Global auto leader implements an RPA solution to automate freight and logistics for streamlined operations

Highlights
  • Customer

    Global auto major

  • Industry

    Automotive

Benefits
  • 100% unassisted automated process
  • 2-4 person-hours saved daily
  • Shorter SLI preparation cycle times
  • On-time deliveries due to improved operations at the customs clearance desk
  • Zero error hassle-free SLI documentation
Business Situation

Our client fulfilled a large volume of overseas-based export orders. As part of the statutory requirements, the client had to prepare a Shipper's Letter of Instruction (SLI) for the freight forwarder while shipping out these overseas consignments. This manual intensive process required significant improvements, especially on cycle time reduction and accuracy improvements in paperwork. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was a clear choice of solution for our client.

Business Challenges

The client faced four significant challenges which prompted them to automate this process:

  • Occasionally high volume of orders
  • Short lead time for the preparation of SLIs
  • Too many variants of SLIs arising from these variables: business rules and templates followed by freight forwarders, consignment destination's laws, number of SLIs required, and other statutory requirements for SLI preparation
  • Manual intensive and repetitive nature of processes which resulted in low accuracy levels and extended SLI documentation cycle times
Birlasoft Solution

Birlasoft's team of supply chain experts and RPA SMEs re-engineered and automated SLI generation process. The critical facets of this solution are listed below:

  • Based on an email (once a day) from the customer representative, a bot would scan the shipped delivery numbers to identify the consignments that needed an SLI to be issued to a freight forwarder.
  • The bot would then fetch product category data from a SharePoint system against each of the delivery numbers identified in the step listed above.
  • By using the product data, the bot would extract data from the ERP system, apply business rules, and prepare SLI for each freight forwarder templatized per the needs of freight forwarder and local customs laws.
  • Send a copy of the SLI to the customer rep and the freight forwarder. The solution was scalable to run multiple times a day if needed.