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thyssenkrupp Materials Services
thyssenkrupp Materials Services is the largest independent materials distributor and service provider in the Western world. With approximately 380 locations in more than 30 countries, the company offers a unique variety of materials, raw materials, and services—totaling more than 150,000 products. Approximately 15,900 employees serve more than 250,000 customers worldwide.
To efficiently process inquiries and orders—even those submitted in free-form, such as in a freely worded email or as an attached document—thyssenkrupp Materials Services relies on smart ORDER from Insiders Technologies. In fiscal year 2021/22, the system processed more than 1.5 million line items—across ten subsidiaries at more than 80 locations in nine countries.
Industry
Materials Trading / Industry
Product
smart ORDER
Volume
>1.5 million positions per year
"For us, customer-friendliness also means not forcing customers to use EDI or our online store, but rather accepting their inquiries and orders via email or document as well and processing them as quickly as possible. With smart ORDER, we can efficiently manage the existing diversity."
Dr.-Ing. Arne Conrad,
, Digital Technology Office, thyssenkrupp Materials Services
Project Overview
What was the
initial situation?
- A high volume of incoming inquiries and orders via informal email or as structured documents—from more than 250,000 customers in more than 30 countries
- Orders often lack unique item IDs and vary greatly in format and structure
- Manual order entry, processing, and transfer to the ERP system is very time-consuming and tedious
- Valuable sales time was spent on low-value-added routine tasks rather than on individualized customer service
- The solution had to function within a complex organization comprising ten subsidiaries, more than 80 sales offices in nine countries, and five languages
Why the decision
Insiders?
- A comprehensive evaluation led to a proof of concept with smart ORDER
- Impressed by its ability to extract information from highly heterogeneous and loosely structured documents
- Close, solution-oriented collaboration between IT, business, and product experts at Insiders Technologies
- Seamless integration into the SAP ERP system
How was the solution implemented?
- Agile Approach: Pilot version for a sales office in eight weeks, Germany-wide rollout after another six weeks
- Close coordination between business users, the Digital Technology Office, thyssenkrupp Schulte’s Digitalgarage, and Insiders Technologies
- User training via training sessions, user manuals, videos, and FAQs—even under pandemic conditions
- Dedicated team of data analysts, process experts, and product specialists for continuous weekly improvement sessions
- Change management support with clear communication of the benefits and a dedicated Microsoft Teams community
How can success
be measured?
- More than 1.5 million orders processed using smart ORDER in fiscal year 2021/22
- Significant reduction in order processing time
- Significant reduction in manual intervention compared to the previous process
- More than 600 users at over 80 locations in nine countries work with the solution every day
- Continuous improvement in recognition performance through weekly analysis and optimization sessions using Power BI reports
What are the next steps?
- Automated Verification of Order Confirmations: New Use Case Already Being Implemented
- Automated processing of material certificates: another use case also being implemented
- Identification of additional application areas for AI-based process automation at the initiative of the subject matter experts