CASE STUDY
Component Files Verification
We have achieved successful automation of the verification process for ensuring that all files of manufacturing components are available and created in SAP, which is required for manufacturing a particular Elevator/Escalator as per the pre-defined list of components.
Industry
Manufacturing
Customer
Schindler
Technology
RPA – UiPath
Details
Automated Manufacturing Component Verification Process
Challenge
Schindler, a leading global manufacturer of elevators and escalators, operates a complex supply chain with multiple vendors supplying various parts and components for their products across over 100 countries. To ensure that the standard set of files for manufacturing components required to manufacture a lift or elevator are accurately identified and accounted for, Schindler recognized the need for an automated solution. This involves performing a thorough verification process for each Sales Order Number against the Standard Components list for the respective product defined in SAP, and files in five different folders for hundreds of manufacturing parts, to confirm the generation of necessary files in SAP. This verification process allows them to determine which parts to order or build in-house and ensure that all parts are accounted for to produce a finished product. In the past, manual verification of hundreds of parts per product was both error-prone and time-consuming.
Solution
We created a bot that utilizes an Excel file containing sales order numbers as job lists to access relevant information from SAP using T-Code. The bot downloads and saves the list of the standard set of components (and its associated parameters), required to manufacture the respective Product as per the Sales Order, in a Master file. The bot uses regex to extract values from multiple columns (parameters) and concatenate them to form the relevant component name as per the order.
The bot then downloads files generated for a respective Sales Order from SAP and saves them in a folder, while copying their names, extensions, and file size to an Excel file for comparison with the component name in the Master file. The bot marks the status of each component as Yes/No in the Master file, in the column Check1, based on whether a corresponding file was downloaded.
Post this check, the downloaded files are moved to the Production server by our Bot, where their scripts work on them and generate files with different extensions and move them to different folders. Our Bot follows the same process of copying the File names, extensions, and file size and marking the Status of the file if it is present or not for respective Checks. In all 5 Checks are performed. Then this report with the Sales Order Number and results of all 5 Checks is emailed to various stakeholders to take any action if files are missing or invalid. Then it repeats the same process for the next Sales Order Number from the Job List, giving 100% automation of the process.
