Intelligent Automation | Ashling Blog

AI-Powered Order Processing: Scaling Operations Across 600+ Branches

Written by Ashling Partners | May 7, 2025 5:57:55 PM

Our client is a leading industrial distribution company serving a wide range of sectors across Canada and North America. As part of a Fortune 500 organization, they offer MRO and OEM solutions through an extensive branch network, supported by engineering services, repair, and supply chain optimization. With deep expertise in bearings, power transmission, automation, fluid power, and safety products, they serve industries such as manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and construction.

They faced increasing demand across more than 600 branches, with a surge in manual inbound email purchase order processing that strained their sales team's resources. Their legacy approach required teams to monitor inboxes, identify and extract data from unstructured documents, and enter details manually—resulting in delays, errors, and inconsistent customer experiences.

Results at a Glance

The Challenge

With rising volumes and mounting pressure to deliver a better digital experience, our client partnered with us to modernize order intake using Intelligent Document Understanding (IDP), Intelligent eXtraction Platform (IXP) and Intelligent Automation (IA). Their main challenges included:

Our Approach

We deployed an AI-powered inbound order processing system that streamlines and standardizes how orders are captured and processed—improving speed, accuracy, and scalability across their network.

 

Key Capabilities

The Result

This solution delivered more than just process improvements. It reshaped how our client's customer support team served their customers at scale. By removing manual friction points, improving data accuracy, and accelerating response times, their team was able to work faster, smarter, and with greater consistency across all 600+ locations.

As adoption expands, the solution is on track to process over 1 million orders annually.

 

Industry Perspective

Recent benchmarking from APQC highlights how widespread and impactful sales order automation has become in the manufacturing and industrial space:

With rising expectations for speed, accuracy, and personalization in B2B buying experiences, intelligent order processing has become a cornerstone of operational competitiveness.

Technology Used