Robotic Process Automation – Gütermann GmbH
Industry: Textile manufacturing
The thread manufacturer and sewing thread specialist A&E Gütermann, with its European headquarters in Gutach im Breisgau near Freiburg, offers innovative and high-quality products. In addition to customized solutions and comprehensive advice on products and sewing techniques, the company provides sewing threads, beads, fabrics and creative sewing accessories. Gütermann GmbH stands for internationality, fairness and reliability.
Gütermann GmbH faced the challenge of updating its material master data, which employees had manually entered into the SAP system. The company sought a way to automate this business process through Robotic Process Automation (RPA). A Proof of Concept (PoC) for the automation of material master data updating was conducted in collaboration with CONVOTIS. This PoC included process analysis and validation in close cooperation with the business department. Throughout the project, training sessions were conducted for using the software robot and regular feedback sessions and knowledge transfers took place.
The RPA solution from UiPath, a market leader in this field, enabled the automatic monthly update of material master data based on a defined set of rules. This encompassed around 400,000 materials and could be completed in just 2–3 hours. Using a manual process, this would have incurred approximately 100,000 € in personnel costs. Since the implementation cost of the RPA solution is relatively low, it quickly pays for itself. Updating material master data in the SAP system is a recurring process that, while straightforward to perform, requires dynamic scheduling.
After successful validation in the test system, the software robot was integrated into the production system. This ensures that inventory management is carried out smoothly every month based on the automatically updated master data. Through collaboration with CONVOTIS and the implementation of the RPA solution, Gütermann GmbH not only saved time and costs but also significantly improved the accuracy and efficiency of its business process.
The implementation of the RPA solution allowed Gütermann GmbH to achieve significant time and cost savings, greatly enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of its business process.
"Through the use of the RPA bot, the quality of master data can be brought to an optimal level. This was not possible before. The RPA bot validates 400,000 master data records in 2–3 hours. In contrast, 100,000 € in personnel full costs would have to be deployed to achieve the same result."