Robotic Process AutomationRobotic Process Automation
podcast
In Dialogue with Logistics

Robotic process automation

Authors:

Virtual employees support work processes in logistics

Software robots are taking over more and more repetitive tasks. These software robots ensure that humans and machines are able to successfully work together in logistics too. Marie-Louise Heidbrink, the Head of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) at Rhenus Office Systems and the Managing Director of auto.mates, uses the podcast to talk about automation and simplifying work processes. She explains which tasks software robots can take over in logistics and why RPA has been increasingly used, particularly during the last few years, and she provides some insight into the way that this technology will develop in future.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is becoming more and more important for daily work tasks at many companies. RPA was part of everyday business operations at 76 per cent of companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland alone in 2021 – and this figure is expected to rise. Forecasts indicate that the global market for RPA will grow to more than US $13 billion by 2030. That would represent an increase of more than US $12 billion in comparison with 2020. The reasons for this are varied: cutting costs, increasing quality or easing the pressure on employees are just some of them. The current shortage of skilled workers is also ensuring that more and more companies are relying on software robots because tasks that are pending still need to be completed – even if there are no people to handle them.

RPA is primarily being used in logistics for administrative tasks, such as reading data sets or forwarding electronic information. ‘Very many manual processes are still in use and there’s therefore enormous potential for automation solutions – and therefore for software robots too,’ says Marie-Louise Heidbrink, explaining the situation in the podcast. She also reveals why RPA is playing a major role in customs clearance and how logistics specialists can import their customers’ electronic data into their own transport management system with great ease and save time in the process, thanks to RPA.

Please note: This episode is currently only available in German. You can find the podcast with German and English subtitles here.

Podcast
07.09.2022

Logistics People Talk | Episode 11

Marie-Louise Heidbrink talks about robotic process automation (RPA) and explains why using software robots – particularly in light of the current shortage of skilled workers – is becoming more and more important in the logistics sector.

Transcript of our podcast episode

00:00:02
Andrea Goretzki: Welcome to another edition of Logistics People Talk, the official Rhenus podcast for everyone who wants to stay up to date with logistics. Presented by Gwendolyn Dünner and Andrea Goretzki. Our guest today is Marie-Louise Heidbrink. She is Head of Robotic Process Automation at the Rhenus Group and is very familiar with the automation and simplification of work processes. This brings us right to the heart of today’s topic. It’s about automated processes in logistics and the question of how cooperation between man and machine can be successful.

00:00:39
Gwen Dünner: Hi Marie-Louise, welcome and thank you for taking the time to be with us today and explain the topic of robotic process automation or RPA for short.

00:00:49
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Thank you very much for inviting me. I’m glad that I can be here and discuss this topic with you.

00:00:54
Gwen Dünner: Maybe not everyone has an idea of what robotic process automation or RPA is. That’s why we wanted to get into the topic slowly first. Marie-Louise, what exactly does robotic process automation mean and what do you do as Head of RPA?

00:01:15
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: RPA stands for robotic process automation. It’s a technology that came into being around the 2000s. This technology is there to automate manual, repetitive business processes. These are processes that are always recurring and in which the tasks always follow the same sequence, i.e. they always have the same order and are based on rules. You might be familiar with this from computer science, these classic if-then rules that you say: if this happens, then this has to happen. This technology is based on so-called software robots. Ultimately, these are the ones that automate and carry out these business processes. As I said, this technology has been around since the 2000s. But it is only now that it is really changing and something is happening. Over the last three or four years, I would say that there has been real dynamism in it and that there is real development to be seen. As Head of RPA, I have a double role: I lead the team and therefore also the Centre of Excellence for the Rhenus Group. This is something like a niche department that is specifically familiar with this topic and has the knowledge of how to approach it and how to develop such software robots. As the head of this Centre of Excellence, I am of course mainly responsible for strategic issues. It is very dynamic and a lot is developing. That means you always have to keep your eye on the ball and make sure that you keep up with these developments and always implement the whole thing. This includes topics like infrastructure and servers and computers, but of course also topics like marketing and sales. I’m sure we’ll come back to that later. But the topic of robots is not always associated with positive impressions. These are all areas that I look after as Head of RPA and where I look strategically: in which direction are we developing? Where can we somehow follow up? Where can we become even better? But I also have a second role in the team: that is the topic of process consulting; I take up processes with our customers, whether they are internal, i.e. from the Rhenus Group, or external, and look at them. So we look at what do they look like at the moment? What are the colleagues doing at the moment, what clicks are they performing, what keystrokes are they making? I look at how we can ‘set up’ the Robo, as we call it. In other words, we look at how the robot can carry out this process in the future. And then I prepare the process for development so that the colleagues know how this robot should be built, and then I hand it back to the specialist department.

00:03:47
Andrea Goretzki: Now you have just said that in the last 3 to 4 years something has really changed and something has really happened. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, more than half of all companies already use RPA solutions or software robots for process automation. According to various studies, this area is even the fastest growing in the global market for business software. Why is that? Why do so many companies rely on RPA and what do they want to achieve with it?

00:04:15
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Well, I think RPA is so successful for a variety of factors because it addresses a variety of challenges in the company. We actually have 3 areas where RPA is used and where it fills the gaps. On the one hand, we have the classic shortage of skilled workers, which of course varies in different areas. It is very difficult to find people on the market today because they are simply no longer available to carry out the tasks that need to be done. That’s why we have to look at who can perform which tasks in the future? That’s where software robots come in: where the workload remains the same, but there are no longer people on the market who can take on these tasks. That means we have to look at which tasks are these manual tasks that are repetitive, that can be put into rules, that are real robot tasks. We then check which employees still do such tasks and whether these tasks can then be taken over by software robots. The workload is of course the same nowadays, maybe even more in some cases, but still there are not so many people left to take over these tasks. That’s part of why RPA is so incredibly successful: because software robots can take over entire parts of processes that employees still do today so that in the future they can focus on tasks and issues that are really important for a company. In addition to the ‘shortage of skilled workers’, there is also ‘Generation Z’. The requirements of work have changed extremely. If someone from Generation Z comes into the company today and you tell them: you can copy files from one Excel file to another Excel file all day, then they would very much question the sense of this and say: ‘But I want to the work I do to mean something. And I want to go home at night and say I’ve made a real impact and I’ve really achieved something.’ This means that such simple tasks really need to be ‘eliminated’ and taken over by software robots. So that employees really do tasks that have meaning and at the same time also bring value to the company and add value. So that’s the second part: you look at tasks employees are really needed for, tasks you can’t use robots for? The third area also has to do with the shortage of skilled workers: it is already very extreme, but in the last few years we have noticed it particularly blatantly in the IT sector. Getting IT people is even more difficult. That is why we are also taking the approach within the Rhenus Group of temporarily taking over tasks from IT: creating interfaces that are taken over by robots because we are able to build such software robots within 3 to 5 days. This is also called bridge technology. We take over something temporarily as a bridge, so to speak, e.g. certain functions in systems or the uploading of documents. In the long term, of course, something like this should run for an interface that is really hard-coded. But in the short term, something like this can be taken over by software robots. Topics that cannot be taken over at the moment because there are not enough people to programme something in the IT area are then taken over by software robots. This means that there are three huge challenges in the company and software robots can be used everywhere. I think that’s one of the reasons why RPA is so incredibly successful right now and why so many companies are using it.

00:07:59
Andrea Goretzki: That’s very exciting. You just said 3 to 5 days. That means that you can offer solutions very quickly when someone comes and says, ‘I have a problem right now.’

00:08:10
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Exactly, because the big advantage of RPA is that the software robots work via the interface. That means they work in the system just like we humans do. They have a normal log-in, then this log-in screen comes up and they enter their data there and then they also make the mouse clicks in the screen. That makes the whole thing so incredibly simple and also so incredibly fast. That’s why, if we know what the process steps are and what has to be done, we can develop such a robot within 3 to 5 days. That is the big advantage why it is so fast and why such robots are often used as a bridge technology: because it is simply faster compared to building an actual interface.

00:08:53
Gwen Dünner: You have now pointed out many advantages, which I also understand and whose sense I also see. But of course there is also the downside. What all companies take very seriously is security. What about software robots? Can they be hacked or how is the security of the data handled?

00:09:14
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: There are actually two issues. We have security with regard to the question: what can be hacked? And we have data security. Hacking is a very complex issue. In fact, I’m not a hacker either, unfortunately.

00:09:26
Andrea Goretzki: (Laughter)

00:09:29
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: But we also like to call these robots virtual employees because they work like employees, but they are virtual. That means they also have – this is a bit technical – a normal AD account, so they work in the active directory and are created in the same way. As far as hacking is concerned, they are just as secure or unsecure as our account is. They are embedded in the system, in the infrastructure, just like we are, and then it is more a question of how security is guaranteed in the background. Data security as such is yet another issue. Of course, this relates to the whole issue of data protection and here we as the Rhenus Group are absolutely on it, ensuring that the data is properly secured and protected. We have all the underlying concepts that there are. There are deletion concepts to delete certain data by certain deadlines. We adhere to these. For example, if we process personal data, such as employment contracts, we have a different deletion concept than if it is some kind of order data that does not contain personal data. But we attach a lot of importance to that and we stick to it.

00:10:40
Gwen Dünner: If you view the robots as virtual employees, then you understand that they are as unsecure as we are – only probably more secure because employees sometimes go on the internet or leave the workplace. But of course a programme doesn’t do that.

00:10:55
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: That’s right. We also have different guidelines within the Rhenus Group, for example on the subject of macros: macros are security gaps and that’s why we have a guideline that our software robots are not allowed to process Excel files that contain macros. Because robots cannot judge whether this is an unsecure sender or whether the mail content does not match what it is supposed to process. This means that we have implemented the policy that no Excel files with macros may be processed. This already closes a whole security gap.

00:11:27
Andrea Goretzki: You work for the Rhenus Group, an internationally active logistics service provider. What is RPA used for in logistics and what are the advantages of using virtual employees specifically in logistics?

00:11:40
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: As a centre of excellence, we are responsible for the Rhenus Group, which is a very diverse logistics service provider offering a wide range of services. We have split RPA into different areas accordingly. On the one hand, the robots are used for the administrative departments, i.e. HR, Finance and Controlling. There we have an extremely large number of manual processes and therefore also an extremely large potential for automation solutions and thus also for software robots. But there are already some in use, the colleagues are already well supported by our software robots. On the other hand, however, we also have specific logistics departments that deal with a wide range of services. When we talk about use cases here, we have, for example, the topic of consignment systems. When the colleagues are in contact with the customer and receive the orders, then the orders have to enter our TMS (transport management system). Usually, something like this runs via a so-called EDI. This is an interface where the data from the customer is automatically transferred to our TMS. That’s how it should usually work because it simply means less effort. But we also know how it is: not everything is always like that ... And a wide variety of robots are used, e.g. to collect the data from the customer and play it into our TMS system. As already mentioned, this may be a temporary solution because our colleagues in IT are working on a long-term solution. But it may also be a solution that is taken over by the robot end to end. In some cases, we are talking about large volumes of consignments that the robot creates. We actually already had a use case where our colleagues said that it would have been very difficult to get all the orders into the system without the robot – because it is an extremely manual task and the volume would not have been feasible. Either the orders are completely taken over by the robot or only partially. Or let’s take the case of an EDI that only works halfway. Some data records are transferred and the robot then adds them, for example. That is one area. The robots are also used in customs. That is an extremely good example because the effect is very large. You can imagine that, in the customs area, there are an extremely large number of data records that consist of a combination of numbers and letters. Some of them are very long. If you make a typo and declare things incorrectly, this can lead to delays in supply chains. Of course, this is not desirable and it is stupid for the customer if the consignments arrive too late and the onward transport cannot take place. Or if goods are needed for production plants, it becomes difficult if there are delays. And that’s ‘only’ because some numbers and letter combinations were specified incorrectly. That’s where our robots come in, for example. They then read these customs documents, which are commercial invoices and the like, and enter them into the customs pre-system. Customs clearance is still done by our colleagues, of course, but we still make sure that the correct data from the documents is entered into this system so that the colleagues really only have to look it over and do a few more checks. I am also quite open: not everything can always be taken over by software robots – I always dispel this illusion from the beginning – but a lot can. Maybe the colleagues have to add one or two pieces of data and then they can do the customs clearance completely. Another logistics area: if someone orders a sofa or a bed from a retailer, Rhenus will also deliver it in part. Here, robots take over the shipment notification in part or provide support. If you receive an email that says your sofa will be delivered tomorrow between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., that is also an area where a robot provides support. The notification itself is handled by another system. That’s also quite a good example because it doesn’t take over the entire process, but only part of it. What the robot does: it gets the order and sees ‘What do I have available for the next possible delivery window?’, selects that and actually just notifies the colleagues, saying, ‘Then you can deliver the shipment.’ The other system then takes over communication with the customer. So the areas of application for the robots are very different and diverse.

00:15:53
Gwen Dünner: What I was just wondering is do you have to maintain the robots as well? Are there any periods of time when they have to be readjusted or checked again to make sure everything is still working properly?

00:16:04
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Yes, in fact that is a very large part of our work in the team with a very high priority: the maintenance of the robots. It all has its advantages and disadvantages, this surface work, that’s what I want to call it: that the robots go over the surface. Because you can imagine that such systems often change. Then updates are installed and suddenly a button is called something else and the robot doesn’t know what to do: ‘It was called that before, now it’s suddenly called this? These are rather small things. But more often we implement processes with colleagues that are still rudimentary at the beginning. Because, of course, at the beginning there is a bit of scepticism about such software robots and you first set up a basic process. And when the colleagues then realise that it works well and that the software robots support well, then they usually start to add something at the front or back. For us, that falls into the area of maintenance and support. That makes up a large part of our day-to-day business. Sometimes the customers still have questions. Or: the robot should run again because something has been forgotten by the colleagues. That really does play an important role.

00:17:05
Andrea Goretzki: We have already heard a lot about the advantages of these robots. Nevertheless, there is certainly still a fear associated with them: oh, virtual employee, is it going to take my job away in the long run? How is that? Do employees have to worry that they will become superfluous through the use of robots? Or is the fear unfounded? Can you take away the fear?

00:17:34
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Well, I actually think that when the term automation comes up, of course many people immediately think ‘I’m being replaced’ and ‘I don’t have to do my job anymore’. Of course, that immediately comes to mind. That’s okay because it was also like that before when this physical automation came. When these physical robots came into the production halls of car manufacturers. Jobs were lost, of course, but new ones were also created. Nowadays, I would say it’s quite different. If there are no more people on the market to do the work, which people should I replace, so to speak? I have advertised many jobs in the last few weeks because our team has grown extremely. The number of applications that came in was already very low simply because there are not so many people left on the market. That means the fear is completely unfounded, in my opinion, because the people are no longer there to do the work. That means, by laying off these employees, I would be making the biggest mistake as a company if I didn’t have any to do the work. Nevertheless, I believe that a rethink has to take place in companies, that you really have to put all the processes that are there to the test. When I ask my circle of friends and family, ‘How are things at work?’ Then I actually always hear: ‘Super busy. I don’t know when I’m going to get it all done.’ Sometimes colleagues are still working at the weekend and say, ‘I had to finish two or three more things.’ I have never heard anyone say to me that they have so little to do or that they are bored at work. Maybe that’s another point that has to be taken into account and that also supports what I just said: if there are no employees on the market, you can’t replace them. The rethinking that has to take place in companies means really putting the processes to the test: okay, I now have person X. What are the processes that this person carries out? What are their tasks? And then it has to be analysed: which of these can be taken over by a software robot and which of these still need to be done by person X and what tasks can they then take over in addition? I think this is also very important when we talk about communication. I always attach great importance to this when we talk to internal or external clients: don’t tell your employees: ‘You’ll get more time for valuable tasks.’ But rather tell your employee what tasks he or she will take on. Because this: ‘You will have more time for valuable tasks’ is also a bit of a cliché. Because the fear is also really well founded, you should tell the employee specifically: ‘Watch out, these tasks will now be taken over by a software robot in the future, and it is exactly these tasks that you will then take over in addition.’ I think that helps a lot to take away that fear a little bit by saying, ‘You’re not doing just anything, you’re doing exactly that.’

00:20:25
Andrea Goretzki: Yes, well, you already said it at the beginning: the robot mainly takes on very monotonous tasks that perhaps not everyone likes to do. So, entering endless combinations of letters and numbers into Excel spreadsheets doesn’t sound like a dream job.

00:20:45
Gwen Dünner: Not really a favourite!

00:20:46
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: That’s right, yes.

00:20:47
Andrea Goretzki: That’s why you’re rather happy and grateful when you’re done with such tasks in the future and can hand them over to your virtual colleagues.

00:20:58
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: That’s definitely the case. That is also what I perceive. I can also talk quite openly about my experiences when we have implemented something: the scepticism was always very great and accordingly the attitude towards me as a person. I know it was never meant personally, but of course there was this fear: what if the robot does everything now? What am I supposed to do then? But afterwards, my colleagues come up to me and say that they are very happy that the robot is doing it now – because the customers who are connected to it are much happier again and they can simply finish work on time and pick up their children from school without having to call again and say: ‘I’ll be an hour late because I still have so much to do. So: at the beginning there is a lot of scepticism, but once you see what such software robots can do and what kind of relief they bring in, then the joy is all the greater afterwards.

00:21:45
Gwen Dünner: As you just explained, the acceptance of these software robots is increasing. Finally, perhaps the question: how do you think the topic of RPA will develop in the next few years? For example, what role do you think artificial intelligence will play?

00:22:00
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: So, in answer to your first question about what role RPA will play: I believe that it will become more and more dominant in the company and will also take on a supporting role in the company. I think some companies still need a little longer for this. Other companies are already very far along in this respect. But the shortage of skilled workers is there and we have to do something about it. We have to come up with something to continue to deliver this customer service that we have and want to offer. That’s why I’m very curious to see how quickly other companies, which perhaps haven’t even dealt with this issue yet, will now have to jump on board to meet this challenge. But I am also very curious about the Rhenus Group. We have been involved in this topic for three years now and, in my opinion, we have always kept up with all the developments that have taken place. And that also includes the topic of artificial intelligence. Of course, this topic is still somewhat in its infancy. The first artificial intelligence we have now is intelligent document processing. Robots are able to read data from documents that are of poor quality and process it afterwards, and also from different layouts. You can imagine this using invoices as an example: every supplier and every service provider has a different invoice layout. In the past, you had to teach the robot: this document has ‘invoice’ at the top right and this one has ‘invoice’ at the top left. Or: here it is written differently and in the other layout it is written like this. We no longer have that with this solution. That means the robots work correctly. There are machine learning models in the background, where the robots really learn how such layouts look and where they get certain data from. That already exists and works really well. In the long term, robots will be able to make decisions based on data. I said at the beginning that there are these classic if-then rules. At the moment, we still give these rules to the robot. So we tell it, if you have this, you go this way, and if you have that, you go that way. Eventually, the idea is that robots will decide what to do based on the data they have. How quickly that will come, how well it will really work, I’m still very curious about that. But I’m looking forward to it. But that is the direction in which it will go. I’m very sure that if you look at RPA technology and the developments that have already come with it in the last three years, you’ll see that a lot will happen.

00:24:22
Andrea Goretzki: Yes, it sounds like this topic will definitely be with us for quite a while. Marie-Louise, thank you very much for taking the time to be here today and tell us about your field. That was mega exciting.

00:24:35
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Thank you very much for having me.

00:24:37
Gwen Dünner: You’re very welcome and we’d love to do it again. We will definitely stay on the topic.

00:24:41
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: Yes, definitely.

00:24:43
Andrea Goretzki: We also have to see where we are with artificial intelligence and the decision...

00:24:46
Gwen Dünner: ... I was just going to say: you let us know before the matrix is switched on!

00:24:49
Marie-Louise Heidbrink: I’ll report back then, exactly. [Laughter]

00:24:53
Gwen Dünner: Yes, that wraps it up again: our latest episode of Logistics People Talk, the podcast of the Rhenus Group. Thank you also to our listeners for joining us. If you don’t want to miss another episode, subscribe to Logistics People Talk wherever podcasts are available. All the best. Take care – goodbye from Gwendolyn Dünner

00:25:10
Andrea Goretzki: and Andrea Goretzki.

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