Internship: Improving Purchase Order to Invoice Process for Service Sales

Vanderlande is offering an internship focused on improving the end-to-end Purchase Order (PO) to Invoice process within the Service Sales organization.

Start date: As soon as possible

Assignment duration: 5-6 months

Language: Dutch / English

Description of assignment

The Service Sales organization is responsible for managing the operational and administrative flow from Purchase Order (PO) to final invoice for one of Vanderlande’s largest customers. Currently, several bottlenecks in this Purchase Order to invoice chain lead to delays, rework, and missed opportunities to invoice on time. Examples include incomplete or late feedback loops from Service Account Manager (SAM) and Change Management, missing or inconsistent updates in TopDesk tickets, unclear communication about required activities, and final acceptances that are not always captured correctly.

These issues cause Finance to trigger us reactively, rather than us steering the process proactively. Last year alone, €6.6M remained open due to incomplete administrative follow-up.

The research question:
How can the PO-to-Invoice process within the Service Sales organization be optimized to ensure timely updates, reduce outstanding work, and enable proactive invoicing?

Department description

The Service Sales team operates within the Distribution Domain and supports one of Vanderlande’s largest global customers. The department collaborates closely with Service account managers (SAM), Change Management, Finance, and technical service teams. Activities include managing service requests, handling commercial follow-up, processing PO-related tasks, maintaining TopDesk records, and ensuring correct and timely invoicing.

The intern works in an energetic, international, multidisciplinary environment, interacting with multiple stakeholders. The assignment involves direct engagement with process experts and operational teams to map processes, identify gaps, and drive improvement ideas.

Tasks/responsibilities

• Map the current Purchase order to invoice process across departments
• Analyze bottlenecks such as late feedback loops, missing ticket updates, incomplete acceptances, and unclear task ownership
• Quantify the impact
• Propose actionable process improvements and possible automation opportunities
• Validate solutions with stakeholders
• Deliver a clear improvement roadmap and implementation advice

Your profile

• Strong analytical and processmapping skills (Lean/Value Stream Mapping is a plus)
• Comfortable interviewing stakeholders and challenging assumptions
• Affinity with process improvement, automation, or change management
• Experience with Excel, process tools (e.g., Visio, Miro), or ticketing systems
• Proactive, curious, and hands-on mindset
• Enrollment to a Dutch Education System & resident of The Netherlands

Contact email: internship@vanderlande.com