Intelligent Document ProcessingEngelbert Strauss Captures Orders Received via Email with Retarus’ IDP Solution

Manual Order Entry

Engelbert Strauss is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of workwear, utility clothing, and personal protective equipment. The family-owned company is based in the Main-Kinzig district of the German state of Hesse near Frankfurt. With approximately 1,700 employees, it has production facilities in 27 countries worldwide, primarily located in Southeast Asia.

As one of the top 5 online retailers in Germany, Strauss receives many orders via email. These email orders are placed by different customers using various template formats and layouts. One of Strauss’ goals is to serve customers quickly and efficiently. A solution was needed to streamline order processing.

Powerful Automation

Strauss was looking for a digital solution that would allow incoming orders placed by email to be analyzed and captured automatically. The search and selection process took almost six months.

The solution they envisioned would be able to serve Strauss’ large customer base with numerous order templates as well as the company’s customizable products. Although items at Strauss have item numbers, they do not uniquely identify a product. In the case of T‑shirts, for example, the desired size must also be indicated for unique identification. Not to mention, orders can be customized with the customer’s logo as well, adding further complexity.

Strauss ultimately awarded the contract to Retarus and its IDP solution. The generic, non-template-based solution, its convincing recognition rates, and the small amount of time needed for implementation were the deciding factors. Reading the order from the email using optical character recognition (OCR) is only the first step. The difference in recognition rates is achieved by using AI, which reads the orders as if they were being captured by a person.

Completely Redesigned Process

Retarus Intelligent Document Processing was implemented in Strauss’ sales department over a period of about six months. The first step was programming the necessary connection to Strauss’ ERP system. Then a test phase using selected orders to fine-tune recognition was carried out. Finally, the go-live was followed by a hypercare phase during ongoing productive operations. Retarus’ IDP solution was connected to the existing interfaces for EDI and archiving.

During implementation, Strauss’ entire order entry process was redesigned. All orders received as PDFs are now fully digitized by Retarus.

Accelerated Order Processing Thanks to Digitization

The changes made to post-processing were extremely well received by employees. No special training was required.

Strauss benefits from a more scalable and faster order entry process thanks to a higher level of automation. The company can now focus only on orders where manual intervention is necessary, reducing the number of repetitive routine tasks.

A Successful Start Results in Rollout to Other Countries

Engelbert Strauss has successfully introduced Retarus Intelligent Document Processing in its sales department to speed up the capture of orders received via email. After a convincing start in Germany, the service was also rolled out in Austria.