Background 

Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS) partnered with BDO Digital to help with process automation. DMS is a manufacturing company that was experiencing challenges with the increased volume of data due to their customer/vendor relationship with an OEM manufacturer. 

Challenge 

DMS was facing several challenges due to manual processes that required continuous effort on their resources to keep up with the volume of purchase orders and price change summary. These challenges included a concerning lag in processing customer data, overlooking mistakes that could negatively impact the business and stress-inducing workload that made it difficult to catch up.  

Initially, DMS leadership thought increasing headcount would remediate lag times, however it ended up not being practical or the best option for the business. They needed a solution that would simplify their staff's workload and allow them to focus on analytics rather than data gathering. 

Solution 

After attending a year end event hosted by BDO Digital where we covered emerging trends in AI and Automation, DMS CFO decided a technology solution would be the best course and tapped BDO Digital to advise on best options for their immediate needs.  

BDO Digital’s Data & AI and Automation teams implemented a rapid automation assessment followed by a detailed discovery of the manual processes. It was concluded that leveraging a Cloud Automation Platform from UiPath would best address the needs for DMS’ requirements. Automation bots were developed that automated the retrieval of data from the customer portal and blended the customer data with DMS data to reconcile and update their ERP system (SAP). Automations were also created to keep Purchasing and Sales updated with new Material changes along with index price fluctuations that impact retroactive pricing on active orders. Automations are also underway to automate the Accounts Receivable reconciliation between the customer’s ERP and DMS’ ERP. This will improve their revenue cycle management. 

Results 

BDO Digital's automation solution has helped DMS eliminate a 15-20 days lag in processing customer data, reducing non-value added workload on their staff. Prior to the automation, the team had planned to hire two additional resources to keep up with the data volume. Now the finance analyst has been freed to work on their role and no new hires are needed.  

The material price changes automation leads to reductions in customer complaints and in turn keeps the supplier scorecard in good standing with their customer. It also reduced month-end activities on their purchase and sales group. The Accounts Receivable team can reach a reconciled state without the need for excessive checks and validations. Sales and Purchasing prices are updated in real-time, allowing the business to make decisions with meaningful and applicable data.  

The solution presented showed good promise and value, and the business rapport between BDO Digital and DMS stakeholders helped bring to light the complexity that DMS staff has been enduring day-to-day to keep up with the demands from the business transactions. This helped DMS understand the immediate need to implement a solution as soon as possible. 

Final Statements

If readers were to take away one thing from this story, it would be that by identifying the appropriate Automation Platform and accurately selecting business processes to enhance and automate, you can create an Automation Center of Excellence that yields a significant return on investment (ROI).