Founded in 1899, Bumble Bee Foods is North America’s largest branded shelf-stable seafood company. With tuna costs at historic highs, holding price without sacrificing quality demanded internal efficiency. By 2011 each invoice took about 20 days to process at an average cost of $5.80, roughly 65 percent above the industry average. AP was decentralized across plants in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, processing was 100 percent paper-based, invoices went missing, clerks spent an estimated 80 percent of their time searching for invoices and answering inquiries, and auditor requests took weeks.
“Our invoice processing operations went from 100 percent paper-based to 100 percent non-paper-based and we were able to reduce our total staff from thirteen FTEs to only five.”
Within 16 months Bumble Bee consolidated global AP processing centers from six to two, moved from 100 percent paper to 100 percent digital, and reduced staff from thirteen FTEs to five. Invoice processing costs fell by more than 50 percent, the vendor discount capture rate improved 80 percent, and month-end close moved from over a week to a single report run. AP now spends its time resolving issues and improving operations instead of chasing paper.