Document Automation & AI for the Food & Beverage Supply Chain

How It Works

1.

Capture documents from email, portals, scanning, PDFs, electronic submissions, and legacy paper archives.

2.

Classify and extract key data using intelligent capture and AI-enabled document understanding.

3.

Validate and route documents based on business rules such as supplier, product, facility, document type, dollar threshold, expiration date, or approval requirement.

4.

Store and govern content in a centralized repository with security, retention controls, version history, and a complete audit trail.

5.

Retrieve instantly using indexing, metadata, and search aligned to how the business operates.

Supplier Compliance Documentation

Food companies must track certifications and compliance documentation from hundreds or even thousands of suppliers. These documents may include food safety certifications, insurance certificates, ingredient specifications, country-of-origin declarations, allergen statements, COAs, and regulatory compliance forms.

Tracking expiration dates and ensuring updated documentation is received often becomes a manual process that relies heavily on spreadsheets and reminders. IDT helps automate supplier documentation intake and

control so required records are current, complete, and easy to retrieve. With intelligent capture and AI-powered extraction, supplier documents can be identified, indexed, routed, and stored automatically. When combined with enterprise content platforms such as Hyland OnBase, organizations can track certification expirations, trigger renewal alerts, and ensure compliance documentation remains current.

Audit and Regulatory Readiness

Regulatory oversight in the food industry continues to increase. Organizations must maintain accurate documentation for food safety inspections, production batches, traceability records, supplier compliance documentation, quality control reports, and related operational records. When an audit occurs, retrieving the required documentation quickly becomes critical.



Without centralized systems, gathering records often requires searching across multiple departments and systems. IDT helps create centralized, searchable repositories where compliance records are organized automatically and retrieved quickly when needed. AI-enabled content intelligence can classify documentation as it enters the system and make it searchable by metadata such as supplier, product, lot/batch, date, facility, or document type.

Product, Labeling, and Packaging Documentation

Managing documentation for products and packaging introduces another layer of complexity. Each product may require ingredient specifications, nutritional information, packaging artwork approvals, labeling documentation, regulatory compliance records, and controlled version history.

These documents often go through multiple revisions and approvals before products are released to market. IDT helps support intelligent workflows that route documentation to appropriate stakeholders, track revisions, maintain approval history, and ensure the most current version of a document is available to the teams that need it—reducing the risk of outdated information being used in production or distribution.

Accounts Payable and Purchasing Documentation

Food distributors and manufacturers process large volumes of supplier invoices and purchasing documentation. Invoices arrive in multiple formats, including PDFs, scanned documents, email attachments, electronic submissions, and supplier portal downloads. Finance teams frequently spend significant time manually reviewing documents and entering data into accounting or ERP systems.

IDT helps automate invoice capture and approval workflows so AP teams can focus on exceptions instead of manual entry. AI-enabled capture solutions can read invoices automatically and extract key information such as vendor names, invoice numbers, purchase order references, dates, totals, and related fields. This information can then be validated and routed into financial workflows managed through platforms such as Hyland OnBase, improving accuracy and visibility into financial processes.

Logistics, Shipping, and Freight Documentation

Food and beverage supply chain organizations rely on shipping and transportation documentation such as bills of lading, packing slips, proof of delivery, freight claims, delivery exceptions, and customer service records. When these documents are difficult to retrieve, teams may lose time resolving disputes, confirming deliveries, supporting claims, or answering customer questions.

IDT helps capture and index logistics documents so they can be linked to suppliers, customers, shipments, orders, or facilities. This gives customer service, finance, operations, and logistics teams faster access to the proof and supporting documentation they need.

Paper Archives and Legacy Records

Despite advances in technology, many organizations still maintain large collections of paper records, including production logs, inspection reports, supplier contracts, compliance documentation, quality records, and historical operational files. Physical records stored in file rooms or warehouses can be difficult to retrieve quickly when needed.

Digitizing these archives is often the first step toward modern document automation. IDT provides large-scale document digitization services that convert paper records into searchable digital archives. Once digitized, AI-powered capture tools can extract relevant information and store those records within enterprise content management systems, transforming legacy paper into accessible, searchable information assets.