Gira automates capturing of order confirmations with Retarus Intelligent Document Processing
AI solution based on Mistral automates processing of order confirmations
Munich, March 16, 2026 //
Smart home technology specialists Gira are automating their process for capturing order confirmations with Retarus Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and Cloud EDI Gateway. The AI-supported solution already achieves automation rates of well over 95 percent at field level and feeds the captured data directly into the SAP system. In this way, the mid-sized tech company based in Radevormwald has relieved its staff from the burden of manual data entry.
Gira manufactures smart system solutions for electromechanical, networked digital building management. With around 1,800 employees, the Gira Group generates revenue of approximately €370 million (2024). In the past, the company had relied on effort-intensive manual entry to capture incoming order confirmations related to materials procurement in its SAP system. The process is time-sensitive, as the goods receiving department can only book incoming deliveries once the corresponding order confirmation has already been created in SAP. Delays can disrupt the entire supply chain.
To guide its search for a suitable solution, the company compiled a functional specifications document listing 25 weighted criteria, defined by the IT and other functional departments working in collaboration. In the ensuing selection procedure, Retarus was able to win out over four other providers by virtue of its AI-powered IDP solution, which features built-in “intelligence” far exceeding basic character recognition (OCR). Retarus also stood out due to the many years of EDI expertise and accompanying depth of process knowhow it possessed.
A highly user-friendly IDP portal
A team of eight Gira employees work with the IDP portal. Each of them has his or her own separate worklist and confidence parameterization. If necessary, these employees are also on hand to intervene as a “human in the loop”, with the ability to correct data before its automated transmission into the SAP system via Retarus EDI. The system, which was trained on typical order confirmations, analyzes inbound documents automatically. It identifies relevant order details and extracts these as structured data regardless of the layout or format.
“The usability is extremely good. Everything is well laid out and highly intuitive. It helps us a lot in our daily work,” says Dinah Henseler, Materials Procurement Manager and IDP Project Lead at Gira. “At the same time, manual processing times have been reduced significantly. The time we have gained can now be used more efficiently and increasingly devoted to tasks that can’t be automated.”
Built on European AI technology from Mistral
Retarus IDP is based on a state-of-the-art, open-source language model from French AI provider Mistral. Retarus consciously opted for a European solution and operates the AI model, which has been tailored specifically for IDP, in full compliance with the GDPR from its own European data centers. This architecture enables functions such as instant learning and sub-line item splitting, which are set to boost the rate of automation even further.
About Gira
Gira Giersiepen GmbH & Co. KG (www.gira.com), based in Radevormwald, is one of the leading full-range suppliers of intelligent system solutions for electrical and networked digital building control. With its numerous developments, the family-owned company has been shaping and influencing the world of electrical installation and building control since its foundation in the summer of 1905. As a pioneer of smart buildings from the very beginning, Gira has provided significant impetus to the future-oriented development of intelligently networked smart building systems and the digitalisation of buildings with a wide range of innovations such as the Gira HomeServer. Gira products and solutions stand for German engineering, for quality ‘Made in Germany’, for sustainable manufacturing processes and operation that is as environmentally friendly and resource-efficient as possible, for perfection in form and function – but above all for making people's lives a little easier, more comfortable and safer. It is no coincidence that Gira switches, control, communication and security systems are now used in around 40 countries, for example in the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and the Banyan Tree Hotel in Shanghai. The Gira Group also includes the subsidiary Stettler Kunststofftechnik in Burgwindheim and, since 2022, the British company Wandsworth in Woking, as well as holdings in the electronics specialist Insta in Lüdenscheid and the software company ISE in Oldenburg. Together, these companies employ approximately 1,800 people and generate annual sales of 370 million euros (2024).