Reducing 20,000 Annual Order Checks from 3 to 1 Staff Member: Bellows Manufacturer Nabell Halves Work Time with AI Tool 'Totsugo.com'

Nabell Co., Ltd., a long-established bellows manufacturer based in Iga City, Mie Prefecture, has revamped its order checking process, which amounts to approximately 20,000 orders per year, using Leach's AI document reconciliation tool, 'Totsugo.com.' Previously, a team of three manually reconciled analog orders (received via FAX and email) entered into the system against PDF documents. Within just one month of implementation, the process was streamlined to be handled by a single person, Ms. Kanna Kitadera. The total work time has also been reduced by approximately half. We interviewed Mr. Makoto Fujibayashi, Manager of the Sales Engineering Department, who oversees the operations, and Ms. Kitadera, who handles the daily reconciliation. Mr. Yoshitomo Nagai, President and Representative Director, also provided answers from a management perspective.

'We were so desperate for daily reconciliation work that we were even considering outsourcing it. Now that the AI handles the primary check, the psychological burden of constantly monitoring for mistakes has been lifted, which has been the biggest help.'
— Mr. Makoto Fujibayashi, Manager, Sales Engineering Section & Sales Support Section, Sales Engineering Department, Nabell Co., Ltd.

Implementation Effect Summary:
- 3 People → 1 Person: Analog and change checks are practically handled by one person (Ms. Kanna Kitadera). The secondary checker's 40 minutes to 1 hour have become completely free.
- Total Time Reduced by Half: Data from approximately one month after implementation shows that the total time for primary and secondary checks has been reduced by about half.
- 20,000 Units Annually: The number of orders, which is on a V-shaped recovery trend. 60% are analog (FAX/email), and 40% are EDI orders.
- 100 Sheets x 100 Sheets: The scale of reconciliation at peak times between the order checklist PDF and the purchase order PDF (50 x 50 sheets even during slow periods).

Company Profile: Nabell Co., Ltd.
- Location: Iga City, Mie Prefecture (and Yamaguchi Prefecture)
- Founded: 1972
- Employees: 199
- Business: Development, manufacturing, and sales of bellows products (for machine tools, medical equipment, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, laser processing machines, etc.), new businesses such as Robot Insight and Robot Flex.
- Bases: Mie, Yamaguchi (Japan), China, USA (100% subsidiary), Korea (Joint venture), Taiwan (Representative office).
- Web: https://www.bellows.co.jp/

1. Nabell and Sales Support Operations: 20,000 Orders and a 6-Person Team
Mr. Fujibayashi oversees both the Sales Engineering Section (field sales) and the Sales Support Section (back-office). 'Totsugo.com' is utilized in the Sales Support Section's office work.
Major tasks include: Order entry (processing purchase orders, adjusting lead times with production, and system entry), shipping (labeling and preparing invoices), and inspection/reconciliation (monthly reconciliation of payments against internal records).
The team consists of 4 members in Mie and 2 in Yamaguchi. The number of orders is at least 20,000 per year and is increasing due to the recent recovery in sales.

2. Challenges Before Implementation: 100x100 Daily Reconciliations, Abandoning OCR, and Hiring Difficulties
Analog orders (FAX/email) account for about 60%. Previously, staff entered orders manually while looking at purchase orders. After entry, they compared the system-generated checklist against the original purchase order one by one, checking lead times, product numbers, quantities, unit prices, and customer order numbers. The primary and secondary checks were...