A global manufacturer has provided HVAC solutions to customers for more than a century. Recently, they looked to bring in strategic technologies that would drive value in a more agile, modern way. An urgent challenge was revealed when government regulations mandated that they phase out old inventory and replace it with more efficient products. The company turned to its SS&C Blue Prism digital workforce to help them easily complete this monumental task.

Challenge

The Department of Energy regulates the efficiency of items manufactured and sold in the United States. When new regulations are issued, manufacturers around the country must reengineer and rerelease products to the market while phasing out old inventory. This process touches all functional areas in HVAC — including engineering, manufacturing, finance, and procurement. It’s key to ensure that the company and its distributor customers are not stuck with inventory that can’t be sold past a certain date. Precise timing and effective planning are critical. 

More than 20 employees had to manually review each distributor customer’s account and contact them to determine when they had exhausted old inventory and were ready for the new products. If the customer was ready to transition, the employees manually executed the transaction in the ERP system. And employees weren’t just checking on one item, there were more than 10,000. With new regulations coming, the company needed a more efficient solution.

Solution

The company has worked closely with partner EY to launch and scale an intelligent automation program — growing from three processes to over 150 processes in just over two years. The team knew SS&C Blue Prism digital workers would be a perfect fit to help manage the shift from old to new inventory. They built a central data repository to enable employees and digital workers alike to make informed decisions. The data helps employees confirm that they’ve reached the right balance of old-to-new inventory. And when the balance has been achieved a digital worker goes into the ERP system and turns the old products off and the new products on through a series of transactions.

Another digital worker evaluates orders that have been placed but are waiting to be shipped to see if they should be migrated over to the new products. Once inventory levels drop to a predetermined level, the digital worker sends correspondence to any customer with a standing order and lets them know they can order the new model through a self-service portal or speak to customer service for more assistance. When the customer’s decision is made, the digital worker executes it in the ERP system — and there’s no need for involvement by an employee.

So far, the new process has reduced employee effort by 35%, which enables them to engage directly with customers and participate in product innovation. And they’ve expedited their stock rotation and met government regulations more quickly, without hiring additional employees.