Aspen Pumps used SAP Build Process Automation and SAP AI Core to deploy 12 bots that automate administrative tasks such as goods receipts, invoice processing, WIP valuation, and exchange-rate revaluations across multiple global sites.
These automations save the equivalent of 10,000 hours per year, reduce manual intervention in invoice processing by 80%, and generate about £45,000 in annual savings from a single BOM compilation bot.
By combining process automation with generative AI assistants for customer service and sales, Aspen Pumps is cutting call resolution times, accelerating agent onboarding, and supporting rapid business growth without increasing headcount.
Harnessing process automation and AI to manage growing workloads
A leading manufacturer in the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration systems sector, Aspen Pumps specializes in condensate pumps and related accessories. Distributing products to more than 100 countries, the company has sales teams across the world and offices on four continents.
Since the company’s inception in 1992, business growth has been swift and extensive. However, Aspen Pumps didn’t want to increase its headcount at the same rate as its revenue growth to cope with the increased workload resulting from scaling up the business.
Instead, it wanted to find smarter ways of working to help its existing staff be more productive. To achieve this, it decided to introduce process automation and AI to speed up time-consuming administrative processes that employees were carrying out manually—enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks.
Creating innovative solutions by combining process automation with AI
Running its business with an SAP Cloud ERP solution, the manufacturer looked for a process automation solution from within the SAP portfolio. When SAP partner NTT DATA Business Solutions UK&I demonstrated the possibilities of creating automation using SAP Build Process Automation, Aspen Pumps was inspired to embark on a companywide program to innovate the way it gets work done (see the diagram).
With help from NTT DATA, Aspen Pumps used SAP Build Process Automation on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) to deploy 12 different bots across sites in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Malaysia. These included automations for routine tasks such as managing goods receipts, work-in-progress valuations, invoice processing, and exchange-rate revaluations. The team also created bots to tackle complex tasks. One example is a bot that uses the SAP Document AI solution to interpret and extract information from CAD drawings of air-conditioning systems and
the frames needed to support them. Based on this information, the bot then automatically creates a bill of materials (BOM), enabling Aspen Pumps to quickly and accurately create a quote for the project.
People are at the heart of the company’s approach to process automation. As such, employees are actively involved and encouraged to submit ideas for areas where a bot could speed up a process that’s currently handled manually. And with low-code functionality offered by SAP Build Process Automation providing a straightforward bot-creation experience, automations can go from idea to implementation in little time. Using intuitive development tools, the maximum time taken to develop a bot is eight weeks—while many proof-of-concept projects are delivered within one week.