Emmerson Packaging, a specialty packaging manufacturer with a complex SAP order environment, eliminated manual order entry for the majority of its customer base, reducing order confirmation time from two or more days to minutes. With Corevist ZenX Orders, Emmerson transformed inbound PO processing from a manual, email-driven workflow into a structured, SAP-connected process, creating the operational foundation for more scalable and autonomous order management.

Challenge

Emmerson processes inbound purchase orders across a large and varied B2B customer base, with customer-specific PO formats, order scenarios, and data requirements managed through SAP. As order volume grew, the constraints of a manual process became increasingly difficult to absorb.

Every inbound PO moved through a person. Account coordinators received orders by email, PDF, and fax, keyed them into SAP by hand, and relied on accumulated familiarity with each account to catch the details that didn't match: a quantity that looked off, a ship-to address that needed a workaround, a pricing arrangement documented only in an old email thread. That knowledge kept orders moving, but it didn't scale, it didn't transfer easily to new hires, and it created a direct relationship between headcount and throughput — the same dynamic many manufacturers face when routine customer service work keeps growing faster than the team supporting it.

The downstream effects were predictable. Manual order entry was consuming 30 to 40 percent of the customer service team's day. Keying errors including wrong quantities, wrong SKUs, and incorrect ship-to locations created rework that was slow to catch and harder to trace. Order confirmation routinely took two or more days, leaving customers with no visibility into whether their PO had been received or when it would ship. And when something went wrong, reconstructing what happened meant working backward through email threads and hand-keyed entries with no reliable audit trail.

The fragility of the process was compounded by a failed prior attempt at automation. An OCR-based tool broke when customer PO formats varied, required full template rebuilds to accommodate new ship-to addresses, and ultimately processed a major customer's order twice, sending it into production without triggering an alert. The incident damaged customer trust at the moment Emmerson was asking them to change how they worked.

The requirement was clear: a solution that could handle real-world PO variation reliably, without the brittleness that had defined the previous approach.

Solution

Emmerson deployed ZenX Orders, Corevist's AI-powered purchase order processing capability, to automate inbound customer POs end-to-end within their SAP environment.

Account setup that previously required weeks of specialist configuration now takes under an hour per account, including testing and documentation. Exception handling is confined to genuine edge cases rather than routine processing failures, a meaningful shift for a team that had been absorbing both.

The confidence Emmerson developed in the platform was evident at go-live, when they migrated all ten existing automated accounts simultaneously, a decision that would not have been viable with their previous tool. The sales team now incorporates ZenX onboarding into standard customer setup workflows, and volume thresholds that previously determined whether an account was worth automating have been removed entirely.

Impact

Where Emmerson once managed orders through a process dependent on individual knowledge and manual effort, the operation now runs on governed, system-driven workflows.

Account coordinators who spent 30 to 40 percent of their day on manual order entry now manage exceptions only, with approximately 60 percent of each representative's customer base processing automatically. The rework cycle driven by keying errors has been eliminated. Customers receive order confirmation within minutes rather than days, and every transaction carries a clear audit trail that the manual process never could.

As of mid-2026, Emmerson has 17 customer accounts processing through ZenX Orders, with additional accounts in active setup.

Looking Ahead

With 17 accounts live and more in setup, Emmerson continues to expand its automated order processing footprint.

ZenX Orders is now embedded in how the company brings on new customers, not as a separate initiative, but as a standard component of the customer relationship from day one.

For Emmerson, the value extends beyond order entry automation. By moving inbound POs out of email, PDFs, fax, and individual employee knowledge, the company is turning a historically manual process into a structured, governed workflow inside SAP. That foundation matters as manufacturers look toward more autonomous operations.

After attending SAP Sapphire and hearing SAP's vision for the Autonomous Enterprise, Emmerson saw clear alignment between that direction and the work already underway with Corevist and ZenX Orders.

Emmerson is not treating automation as a one-time project. It is building a more scalable order management model, one where customer-facing workflows are structured, visible, repeatable, and ready for continued expansion.