Success Story
Empowering the Future Together!
The Würth Group automates incoming customer orders with TCG Process.
The Initial Challenge
The Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG is part of the globally active Würth Group. The Würth Group is the world market leader in the development, manufacturing, and distribution of assembly and fastening materials, with more than 400 companies serving the markets in 80 countries.
Facts and Figures of Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG:
Every day, Würth processes purchase orders that are received via a wide variety of input channels. A fast and error-free order processing is essential. This is where TCG Process GmbH as an expert in business process automation and market leader Würth first met. Their goal and shared vision for the collaboration became visible very quickly:
Automate error-prone and tedious purchase order processes.
Before the collaboration began, orders were entered manually. For an order of 30 items, this would initiate an order entry process of approximately 20 minutes. In order to automate this process, an efficient system was needed that could also be enriched with information from the leading SAP system. The automated processing of all customer orders is a major competitive advantage for Würth, which has a large number of customers. The aim was to reduce document processing times, minimise error rates, increase customer satisfaction and improve the efficiency of the entire group of companies.
"In order to remain the market leader, smart solutions for process automation are crucial for our internal organization."
Ina Setzer, Project Manager Digitalization Projects Würth
Fulfil specific requirements of the Würth Group & its subsidiaries.
Due to the large number of Würth companies, the particular challenge was to consider and harmonise the individual requirements of each company. In addition to user-friendliness, the focus was on the adaptability and expandability of the software solution in order to be able to use the platform in a scalable manner for the entire group. In addition, the project was to be carried out by a joint team, with the emphasis on the involvement of Würth employees.
First projekt & rollout
Based on our solution DPS Order , we have developed the customized “AutoDok” tool for the Würth Group. A significant advantage of the software solution is the generic approach of the standard product DPS Order. The basic process for the automated processing of purchasing orders served as the basis. The individual adjustments required by the various Würth companies could be made directly during the project.
DPS Order is our standard solution for processing incoming purchase orders. The process application ensures high automation rates. In addition to text recognition (OCR) and extraction of the relevant data, the solution also includes automatic validation using a large number of validation rules. During processing, interfaces are used to compare master data from the leading system (e.g. ERP). If manual validation is required, a user-friendly web client is available and increases automation rates thanks to an integrated self-learning function. We offer customization of the DPS Order Standard to the respective customer requirements via an extensive portfolio of additional modules.
Here you find more information about the software solution DPS Order
The initial contact was quickly followed by the test phase with the first customer adjustments to the DPS Order solution. In summer 2021, the customized software went live for the first time. One year later, the rollout for the first key accounts followed and then successively the rollout of the branches as well as extensions beyond automatic document capture.
A customized purchase order processing solution includes many special features.
Würth’s requirements for import, usability, increased automation, necessary logics and integration with SAP as well as the expansion to subsidiaries and branch offices resulted in a large number of new features:
- Automatic import of purchase orders via various e-mail inboxes
- Expansion options to include an unlimited number of users and e-mail inboxes for further Würth branches and subsidiaries
- Intuitive web client for simple validation of documents, adapted and expanded to include Würth-specific fields such as their internal product number
- Reading the customer number directly from the e-mail subject
- Highly efficient recognition, based on customer and article master data to determine the appropriate data set
- Automatic increase in automation rates through machine self-learning in the background without additional user action
- Automatic assignment to processors or groups of people, for example through mapping
- Correct assignment of Würth-specific and very complex product numbers
- Customer-based adjustment of whether the delivery address becomes the customer address or the other way round
- Different logics for several unit of measure
- Automatic check whether the total value of the consignment corresponds to the sum of the items
- Automatic recognition and conversion of the calendar week into a date format
- Direct export to the SAP system via an standardized activity called SAP RFC interface
- Flexible addition of several clients (companies) on different processes on the shared DocProStar platform
Results and benefits
With the introduction of automated purchase order processing, Würth was able to achieve a 90% reduction in the processing time for incoming purchase orders, as noted in the departments that already use the software solution AutoDok. The tedious manual processing in the “old world” was reduced to two minutes with the help of the DPS Order solution and the included intuitive web client.
"All relevant data is now recorded as soon as we receive the purchase order and the order is automatically created in SAP."
Ina Setzer
Over 20,000 purchase orders from customers have already been processed using the AutoDok solution in 2023. This lays the foundation for further digitalization and automation projects in collaboration with TCG Process.
Würth’s own project and support team has a lot of expertise regarding the DocProStar software during the course of the project. As a result, Würth is now able to take care of the onboarding for further subsidiaries and branches independently.
Support and the majority of support cases can also be handled internally at Würth. We at TCG Process are available to help with extensions and individual support cases. According to Ina Setzer, ‘the full effect of the system can only be realized thanks to our well-trained colleagues. Onboarding, training and support run absolutely smoothly thanks to our own IT team for the AutoDok solution.’
By using the DPS Business Intelligence Reporter, Würth also has access to our intelligent reporting tool. It shows the performance and current detection rates of the system. As a result, potential for improvement is revealed directly and can be implemented with concrete measures. Automation progress and the benefits of the system are visualized daily.
All the advantages of automated purchase order processing at a glance:
Behind the scenes: Exclusive insights in the webinar with Würth
Together with Würth, we explained in a webinar detailed and step-by-step how we successfully implemented the specific requirements. The recording of this webinar with in-depth insights and practical tips is available here:
Outlook
Our multi-tenant platform DPS can be flexibly expanded to include additional process applications for the automation of business processes. Specifically, the introduction of EDI validation and processing of supplier requests is planned. In 2024, another major step for Ina Setzer’s team is the roll-out to other companies and around 400 branches. In addition to processing purchase orders, other document types such as quotations or invoices for the international Würth companies can also be automated with DPS, or even other business processes outside of commercial departments.
"With DocProStar, we have created a great basis for automatically mapping all kinds of processes for the Würth Group. This leads us to other document types such as the world of quotations, but also completely new processes such as the connection for EDI clearing cases."
Martin Ciupke, Head of Electronic Data Interchange at Würth IT
Würth and TCG experience the collaboration as very pleasant and goal-oriented. The key to success lies in the close teamwork between the project managers. Clear and fast communication makes it possible to implement the defined requirements in a timely manner. As TCG Process, our focus is on the uniqueness of the customer. The key learnings are:
- Close collaboration between project managers
- Clear and fast communication
- Customization to individual customer needs
- Integration into the existing IT-system landscape
Knowing and understanding Würth’s individual needs was a decisive factor in this success story.
Which process would you like to automate?
Picture credits:
© Würth Group
© TCG Process GmbH
© teguhjatipras – stock.adobe.com