Small Changes – Big Impact in International Accounting
Gebr. Heller Maschinenfabrik GmbH is a manufacturer of milling machines, production systems, and machines for crankshaft and camshaft machining. The company is headquartered in Nürtingen, in the Stuttgart region of Germany. Heller operates production sites around the world, including in Germany, the UK, Brazil, and the USA. In 2009, the company generated revenue of €375 million. Its customers primarily come from the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, contract manufacturing, energy technology, tool and mold making, as well as the aerospace sector.
amotIQ regularly supports Heller in Nürtingen with various projects. In this case, we were commissioned to implement internal, electronic posting via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange).
What Needed to Be Improved
Heller supplies its own plant in the USA and previously sent the associated invoices by post to the US accounting department – even though both sites use SAP. All invoice items had to be entered manually.
During the implementation of the EDI data exchange, special aspects of the US tax system had to be taken into account. Additionally, there are packaging items listed on the invoice and delivery note that are not included in the corresponding purchase order but are also not charged. With EDI, this is no problem: the SAP purchase order is now automatically matched with the invoice, and the packaging items are cleverly handled as surcharges on the invoice.
Thanks to the successful implementation, the full benefits of SAP can now finally be leveraged for internal deliveries from Germany to the USA. In practice, Heller’s employees in the US are particularly pleased – hours of manual invoice entry are now a thing of the past. Invoices are received electronically before the goods arrive and only need to be checked.
