At an oil and chemicals company, a new software tool for equipment strategies was actually costing engineers time: they had to transfer missing data by hand, and the backlog grew month after month. Some engineers even wanted to stop using the tool. Together with one of the client’s own engineers, Axisto built software robots to take over that work. The first was running within a month; together they save around 7,500 hours of engineering time, and the backlog has been cleared.
Duration: six weeks
The situation
An oil and chemicals company introduced a new software tool for developing equipment strategies. It had a major impact on the engineering division. People had to be trained and get used to the new tool, but the biggest challenge lay elsewhere: in the efficiency and output of the equipment engineers.
Since the introduction, the backlog in updating equipment strategies had grown month after month. Some engineers had emotionally disengaged from the tool, and said they wanted to stop using it. Going back to the old system, however, was not an option.
What was really wrong
During the transition, all data had been migrated from the old database to the new one. But not all of it had been mapped to the corresponding fields in the new tool, and some data simply didn’t exist in the old system. The datasets concerned were Environment, Process Stream, Toxins and Business Impact.
As a result, engineers first had to retrieve and transfer data manually before they could update a strategy. When we looked at how they filled in the Environment, Process Stream and Business Impact fields, it turned out to consist largely of clicking, copying and pasting: a textbook example of repetitive, monotonous work with little added value. Exactly the kind of work technology can take over.
What we did together
Software robots for the manual work. With Robotic Process Automation (RPA), you build software robots that mimic human actions, such as copying and pasting and working in digital systems. They carry out manual tasks automatically.
One of the client’s own engineers as the driving force. One of the fixed equipment engineers knew the new equipment strategy tool very well, and had a strong affinity for automating work processes. He became the driving force behind the introduction of RPA within the engineering division.
Built together, in weeks. The engineer mapped the workflows; a senior Axisto RPA developer programmed them into the robot. The first workflow was running within a month, and two weeks later two more robots were delivered and put into use.
What it delivered
- Engineering time saved: 7,500 hours, around 5.5 person-years
- automatically pre-populated components; 34,834 across 5,839 parents
- The backlog in updating equipment strategies cleared
- All 34,834 components, across 5,839 parents, automatically pre-populated for Environment, Process Stream and Business Impact
- Engineering time freed up to keep equipment strategies up to date
What happened afterwards
The backlog in updating equipment strategies, which had grown month after month since the new tool was introduced, has been cleared.
There is more potential still. Site-wide, including non-fixed equipment, it involves around 11,703 parents. RPA has since also been rolled out with Axisto in Canada and the USA.
