Case Study: Pine State Trading Co. achieves touchless AP processing and improved invoice visibility with DocStar

Epicor and PiF Technologies Blaze the AP Automation Trail for Pine State Trading

Pine State Trading Co., a Maine-based beverage distributor, faced inefficient, paper‑based accounts‑payable processes that relied on manual entry into Microsoft Dynamics SL, physical routing of invoices (often lost in transit), and large onsite archives. To modernize procure‑to‑pay, the company chose a DocStar solution (deployed as Epicor ECM AP Automation) to replace the paper chase with digital capture and workflow automation.

DocStar’s AP automation digitized invoice capture, implemented automatic PO matching and routed approvals via configurable workflows, improving visibility and validation across the invoice lifecycle. The change cut AP headcount from four to two, reduced month‑end close from about 10 days to 2 days, achieved an estimated payback in ~18 months, and enabled nearly all of Pine State’s ~4,000 monthly invoices to be processed touchlessly—plus faster reconciliation of depletion allowances and prepaids and robust remote processing during COVID.

Pine State Trading Co.

Gary Grunewald

Chief Financial Officer