RPA in the Automotive Sector

The use of Robots to augment repetitive tasks ranging from front-office work to manufacturing operations is on the rise. Process automation has always been the backbone of the growth of the Automotive industry starting with Ford’s assembly line in the early 20th century. Over the last century, physical robots have greatly streamlined the assembly line. However, many operational processes remain largely manual and time-intensive.

Companies have trouble with parts’ inventory management, document digitization, payment & invoice processing among others. Such operational hurdles divert attention from core-business. Moreover, current market conditions necessitate cutting operational costs as much as possible to maintain the ability to offer superior product without reducing margins for profit.

Today’s Robotic Process Automation based solutions allow automobile manufacturers to streamline back-office operations and engage in no-frills managerial processes, thereby making them more agile. This is made possible by a host of things that RPA can take care of:

Processes that have traditionally been known to be time-consuming and laborious (digitization, order processing, transaction & inventory management etc.) can be executed by RPA bots in a fraction of the time. While most major automobile manufacturers are already using RPA, the application must exceed beyond just manufacturing. Automobile dealerships, service facilities, parts & scrap aggregators etc. must also adapt RPA to make the benefit truly universal and diversified.

But why stop at just this much? The future surely holds more than just RPA based solutions. Most traditional automation-based solutions are limited by what a human trains the machine to do. However, we’ve seen an evolution to this in Cognitive Automation platforms. A step ahead from there is Cognitive Analytics. Cognitive Analytics processes can help manufacturers optimize logistics, prevent breakdowns, reduce bottlenecks and aid general operational decision-making. Cognitive Analytics is likely to be a key element in the evolution of Industry 4.0 systems in the future, being put to use in cases we haven’t yet thought of.

It’s certain that early adopters of Cognitive Automation technologies will benefit the most when this happens. Meanwhile, for laggards that haven’t yet adopted RPA based solutions, there might still be some scope to salvage the time lost.

We at ValueLabs help provide organizations with RPA and Cognitive Automation based solutions to break out of slow, traditional operations. Our Cognitive Extractor & xChange solutions have not only helped clients become efficient, but also cut down on huge costs. Connect with me to know more about the work we're doing here at ValueLabs!