Cook Medical Removed the Chaos from Invoice Processing

Since its inception in 1963, Cook Medical Inc. has improved lives around the world through the development of medical devices. In reaching more than 1,500 orders per day, the company’s customer service department was in desperate need of an automated order processing solution.

With an eye on the diverse clinical and business management needs of its customers, Cook Medical Inc. offers a synchronized service for the purchase and distribution of all Cook Medical devices. While providing a cost-efficient option for healthcare providers, the company coordinates price file access, purchase orders, ship points and accounts payable with a focus on lowering supply chain costs.

Calming a turbulent workflow

After integrating document processing into one shared services center, Cook Medical was inundated with more than 1,500 faxed orders per day. The company’s 12 associates quickly ran up against the grueling constraints of a manual process that couldn’t scale to support the increased volume. They struggled to key data into the order entry system fast enough to continue delivering on the company’s promise to ship product within 24 hours.

“The manual handling caused a significant amount of chaos,” says Lou Ann Fortner, Customer Service Manager. “To meet our deadlines and not set back the shipping department, we needed a more efficient way to process purchase orders.”

Looking to increase processing capacity and speed without additional staff, Cook Medical turned to Imaging Office Systems, Inc. and Kofax to automate order processing.

“ReadSoft’s solution offered the best quality image that wasn’t going to slow us down,” says Fortner.

Despite the spike in volume, purchase orders were automatically interpreted, verified, validated and readied for automatic processing.

ROI within 30 days

Within one month’s time, the solution began to show great promise as Cook Medical’s personnel completed the processing of orders an hour earlier than the usual deadline. Soon, chaos became a distant memory as the fax department processed all orders in record time and with one fewer associate.

By alleviating the stress of rushed evening processing, the solution eased the strain on shipping personnel, who were no longer forced to work late to process orders for next-day delivery. With the bulk of order processing moved to an earlier timeframe, Cook Medical experiences the benefit of automation as it can process more purchase orders faster and with fewer people.

Lower costs, faster processing

With its Kofax solution in place, Cook Medical approaches the future strengthened by advancements in its document processing. The company now enjoys a variety of benefits:

• Stronger time management
• 25% reduction of labor
• Lower payroll due to earlier shifts

With its system streamlined by custom fax software and a Kofax automation solution, Cook Medical Inc. no longer has to endure a processing time crunch from 5-7 p.m., which ultimately alleviates the strain on other business departments.

“Working with ReadSoft has been great,” says Fortner. “With open lines of communication and a wonderful support system, they have provided new opportunities for our business to grow and succeed.”