日本語 
Hammock Co., Ltd., a provider of corporate software packages and cloud services, announces that Marui Co., Ltd. has adopted the AI-OCR software “AnyForm OCR”.
Background and expected effects of the introduction
Founded in 1966, Marui is a community-oriented food supermarket chain with stores throughout Niigata Prefecture. As a member of the CGC Group, Japan’s largest collaborative organization with approximately 220 companies and 4,000 stores nationwide, Marui has established a system to deliver better products to customers through joint product development and procurement. The company has also actively worked to accommodate those who have difficulty shopping, such as by introducing the mobile supermarket “Tokushimaru.” Based on its commitment to delivering delicious food in terms of “taste, freshness, and quality,” Marui has developed unique services such as the Green Card and Kojika Card, and continues to be a part of customers’ daily lives. Pursuing “creating a store that customers choose,” and valuing flexible and speedy responses to customer needs and local preferences, Marui aims to be a presence that customers say “thank you for being there,” and continues to support local dining tables throughout the prefecture.
At Marui, two administrative staff members were manually processing the data for the “Chain Store Unified Invoice”, which records product transactions sent to each store by mail from manufacturers and wholesalers. This task consumed a significant amount of time, resulting in insufficient resources for other tasks. Furthermore, continuing operations with limited personnel led to increasing workload and reliance on individual staff members, making the standardization and efficiency of operations an urgent priority.
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To address these challenges, Marui decided to implement the AI-OCR software “AnyForm OCR.” AnyForm OCR accurately reads invoices scanned with a multifunction printer or received via fax, automatically recognizing and digitizing the necessary item values. The recognition result confirmation screen employs an efficient system that allows users to correct only the erroneous parts using the keyboard, and allows for accurate processing even by inexperienced personnel as they can refer to past order history and registered data on the spot. Furthermore, it supports input error prevention through a master data linkage function, and the data after confirmation and correction is output in a format that is easy to link with subsequent systems.
Marui expects that the introduction of AnyForm OCR will reduce the time spent on invoice processing, which was previously done manually, by approximately 100 hours per month. This is expected to not only reduce costs but also provide strong support in addressing labor shortages and leveling out operations.
SOURCE: PRTimes
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