United Rentals filters out non-invoice documents from its AP mailbox, cutting processing volume by 20%

United Rentals is the largest equipment rental company in the world, operating across North America with 30,000 employees and an extensive network of rental locations.

The challenge: Non‑invoice documents generate unnecessary AP workload and costs

United Rentals receives over 1 million documents from thousands vendors electronically a year. 20% of these documents are non-invoice, “trash” documents, such as pictures, statements, zero-dollar invoices, and duplicate invoices.

In the past, all these documents would enter the ERP system, incurring a processing fee.

Operations teams had to manually handle and close out these irrelevant documents, diverting valuable time from core business activities.

Frank Sardone, Accounts Payable and Supply Chain Manager for United Rentals globally, set out to find a solution that could sit between their email intake and ERP system, acting as an intelligent filter without disrupting their existing invoice processing workflow.

After considering several options, Frank chose Rossum based on ease of use, speed of learning, and PoC results.

Solution: Efficient filtering of trash documents

Rossum sits on top of the AP mailbox, filters out non-invoices and duplicates, and forwards verified invoices to the ERP system for processing.

Besides the main use case, Rossum also processes 250,000 EDI invoices for United Rentals in a separate flow where data is extracted, validated, transformed, and pushed into the ERP system.

“For every requirement that we needed to make, the Rossum team could find a solution for us, and I can probably name a hundred examples like that. When it comes to customization, you can get everything you need.”
Frank Sardone, AP and Supply Chain Manager

Despite the strict requirements for the data on their invoices, 90% of invoices pass through touchlessly.

The solution onboarding took just several weeks and is now managed by Frank single-handedly.

“Rossum has a straightforward UI that’s simple to use. Everything is a click away, and you can see the implemented changes live as new documents come in.”
Frank Sardone, AP and Supply Chain Manager

Results

The implementation delivered substantial results across United Rentals’ key objectives:

20% reduction in documents processed: Eliminated hundreds of thousands of non-invoice documents from entering the ERP system annually.

Near-100% non-invoice document filtered out: Achieved close to 100% capture rate for statements, zero-dollar invoices, and other non-invoice documents that previously entered the system.

Faster invoice processing: Legitimate invoices reach the ERP system more quickly through automated routing.

Reduced operational burden: Operations teams no longer need to handle and close out irrelevant documents manually.

“What we now have is a well-oiled machine. We’ve reached our targets with close to 100% reduction in duplicates and non-invoice documents. The 20% reduction in document processing through our ERP has delivered significant cost savings and operational efficiency for our teams.”
Frank Sardone, AP and Supply Chain Manager