A fast-growing company, A.B. Martin Roofing supplies 19 northeastern states with building materials. They deal with multiple vendors from whom they regularly purchase steel and hardware.

Established 70 years ago as a family business, A.B. Martin Roofing Supply is a one-stop-shop for all things related to roofing, building and construction. Each year, over 19 million feet of metal panels are produced and delivered to about 140,000 contractors across 19 US states. A.B. Martin Roofing also purchases lumber, steel, machine parts, nails, screws and other materials from numerous vendors. One of the fastest-growing building supply companies in the Northeast today, A.B. Martin Roofing found it challenging to manage its supplier chain. When paper invoices arrived from vendors, they were hard to track or verify that the merchandise billed for had already been delivered. “We never knew where or on whose desk an invoice was,” Zimmerman says. “It took a long time to sort them out.”

Implementing an efficient solution

When Zimmerman, who is responsible for the company’s IT operations, watched a DocuWare distributor’s presentation, he saw a way to streamline the accounting workflow. “They did a presentation and I realized it would fit well here and fix some of the problems we were experiencing.” Zimmerman worked with DocuWare’s authorized partner to install the new solution. Following a smooth transition, the company now has 19 DocuWare users who process over 400 documents a week. Currently, the company stores over 20,000 invoices, 737 statements and 3911 packing lists in the DocuWare system.

Getting organized with DocuWare

A.B. Martin Roofing was able to organize their supply purchasing and accounts payable operations. Now invoices are emailed directly into DocuWare and paper copies are scanned in. “We used to have paper copies coming in from multiple sources, shared email accounts, and emailed invoices coming into certain individuals,” Zimmerman says. “We now have a single place where all our invoices are located. We can easily search and find invoices.” A.B. Martin Roofing now scans packing slips into DocuWare for better insights if billing discrepancies arise. “We now have the vendor invoice, our PO, and often a shipping copy only a few clicks away,” Zimmerman says. “DocuWare processes are so much cleaner!”