Case Study
AI-Powered Operational Excellence: Initus Technologies Partners with Zochem to Transform Their Order-to-Cash Cycle in Just 12 Weeks with InitusIDP
Transforming Order Management with AI to Master Complexity and Deliver Operational Excellence
Client
Zochem
Industry
Manufacturing
Solution Timeframe
3 Months
Service
InitusIDP Custom Solution Implementation
Solution Components
InitusIDP, NetSuite
The Challenge
For Zochem, North America’s largest producer of zinc oxide, the main operational challenge was the complex, manual process of order management. Zinc oxide is a critical, unseen component in a vast range of industries, including tires (like Michelin), pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, which results in nearly 500 customers with unique requirements and ordering processes.
This diversity created perpetual operational friction for the Customer Service team:
• Risk of Human Error: Painstakingly transcribing data from a “chaotic blizzard of PDF formats” into NetSuite led to a high risk of errors that could cause flawed invoices and jeopardize customer relationships.
• Drag of Inefficiency: Highly skilled professionals were trapped doing “low-value clerical work,” diverting energy from strategic customer engagement.
• Barrier to Growth: The manual process was fundamentally unscalable, creating a bottleneck that directly constrained the company’s growth potential.
Zochem needed to re-architect its process to turn this constraint into a strength, choosing Initus Technologies as their transformation partner.
The Solution: An Architecture of Intelligence and Precision
Initus Technologies delivered a landmark achievement by redefining Zochem’s operations in just 12 weeks. The solution is an intelligent, unified process engineered to master exceptions.
1. The Intelligent Core: InitusIDP
• At the heart of the transformation is InitusIDP (Intelligent Document Processing), an AI engine that acts as a universal translator for business documents.
• InitusIDP ingests the chaotic stream of customer Purchase Orders (POs) and uses advanced AI to intelligently identify, extract, and standardize every critical data point.
• This data is seamlessly translated into a single, structured record in NetSuite: the Customer Purchase Order (CPO), instantly eliminating the manual bottleneck and creating a flawless starting point for every order.
2. The Central Nervous System: Dynamic NetSuite Workflow
• Once the CPO is created, a sophisticated, rules-based workflow within NetSuite, the operation’s new central nervous system, takes over.
• The system instantly and automatically routes orders by identifying “Contract” versus “Spot” customers, sending them down distinct approval paths.
• It systematically cross-validates the order against master data, enriching the CPO with technical specifications and contract pricing to ensure 100% accuracy.
• The implementation features granular, practical details, such as unit of measure conversion logic that includes specific rounding rules because Zochem cannot ship a partial bag.
• A transparent, multi-stage approval gauntlet with automated notifications ensures every order is vetted in the correct sequence, making process delays a relic of the past.
The Impact: Velocity, Certainty, and Unleashed Potential
The 12-week sprint resulted in a transformative ripple effect across Zochem’s organization.
| Key Result | Description & Stakeholder Quotes |
|---|---|
| Operational Velocity | 90%+ of manual data entry automated. The AI's ability to read all the different PO formats made the most frustrating part of the job "disappear," allowing orders to be processed faster. |
| Data Certainty | Data entry errors have been virtually eradicated, ushering in an era of unprecedented accuracy. "We've systematically engineered out the potential for human error in one of our most critical business processes," says Ken Williams, CFO/COO. |
| Unleashed Talent | The Customer Service team was liberated from clerical work and elevated to strategic customer advocates, focusing on exceptional service and strengthening relationships. |
| Total Visibility | The CPO is the definitive source of truth, giving every stakeholder a real-time, 360-degree view of the order lifecycle. This has dissolved departmental silos and forged a culture of proactive collaboration. |
| Scalable Foundation | The new intelligent automation platform is viewed as the "powerful first stage of a holistic organizational transformation". It provides the agility and scalability to support Zochem's long-term growth ambitions. |
Conclusion: The New Standard for Intelligent Operations
The Zochem transformation is a blueprint for the future of intelligent operations, proving that complex challenges can be overcome with astonishing speed.
“To deliver a transformation of this magnitude in just 12 weeks is a testament to the focus and collaboration of both the Zochem and Initus teams. It sets a new standard for what we can achieve.”