Turning quality documents into supply chain momentum
Döhler processes tens of thousands of quality-related documents that help ensure ingredients meet the highest food and beverage standards. To automate supplier certificate processing across formats and languages, the company adopted the SAP Document AI solution. This move is improving data quality, accelerating material release, and helping quality teams focus on safeguarding product integrity rather than manual data entry.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Consumer products | Darmstadt, Germany | 10,000+ employees |
Co-CIO and Head of IT, Business Solutions Supply Chain Management, Döhler Group
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Consumer products | Darmstadt, Germany | 10,000+ employees |
Co-CIO and Head of IT, Business Solutions Supply Chain Management, Döhler Group
Eliminating manual document bottlenecks in global supply chains
Döhler Group transforms fruits, vegetables, and other natural raw materials into innovative ingredients that enable customers to create food and beverage products for markets around the world. What begins in farms and fields quickly becomes a global supply chain challenge where quality is nonnegotiable. Every batch must be documented, verified, and compliant before it can move forward.
But behind this promise of quality, a hidden bottleneck was growing. Supplier quality certificates arrived in emails, PDFs, and even as paper documents, requiring manual processing by highly trained staff. As volumes increased, teams spent more time entering data than focusing on product quality.
The impact went far beyond paperwork. Manual document handling slowed inspection processes, delayed production planning and execution, and pushed back shipments to customers. Data inconsistencies added further risk in a highly regulated industry where accuracy is critical.
As Döhler expanded globally and continued scaling operations, simply adding more people was no longer sustainable. The company needed a smarter way to manage documents, reduce delays, and protect both quality and customer trust.
Co-CIO and Head of IT, Business Solutions Supply Chain Management, Döhler Group
Transforming supplier certificates into trusted digital data
Döhler chose SAP Document AI to modernize how supplier quality certificates are processed across its global operations. The company needed a solution that could handle multiple document formats and languages while supporting the strict quality and compliance requirements of the food and beverage industry.
SAP Document AI provided the functionality and scalability Döhler was looking for. The solution automatically extracts relevant information from incoming supplier certificates, helping eliminate manual data entry so that critical quality data is available faster. Native support for different document types and languages allows Döhler to standardize processing across diverse supplier networks.
Additionally, the solution continuously improves through feedback and learning mechanisms. As more documents are processed, confidence levels and automation rates continue to increase.
By integrating intelligent document processing into its supply chain operations, Döhler is transforming unstructured documents into trusted business data that supports faster, more consistent decision-making.
Co-CIO and Head of IT, Business Solutions Supply Chain Management, Döhler Group
Accelerating quality operations and keeping production moving
With SAP Document AI, Döhler has significantly reduced the time quality teams spend processing supplier certificates. Now that a large part of the document-handling process is automated, specialists can focus more of their time on inspections, quality assurance, and other high-value activities, rather than manual data entry. In ideal scenarios, documents can be processed with little to no manual intervention.
The improvements extend far beyond document handling. Faster certificate processing helps accelerate inspection-lot processing and material release, preventing delays from cascading into and impacting production planning, manufacturing, and shipment activities. Teams report improved productivity, while streamlined document processing helps support smoother operations across the supply chain.
Data quality has also improved as the solution extracts, validates, and continuously learns from incoming documents. At the same time, Döhler now has access to complete document data rather than only selected fields, creating a stronger foundation for future analysis and reporting.
Ultimately, faster access to trusted quality information helps Döhler move materials through its supply chain more efficiently while maintaining the high standards its customers and regulators expect.
Co-CIO and Head of IT, Business Solutions Supply Chain Management, Döhler Group
Turning document intelligence into supply chain insight
Döhler plans to expand its use of SAP Document AI beyond quality certificates into additional document-intensive processes across the supply chain. As more supplier, logistics, compliance, and customs documents are digitalized and structured, the company expects to create a richer data foundation for operational decision-making.
By capturing complete document content rather than only selected data points, Döhler is opening new opportunities for supplier quality assessments, compliance monitoring, and advanced analytics. Over time, these insights can help strengthen supply chain resilience, improve operational visibility, support faster, data-driven decisions across the company’s global network, and contribute to Döhler’s long-term journey toward a more autonomous enterprise.
Want to know more about Döhler?
Döhler: Transforming Global Service with a Unified, AI-Enabled Platform (SAP Online Customer Story)