You Have Robotics on the Production Floor, but What About Robotics Everywhere Else in Your Business: Robotic Process Automation Made Easy.

How Robotic Process Automation is Saving Manufacturers Money

Since the creation of the very first assembly line, manufacturing companies have been striving to improve efficiency and effectiveness of their processes. Today, this has never been truer with robotics, AI, smart factories, and other breakthroughs driving Industry 4.0. In most manufacturing companies, robots and automation is everywhere on the production floor and is nothing new by Today’s industry standards. However, a new type of technology called Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is revolutionizing companies by focusing on automating all the other processes that are needed to run your manufacturing business. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is projected to be a $1.9B industry at the end of 2021. 

What is Robotic Process Automation?

First off, Robotic Process Automation is not a physical robot you might see on a manufacturing floor, but rather a software robot. It is a cutting-edge technology that allows a software “robot” to replicate human user actions and perform the same job functions as their human counterparts.  When activated on a dedicated workstation, RPA “bots” can automate virtually any rule-based business processes. They utilize the user interface to capture data and control applications just like humans do.

Think of the number of business processes and software applications that your company uses every day to complete various tasks. Now imagine having the ability to complete those process without any human interaction. That is the power of RPA!

The Benefits of RPA

In short, implementing RPA in your organization can significantly reduce your operating expense, improve process capacity, and virtually eliminate human errors.

By automating repetitive business processes, you reduce the need for staff to perform those actions. While some worry that RPA could end in layoffs and reduce staff size, the reality is RPA allows you to make better use of your already-existing talent. Why would you want your best workers to spend their time doing the same mindless, repetitive tasks? RPA provides you the opportunity to reallocate their workloads, making better use of your workforce’s talent and skills.

RPA is also a powerful tool for growth. Many small to midsize businesses simply can’t afford to hire multiple new employees, even though they could dramatically benefit from the additional staff. By utilizing RPA, they can add the equivalent of dozens of employees who can tirelessly handle repetitive jobs.

Another benefit of RPA is the elimination of human error. These robots are designed to follow your work procedures every time and without variation. This increase in compliance will improve your customer satisfaction and the overall quality of your services.

But in my opinion, the #1 reason why a manufacturing organization should look at implementing RPA is the ROI!  As a software-based platform, it is a low-cost solution for process optimization. This means it returns an outstanding ROI when compared to staff costs, defects, and rework.

Please keep in mind that RPA isn’t magic! It takes a good amount of work to identify the processes, document the actions, develop, test, deploy and maintain those bots. But the amount of work that RPA can save you and your organization is only constrained by how many “bots” you put into action!