DK Recycling
Restructuring of processes and workflows – Automated bookings in NAV
The company DK Recycling und Roheisen GmbH is the biggest recycler of ferrous waste materials in the steel industry. With a high degree of precision, DK makes use of these waste materials to manufacture special pig iron for the foundry sector. The pig iron from Duisburg is sold and exported to America and Asia. With a tradition that stretches back more than 100 years, in the year 1876, DK was the first industrial company in the world to recycle waste materials. While DK continues to attribute considerable importance to progress and innovation today, it chose EASY as its partner for the development of its digital future.
DK Recycling relies on EASY solution in the invoicing process
EASY has helped us with the sustainable digitalization of our processes. The cornerstones of our cooperation have been the considerable flexibility on the part of EASY and the excellent collaboration with our internal team.”
Marc Hüfing, IT Manager DK Recycling GmbH
DK Recycling und Roheisen has approximately 300 employees, and in 2018, achieved a total turnover of 113 million euros. In 2018 alone, DK processed 456,000 tons of waste materials, from which it manufactured, among others, 277,000 tons of pig iron. The waste materials processed include ferrous dusts and sludges, but also everyday objects such as batteries.
With its unique processes, DK is able to recycle some 4,000 tons of batteries alone every year, with a recycling quota of almost 100 percent. Distributed across other products such as zinc and electricity, the recycling quota for all the waste materials totals 98 percent.
A variety of raw materials from various providers is the basis for this efficient recycling loop. As expected, the acquisition of the necessary work materials results in sophisticated invoicing and planning processes. To ensure a more efficient processing of the resulting administrative workload, DK decided on EASY Invoice and EASY for Dynamics NAV.
EASY Invoice serves the purpose of the flexible, digital processing of incoming invoices – regardless of whether they arrive in paper form or as electronic invoices
Project information
The challenge
In a uniform, transparent process, EASY Invoice verifies scanned documents and automatically extracts the relevant information. The software processes most of the straightforward processes independently and then displays the documents that require additional manual processing. In this context, EASY Invoice uses optimized workflow processes which ensure efficient processing throughout the company on a centralized basis.
EASY for Dynamics NAV is a seamlessly integrated interface for the popular ERP solution Microsoft Dynamics NAV. EASY has enhanced the market-leading application with key functions for document management and audit-proof archiving. The direct integration of the EASY solution in the original software from Microsoft omits the need for extended periods of induction and adaptation.
Before working together with EASY, DK Recycling und Roheisen suffered from the problem of incoming invoices with an unclear status hampering the flow of work. The goal of the project with EASY was to digitalize all of these sequences and to optimize the internal processes.
DK decided on EASY because EASY was the best choice for the highly individualized processes that were required. No other provider offered the same degree of flexibility in the adaptation of the solutions to the requirements of DK.
The solution
DK had originally wanted a workflow in which the complete posting of the invoices is carried out before the following processes occur. This approach reduces the auditing workload, and provides additional transparency for the recipients of goods or services, who are integrated on a targeted basis. EASY also adapted the solution so the recipients can access their respective invoices in the archive. This required sophisticated, customized authorization procedures which were created in the course of the implementation.
Recently, EASY and DK have planned a targeted restructuring of the processes and workflows. The goal is a centralization of the purchasing and invoicing processes with a uniform presentation. This adaptation ensures that the previous sequences can be further optimized, and in some cases, omitted. Specifically, these changes mean: When someone in the company orders something, the central purchasing department manages all the processes up until the time at which the colleague receives the product. That such a streamlining of the invoicing processes is possible demonstrates the efficiency of EASY solutions.
The complete initial implementation of the EASY Invoice and EASY for Dynamics NAV solutions took half a year. During the course of this introduction, the full digitalization of all the incoming invoice processes of DK took place. Since then, cost invoices and invoices with order references have been automatically posted to NAV via the EASY for Dynamics NAV interface. Additional documents are archived directly from Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The operator can place a NAV order, for example, and add all the documents belonging to the order immediately using the EASY drop zone in NAV.
Many individual customizations
The EASY solutions have been in use at DK since January 1st, 2017. DK is satisfied with the considerable flexibility of the solutions – particularly in the light of the many individual customizations that EASY implemented especially for DK. The approaching centralization of the workflow processes will further simplify the work with the EASY solutions in the future.
DK was initially impressed by the many configuration options that EASY offered for the required workflows. EASY was also able to respond to complicated requests on a flexible basis. The solution used by DK continues to differ considerably from the standards of other conventional programs due to its extensive individualization. Despite this, EASY provides reliable support with experts who have detailed knowledge of every required field. In addition, the internal DK team is also able to make certain changes to the existing solutions on its own initiative. The EASY team helped with the corresponding training.
EASY succeeded in fulfilling and implementing all the goals and requirements of DK. DK is therefore considering expanding its use of EASY solutions in the future – with the addition of more workflows for contract management, for example.