Recognition and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system combined with the structure of SAP ECC. This greatly enhances their AP invoicing efficiency for Purchase Order (PO), Non-PO Invoices with 2 and 3-way matching.

Additionally, the exception rate on Invoices has been greatly reduced all while maintaining a single source of truth for tracking the audit history. To this day, the project's return on investment continues to grow. As a result, Trinseo was able to remove four FTEs from their workforce and reallocate funds toward continued digitization of their Procurement Operations capability.

Trinseo AP Automation with SAP VIM

Introduction

Outcome

2010

YEAR ESTABLISHED

Berwyn, PA

HEADQUARTERS

~3,500

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Fun Fact!

Did you know that Trinseo makes and supplies the plastic used to create Lego?

Trinseo AP Automation with SAP VIM

Introduction

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​

Outcome

​

2010

YEAR ESTABLISHED

Berwyn, PA

HEADQUARTERS

~3,500

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Fun Fact!

Did you know that Trinseo makes and supplies the plastic used to create Lego?