A stock visibility issue is encountered throughout production halls, where it’s not known what stock is within the assembly line and what is stored.

The team on the warehouse floor request a count for a part via Teams. This is then looked in SAP by the PI Analysts where they then provide the warehouse location for the part. The team on the warehouse floor count the part manually and upload a file to Teams with the count on it. The PI Analyst picks it up again and searches several systems including an Access Database and SAP to find the stock digitally and work out any discrepancy. The discrepancy is then sent for approval by the management team, and once approved this stock can be updated within in SAP and approved by another team before a message is sent within Teams to the original sender. There are also 4 reports that need sending either daily / weekly. A £1.2 million SAP project had been approved and was set to be implemented but was scrapped and replaced with 2 full time robots. Systems: SAP, MS Teams, Excel, Outlook, Access

The solution replaces the need for the PI Analyst, automating the below steps:

• Taking the messages from Teams and locating the Warehouse locations
• Taking the Excel file from Teams, and using this to check the discrepancy using the same steps as a human would, before sending the approval to a human
• Creating the write off/on document and approving it, then messaging the original sender in SAP
• The 4 reporting processes