Physical robots are already being used by manufacturers in industry to assemble, test, and package products and whereas these robots help streamline the assembly line, the back-office and operational processes can be over-stretched.
Necessary but time intensive processes such as customer communication, procurement, inventory management and payment processing have traditionally required valuable staffing to handle them effectively.
This is where Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can be used effectively to improve agility, efficiency and save costs across various touchpoints in the business and freeing up employee time to handle more meaningful tasks.
For example, automation of:
Customer Communication
Keep your customers informed throughout the process if there are any delays in shipment, giving you the opportunity to ask for their feedback to help with future marketing activity, discount of their next order by way of an apology etc.
Handling queries from customers on WISMOs (where is my order) enquiries, returns tracking or after sales support requests
Procurement
Drawdown against purchase orders and matching goods received against orders and tracking retrospective volume discounts
Matching purchase orders and bills of materials against goods received, identifying any issues and answering queries i.e. on deliveries, missing items, wrong quantities or defects in the goods
Inventory Management
Controlling stock and managing supplier performance, through matching of expected and actual delivery dates, quality control performance, returns rates from customers etc
Payment Processing
Cash allocation processes and improving credit control and vice versa on paying for goods received, matching proof of delivery with supplier invoices
Businesses with disparate systems, Access databases and spreadsheets can make the process of understanding the true cost of manufacturing individual products difficult. RPA can be used to automate the quality of the data through verification processes and aid the collation of data for meaningful and intelligent reports for buyers, contract and warehouse managers and senior management teams.
Contact us on 0333 987 3938 to discuss how RPA could work within your business