Plant Hire Business Cuts Costs and Boosts Efficiency with DocuWare Integration

With hundreds of pieces of plant and equipment moving between depots, ongoing hire contracts, training courses and thousands of invoices every month, CW Plant Hire was drowning in paperwork. 

Manual invoice processes, printing, postage and delays were wasting time and money and testing patience! That all changed when CW Plant Hire teamed up with a document management solution to automate their invoice workflows and streamline operations from the ground up.

The Challenge

CW Plant Hire operates across 20 depots, supplying tools, plant equipment, access platforms and more. They also run certified training (Forklift, PASMA, IPAF) and serve projects ranging from small DIY jobs to major construction sites. During the COVID-19 slowdown, while business was quieter, CW Plant Hire realised that their back-office processes were no longer fit for purpose.

Invoicing Pain Points:

• Each invoice was manually printed, posted to depots, checked, approved, and then posted back to central finance.
• At peak, they processed up to 5,000 invoices per month, which put a heavy burden on staff and exposed them to frequent errors and lost documents.
• Postage costs were high; delays were common. Even simple invoice approval became time-consuming.
• Transparency was low: depot managers, central finance and clerical staff often didn’t have real-time visibility over where invoices were in the process.

They needed to save time, reduce errors, cut printing and postage costs, and bring clarity to the approval process. DocTech quickly established that Integration with their existing rental software and finance systems was essential. 

The Rental Software & DocuWare Solution

CW Plant Hire implemented a document management solution that automated and digitised the bulk of invoice processing. DocTech have carried out multiple solutions for Plant Hire Companies.

DocuWare for Accounts Payable Key features:

• Intelligent data capture / OCR: Invoices arriving via email or post are scanned (or captured) and their key data automatically extracted (invoice number, supplier, amounts) and indexed.
• Automatic validation & routing: The system checks for matching purchase orders, aligns invoices to order data, flags invoices for depot manager approval or finance depending on value/type, and handles date checks (e.g. holding future-dated invoices) automatically.
• Integration: The document management solution works with their rental software / finance package so that verified invoice data is exported or pushed through automatically. This removes manual entry.
• Approval visibility & task handling: Where there are discrepancies (missing goods received notes, mismatched nominal codes, etc). Tasks are raised and assigned; the system tracks these exceptions.
• User roll-out & training: Depots, finance, IT and central teams were all part of the rollout. The system was integrated in a way that minimised disruption and allowed staff to adapt quickly.

DocuWare Integration with Rental Software: The Results

The change has delivered tangible benefits for CW Plant Hire. Some of the most significant outcomes:

• Massive cost savings: Over £60,000 in postage costs saved simply by removing the need to print and post invoices between depots and to/from central finance.
• Time savings: The finance team no longer spends hours physically handling, posting, checking and re-posting invoices. Some reports showed thousands of hours saved per month.
• Higher throughput without extra headcount: More invoices processed with the same number of staff. The system automation handled much of the repetitive work.
• Reduced errors & greater accuracy: Automatic checks and validation reduced mismatches, missing information, and the risk of lost documents.
• Improved transparency: All stakeholders (depots, finance, management) have visibility into where invoices are in the process, what approvals are outstanding, and what issues need resolving.
• Scalability: As the business grows, CW Plant Hire has been able to add more users, more depots, and more functionality to their document management solution without major disruption.
  
  

Driving Factors For Successful Implementation 

Several factors made the implementation smooth and effective:

1. Clear scoping up front — CW Plant Hire knew what needed fixing: speed, cost, errors. They defined requirements carefully (like needing purchase order matching, validation, integration).
2. Automation where it counts — They didn’t try to automate everything at once, but targeted the high-volume, high-pain processes (invoice posting, approvals).
3. Involvement of all affected teams — Depot staff, finance, IT. Training and support meant that people understood how to use the system, and what benefits to expect.
4. Strong integration — Because the document management solution linked into their rental and finance systems, data flows more naturally, reducing duplication.
5. Looking for measurable benefit — Saving on postage was one large metric, but hours saved, error reduction and visibility across the process also mattered.

Document Management Tips for Other Businesses

If your organisation is still wrestling with manual document processes, the CW Plant Hire case offers some useful lessons:

• Don’t underestimate the overhead of paper, printing, postage, and physical approvals they add up quickly.
• Start with an area where volume is high, error risk is high, or where delays are particularly damaging. Invoices are often a strong candidate.
• Automate data capture and routing as much as possible, so that people can focus on exceptions and decisions not low-value manual entry.
• Integration is key. If your document management system can’t talk to your finance or ERP/rental software, you’ll lose much of the benefit.
• Measure outcomes: cost savings, time savings, accuracy, staff satisfaction, process transparency. These make it easier to build support and expand the solution.

Conclusion

For CW Plant Hire, embracing a document management solution didn’t just simplify their accounts payable processes, it reshaped multiple processes in their business operations. The savings in both time and money have been substantial. More importantly, they now operate with greater clarity, less friction and a process they can scale as the business grows.

If your organisation is considering a similar move, talking through current pain points, mapping existing workflows, and defining what “good” looks like will set you up for success.

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