Seamless automatic entry of Engineering Change Requests

A global provider of solutions & systems for the food industry was looking for a more efficient way to import Engineering Change Requests from local systems into a Product Lifecycle Management tool. Using a customised RPA solution, Ciphix automated the manual data entry process – saving hundreds of hours a year and reducing the error rate tremendously.

3 weeks implementation time

A SOLUTION FOR INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES

Use case: Automatic entry of Engineering Change Requests in a Product Lifecycle Management system

The journey to a digital workforce looks different for each company and is naturally linked to the needs of the organization. Automating existing processes is a main entry point for many of our clients. Designing just one digital employee or automating one process has the power to completely transform your ways of working and alleviate an immense administrative burden from your most valuable resource – your people.

Read more about the Golden Rules for integrating RPA & AI into your organization.

Robotic Process Automation
RPA technology allows anyone to configure computer software or develop a robot to automate manual tasks. Give employees the freedom to focus on doing what they do best. Opt for software robots powered by RPA & AI and implemented by Ciphix. Transfer your repetitive, manual tasks to digital employees.

“Frequently recurring and administrative actions are fully automated with RPA. Data regarding Engineering Change Requests is entered in the right place in the Product Lifecycle Management system without human intervention. This saves the organisation a great deal of time.”

50+

Submissions each week

RPA powered automatic import

350

Hours saved each year

THE CHALLENGE

Manual data entry into Product Lifecycle Management system

Our client, a major supplier of machinery, systems and software for the food processing industry, has an extensive fleet of machinery. Naturally, it is essential that their fleet is as operational as possible at all times. Any malfunctions must be resolved quickly and changes must be implemented efficiently. In order to achieve optimal operation, accurate records of the identified malfunctions and suggested solutions are crucial.

To properly manage and monitor this process, Engineering Change Requests must be entered into the Oracle Product Lifecycle Management system (Agile PLM) that our client uses.

However, the Engineering Change Requests (ECR) are created in an information system which does not support an integration with Agile PLM. As a result, employees were required to enter these ECRs manually, one at a time. Approximately 50 to 100 requests come in weekly, each request containing numerous fields of information, including: a description of the problem, a proposed solution, the type of machinery or part involved.

Employees were spending approximately five minutes per request, amounting to 350 hours or more per year. Valuable time that the employees could be spending on more valuable work and tasks.

After uncovering the clients’ need, Ciphix developed an alternative: an RPA solution which automated the data exchange between the Engineering Change Request system and the PLM system.

DIGITAL EMPLOYEE AUTOMATICALLY IMPORTS CHANGE REQUESTS

An exciting journey towards a Digital Workforce

Based on the client intake, Ciphix mapped out the full process, identified the challenges and noted the necessary integrations. The steps for data entry related to Engineering Change Requests were detailed and the robot (or digital back-office employee) was built using UiPath technology.

Individual requests are now automatically imported into the PLM system based on a unique ID number. The data is entered into the PLM system in a standardized way, ensuring that Engineering Change Requests are addressed immediately and accurately. Employees no longer need to spend time manual transferring data – instead, they can focus on optimizing the process. Now, the tedious data entry process is left entirely to the RPA powered digital back-office employee.

In addition to this process, Ciphix has used RPA solutions to automate other back-office processes for this client. Ciphix has laid the foundation for an efficient organisation to thrive: a place where processes are streamlined as much as possible through automation. This is an organisation who has embraced the Digital Workforce Journey.

See what a digital back-office employee can do for your organisation:

APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES