From the time our company was just the Houston site to now five more sites later, Jason McDuff, Customer Service Manager,has witnessed the growth of every new location, watching each new team adopt the same administrative processes as the one before. But that was then. Now, we’re seizing the opportunity to bring our manual processes up to light speed to continue to meet our customers’ needs in a digital world.

Jason and a diverse team of department leaders took the initiative in implementing multiple improvements, including a whole new Order to Cash system, to help redefine our customer service experience— and it starts with a lot less paperwork.

“When you’re growing quickly as a company, there’s value in implementing the same Sales and Accounting processes with every new location,” Jason explained. “But there comes a time when you need to take a step back and evaluate your process and find where there may be areas to improve. We had discussions internally to identify some of the gaps, but we were ready to start taking bigger action.”

So the team brought in a third party inspector, eMRI, to evaluate Monument’s entire Order to Cash lifecycle — from raw material purchasing to closing out the customer invoice.

“For 2 months, they sat with our team members at the plant, watched our daily processes, and asked our employees questions,” Jason shared. “In the end, they provided a report listing 75 possibilities for improvement across Communication, Data/Metrics, Structured Universal Processes, and IT/Software. We knew this would take continuous time and effort, but everyone was up for the challenge.”

We compiled an internal team, sponsored by Dan Malone, VP Sales, Procurement & Logistics, which included department leaders from Customer Service, Operations, Production Planning, Material Balancing, Accounting, and Tolling and Sales. While much of eMRI’s feedback confirmed the team’s internal analysis, it presented them the opportunity to evaluate against their recommendations and determine the best solutions for the company. Every other month, the team would meet to discuss long-term, big picture fixes, as well as the quick wins that could be accomplished in the meantime, and report back on the progress of the various projects different members pursued.

And the hard work is paying off — across every department. For starters, the team implemented in-person Meet & Greets with CTL’s & CSR’s to facilitate stronger daily communication for planning and scheduling of all shipments. They also did a full update of our contact list for inventory availability to prevent miscommunication with customers. Billing was also moved from the Customer Service department to Accounting to streamline the purchasing process.

That’s only the start of it! The on-going Tablet Project, led by Application Development Lead, Stephanie Mangin, and Houston Logistics Manager, Chris Reynolds, will move Monument to an all digital/paperless Order to Cash process, making all information accessible to team members in real-time. This system will offer Shipping/Receiving a centralized system for loading and off-loading checklists, provide a document log for auditing, and expedite all billing, calculations, and more. It has already gone live in Houston and will roll out in Bayport by the end of Q3 2023.

Accounts Payable and Sales Orders will also soon all be automated. Instead of manually searching through emails to apply purchase orders to payments, the new software will take all orders received and digitally upload them upon receipt to reduce entry errors, while leaving a complete data trail to eliminate any lost documents. This system should be implemented by April 2023.

“Timely communication is essential for us,” Jason shared. “We need to be able to both relay information internally and get it out to get our customers quickly. And these digital processes will help us eliminate any delays caused by manual steps, and instead, allow us to focus that time on our communication with the customer. Everyone has dedicated so much time and effort to push these initiatives ahead, and it’s not only going to improve the way we handle things internally, but also bring our customer service to a whole new level.”

Shout out to ALL the individuals working to improve our Order to Cash process, such as:

• Caryn Barnett
• Chelete Burnett
• Dave Hansen
• Maria Kraemer
• John Lewis
• Jason McDuff
• Chad Nichols

And many others who have played a role in our success!