How Robotic Process Automation can be used in the manufacturing sector. Back

July 19 2022
Physical robots have enabled industrial automation in the manufacturing sector. However, manufacturing needs disruptive technology like robotic process automation (RPA) to enable companies to concentrate more on their core competencies and product innovation rather of mundane but essential daily repetitive chores. To improve process execution speed and accuracy, rule-based procedures can be automated via robotic process automation. Additionally, RPA systems don't require coding expertise and are simple to use. RPA also easily interfaces with legacy systems already in place without the need for expensive and time-consuming software development. By selecting a precise set of procedures, businesses can launch a pilot project and get observable, quantifiable outcomes within weeks of implementation.

The manufacturing sector gains from robotic process automation in the following ways:

  • Operational cost reduction of up to 40%
  • An improved level of process control
  • Enhanced performance of the workforce
  • Reduced downtime significantly and improved quality.

1. Purchase Order Creation

For businesses that deal with a variety of product categories, the manual procedure for creating purchase orders can be challenging. The entire PO-generating process may be automated with the use of RPA, resulting in 100% accurate and quick outcomes. Bots can process requests for PO generation, pull data from separate systems, and email concerned departmental heads to request their permission.

2. Inventory Control

To make sure that demand can be satisfied, inventory levels must be monitored in real-time. Automation of inventory tracking, stock-level alerts, and product reordering is available when levels fall below a predetermined threshold. There is not much need for human involvement in doing this. An added benefit of RPA implementation is the automatic generation of a thorough audit trail. Live dashboards and reports also offer details on internal operations and business patterns that may indicate possible bottlenecks. With the help of these insights, supply chain disruptions can be eliminated, allowing for process improvement and optimization.

3. Interaction with Vendors

There is a lot of manual labor involved in daily communication between internal workers, vendors, and customers. For instance, to respond to a query on the shipment status of goods, a customer care representative may need to locate the email exchange, monitor the shipment status in the ERP system, update the client, and then close the case. By opening the email, reading the content, downloading any attachments, connecting to the ERP portal, determining the status of the shipment, answering the customer, and moving on to the next customer email, RPA may automate the entire process.

Except for unforeseen incidents, the entire procedure doesn't need human involvement. By automating up to 65% of the manual process, personnel may respond to more client inquiries faster.

Business process automation benefits in Manufacturing

Business Process Automation (BPA), also known as Business Process Management (BPM), is an automation strategy that includes a range of management methods and tools. Big-picture organizational plans, employee-specific action plans, and software plugins that improve your current technology are a few examples of these. .
BPA can help in factory automation by tying RPA, AI, and IDP together. In addition to the phases handled by the other technologies we have mentioned, this addition enables you to fully automate end-to-end processes that contain human-performed jobs. The system will automatically allocate tasks requiring human performance to a user, role, or queue and track
their completion, providing process-related tracking data that can be used to identify bottlenecks and other issues with the process. Data tracking automated tasks and business-related data can be integrated with this data to provide excellent high-level insight into the actual operation of your company processes.
The bottom line is that, rather than automating a particular operation, manufacturing automation ultimately aims to automate an entire process, which calls for more than simply RPA