From the vehicles we commute to the clothes we wear and the device we’re using to read this blog, every product and service around us is here because of the manufacturing sector. With the growing demands of an ever-growing population, it is important for the manufacturing industry to come up with innovative creations that can survive the cut-throat competition and establish its place in the global market.
And in order to attain new benchmarks in any industry, it is important to get rid of the rule-based tasks that tend to hold one back. According to Automation Anywhere, “With Robotic Process Automation (RPA), manufacturers can evolve production processes and business functions to improve operations, increase profitability, and provide labour relief.”
What is RPA in Manufacturing?
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is revolutionizing manufacturing by automating repetitive and rule-based tasks. These software robots streamline production and administrative processes, boosting operational efficiency, reducing errors, and optimizing manufacturing. RPA is a crucial technology in manufacturing, improving productivity, cutting costs, and enhancing quality control.
Real World Example:
One great example of how RPA can help enormously in manufacturing:
The people at One of very renowned organizations realised that rather than continuously refining workflows to seek perfection, they could create immediate value by automating the processes using Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
Also, instead of working on integrations that could take more than a year to complete, they can now achieve the same objectives with RPA bots developed in 6 weeks. Sometimes, RPA serves as an immediate solution while an integration-based approach is being developed, but other times, it eliminates the need for such integration—“It's not a band-aid, but it's a bridge or a true solution.”
Here are some notable examples of RPA use cases in the company:
- Uploading forms for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory compliance
- Automating product sampling requests, which need to be tracked for accounting purposes. The volume for this process is about 100 per day, and each process takes over 8 minutes of manual processing. With RPA, it takes just 30 seconds, saving some 1,600 hours a month.
RPA Benefits:
- 7,500 hours saved a month
- Quick deployment arising in quick solutions and eliminating lengthy integrations
- Freeing up employees for more productive tasks
(Source)
Let's take a closer look at how automation can simplify various business processes in manufacturing.
Well, the ‘bill of materials’, which is one of the most important documents in manufacturing, is also one of the most tedious tasks for manufacturing employees. This list consists of important manufacturing details, including the required raw materials; where these are available; when these should be purchased and so on. However, gathering and consolidating the required information can be time-consuming and repetitive.It is here that RPA enters the picture. With RPA, the entire formulation of this list can be automated, resulting in more accurate results in much less time.
Admin is often filled with data entry and back-office tasks. These tasks tend to bog down employees and prevent them from achieving the more significant organizational goals and aims. RPA seeks to relieve employees and organizations of these monotonous tasks, by sending out your bulk messages and emails; gathering and consolidating information; and…well, ensuring you go places in your career!
The larger the manufacturing company, the more its branches across different regions. As a manufacturing industry, a company needs to ensure it stays well-connected to major global hubs, and thus set up branches at various important junctions. As the organization spreads its wings in readiness for its unparalleled flight, a number of systems and sub-systems of information are often created specifically for particular branches. While the web ensures the integration of these various systems, it often becomes tedious for employees to constantly update these annuls of information from time to time. With RPA, software bots can efficiently update information and reduce communication time between the various branches!
- Automate Your Data Migration Tasks Today!
As a manufacturing company grows globally, data also needs to be shifted from older systems to newer ones. Moreover, policies have to be updated constantly in accordance with these changes. While this aspect may not seem a great hurdle, it can pose an obstacle to employee and organizational growth when the company begins to spread itself into different domains. As an employee invests excessive time and effort in data migration, employee resource utilization may go down considerably. With RPA, things can take a turn for the better. Process bots can perform data migration efficiently, thus enabling employees to focus on their primary goals instead.
- Transportation: The Post-Manufacturing Paraphernalia
Yay! The product has finally been created as per the requirements of the current market. But is that it? To ensure that the finished product reaches the market (and eventually lands in the buyer’s hands), transportation is a very important aspect of the manufacturing sector. Besides ensuring efficient transportation of the products manufactured, it is also important to track the delivery status of the product to ensure it reaches the destination. With an increase in the number of products being traded, it tends to become difficult to track the statuses of multiple products at once – leading to human errors. RPA is here to make tracking a piece of cake! With RPA, a manufacturing company can now track multiple delivery statuses.
- Let RPA Take Care of Your Customers
“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all,” says Michael LeBoeuf. Without customers, the entire purpose of a business is defeated. And so, it is very important for organizations to cherish and support their customers. While bots cannot match humans in their personalized interactions with customers, they can automate some rule-based tasks. These include repetitive front-office voice process tasks and online chat services. Moreover, chatbots can win over customers in no time!
Boosting manufacturing with RPA: efficiency, cost, quality.
Why do Companies Invest in RPA?
Companies invest in RPA to boost efficiency, cut costs, and enhance accuracy by automating repetitive, rules-based tasks. RPA allows for operational scalability, compliance, and improved customer satisfaction, freeing up employees for more strategic work. RPA also enhances manufacturing inventory management by automating real-time monitoring, reorder requests, record updates, and product tracking. This reduces manual work and errors, leading to cost savings and improved production efficiency.
How does RPA benefit companies?
RPA benefits companies by automating repetitive tasks, reducing errors, and improving efficiency. It allows employees to focus on more strategic work, enhances operational scalability, and can lead to cost savings. RPA also improves compliance and customer satisfaction by streamlining processes.
What are the challenges faced by RPA?
Challenges in implementing RPA include complex process automation, managing change and employee concerns, ongoing maintenance, scalability, ensuring security and compliance, calculating ROI, identifying and optimizing processes, and dependency on IT for implementation.
Conclusion
The manufacturing industry has constantly expanded, adapting itself to various technical advancements and striving to meet ever-changing customer expectations. Automation Anywhere recommends a world of “connected manufacturing," which is a systematic blend of RPA, cognitive automation and inbuilt analytics, working in tandem to bring about a more productive workforce on the manufacturing front. Let’s welcome RPA into the world of manufacturing and witness the growth of this industry!
