Artificial intelligence has reached business management, but its ability to automate processes depends on a previous element: having reliable and accessible data. In logistics, some of this information continues to arrive through delivery notes, invoices, orders, labels, transport documents or delivery receipts.
Paper, furthermore, is not only what remains to be digitized. In certain processes it continues to be an efficient support, especially in docks, routes, areas with limited connectivity or situations where it is not always possible to have technology. Added to this is a very heterogeneous documentary reality, with information that is not always available in digital format, such as certain documents linked to dangerous goods or access permits.
In this context, PFU (EMEA) Limited, the scanner division of RICOH, places intelligent capture as one of the first links to move towards logistics prepared to take advantage of AI. Its strategy is not to eliminate paper where it continues to be useful, but to ensure that the information it contains can be incorporated into digital processes when necessary.
Quality information from the source
According to the latest data available from the National Statistics Institute (INE), corresponding to the first quarter of 2025, 21.1% of Spanish companies with 10 or more employees use Artificial Intelligence technologies, compared to 12.4% the previous year. In addition, 63.6% use ERP software and 44.3% use paid cloud services. The advancement of these technologies increases, in turn, the need to have quality information from the source.
“Organizations can incorporate artificial intelligence into an increasing number of processes, but if the information that feeds these systems is incomplete or incorrect, their potential will be limited. In logistics, where physical and digital documents coexist, the first step is to capture quality data from its origin so that it can be reliably integrated into the company’s systems,” explains Jesús Cabañas, Regional Sales Manager of PFU (EMEA) Limited Iberia.
From the delivery note to the data
PFU’s strategy is based on an idea: digitizing a document does not only mean obtaining a digital copy. The value lies in ensuring that the information it contains can be recognized, classified, extracted and used later.
In a warehouse, for example, a delivery note received together with a merchandise can be captured, processed by OCR, its data extracted and linked to the corresponding operation. The same process can be applied to orders, invoices, labels, delivery receipts and other documentation associated with transportation.
But not all documents or all data require the same treatment. In certain processes, reading specific data directly at the entry point, such as the content of a QR code, allows it to be immediately incorporated into the workflow. This can speed up the process and prevent certain information from having to wait for later processing phases.
As part of this evolution, software solutions such as PaperStream Capture Pro enable intelligent document capture and processing, helping to improve the accuracy and reliability of information extraction, even in low-quality documents. By ensuring that AI systems receive quality data, document capture becomes a fundamental element of end-to-end AI processes, helping organizations maximize the return on their investment without needing to replace all of their existing processes at once.
The capture point is therefore of particular importance: the sooner reliable information is obtained, the sooner it can be incorporated into management systems and used throughout the supply chain.
RICOH fi Series and PaperStream
RICOH fi Series professional scanners are one of the entry points for this information and can be used from specific jobs to environments that handle large volumes of documents.
Given the variety of documents that a warehouse or dock can handle, RICOH fi Series allows mixed batches to be processed without the need to previously separate the documentation by type or format, simplifying the work of operators and bringing the capture closer to the place where the information is generated or received.
RICOH’s role is to help ensure that information can be captured with quality from the source
Added to them is the PaperStream ecosystem, which allows you to optimize the captured images and apply processes of recognition, document separation and classification, information extraction and generation of metadata for subsequent processing.
Capture, recognition and automation are thus part of the same flow to convert documentation into information available for the organization’s systems and processes.
AI starts with data quality
The greater the use of ERP, WMS, cloud, automation, analytics or Artificial Intelligence, the more important the quality of the information that feeds these systems becomes. In logistics, a portion of this data continues to originate from physical or semi-structured documents.
For this reason, PFU places documentary capture at the first link in that chain. The company has more than six decades of experience in scanning technology and more than 15 million scanners sold worldwide, and incorporates technologies aimed at improving the quality and accuracy of the information captured.
“AI does not begin in the algorithm, but in the information that we make available. In logistics, paper and digital coexist. Our role is to help this information be captured with quality from the source, in a simple way for the user, and incorporated into the processes when needed,” concludes Jesús Cabañas.
