KURODA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.

The main use for RK at the moment is automating data collection and distribution. Specifically, we download various reports such as order reports, purchase reports, and sales reports from each location, and compile sales performance data once a month to distribute it by email to all department heads.

Furthermore, we are currently working on creating an automatic order receiving system that reads order data from customers and inputs the contents into the core system. However, the order format differs for each customer. Therefore, depending on the format, we need to change the process of pulling the data from the documents. We can't handle everything with a single scenario (automation built in RK), so we are creating multiple scenarios for each format. We are also considering using RK for other tasks such as canceling forecasts and reconciling delivery date changes.
We are in the process of trying out various scenarios while brainstorming with the eight employees in the company who are familiar with RK.

In the Sales Support Department where I belong, in addition to managing orders, deliveries, and other tasks, we are also working on improving operations within the company. With a staff of about 250, we were considering how to perform our tasks efficiently. This led us to the idea of promoting digital transformation within the company.
Although we do have a system development group in our company, it costs a lot to request their services. We were also told that they would prioritize more critical processes, so we had no choice but to search for alternative solutions. That's when we started considering RPA (robotic process automation tools).
At our headquarters, the introduction of an RPA from another vendor had already begun. However, that tool was too difficult to operate, and we couldn't handle it. Therefore, after picking up and considering several other RPA tools, we decided to introduce RK.

The main reasons were “ease of use” and “thorough support.” We found the navigation feature to be especially attractive and it made building scenarios extremely straightforward. Being able to build out a scenario by recording my operations was also helpful when first getting started.

The “premium support” was key, with the point being that there was a dedicated person in charge of supporting our projects. To build scenarios with just the members of the Sales Support Department, without the help of our system development group, we knew we would need a robust support system.

I highly appreciate it, just as I initially imagined. In particular, the following points were good.

1. Easy to create scenarios

First and foremost, the user interface is well thought out to make it easy to create scenarios. It's very easy to select commands from the menu on the left side of the screen or just operate the computer using the recording feature to create about 80% of the scenario.

2. Dedicated support staff

Having a dedicated support person was extremely reassuring. At one point, I was being taught various things over the phone daily. I was also grateful for the ongoing support service, where they explain anything I need in a virtual meeting.
Thanks to this, I can always complete the scenarios I want to build. Moreover, since they are created only on site without going through the system development group, I think we have been able to significantly reduce the time and effort spent building automations.

There were many surprised reactions, since our employees didn’t realize this kind of independent automation was possible. There was an immediate desire from several groups to incorporate RK in their processes. One group that was especially interested was the accounting department, where there are many tasks that do not require judgment and lend themselves to automation easily.
From the actual user side, at first the core users were unsure how feasible it would be to build their own automation, however once they got to use the tool these concerns were laid to rest. Now all users are eager and willing to move forward with any project with RK.

Not yet. However, we plan to achieve some numerical cost-effectiveness in about a year. For example, if we assume that we spend roughly $2k per month on RK licenses, the company requires a cost-effectiveness of about twice that. In that case if we consider the time spent by our 8 employees to build scenarios and the hourly wage of temporary employees, we need to reduce the time spent on work by about 200 hours. At first glance this seems like a huge amount of time, but considering the total time reduction due to the scenarios we will create in the future, we can already see that it is likely to be achieved.

First, we had RK courses in the first few “onboarding” sessions, and nearly 30 employees from the Sales Support Department participated. By taking some time to create scenarios on my own, I am proving to the group that it is extremely easy to use RK to automate my own work. I also give advice on how to select tasks for automation. Even if a task only takes 2-3 minutes, that time can add up if the task occurs repeatedly. If we can automate and reduce the time spent on those tasks, it will result in a significant total time reduction. Moreover, I am gradually spreading the idea that you can also do other work in the time saved.

Yes, we share RK knowledge amongst the team and divide roles according to the members' areas of expertise. For example, I am good at handling the core system SAP, but I am not very good at Excel. When I need to use Excel in a scenario, I ask a member who is good at using RK with Excel to show me what to do. Occasionally if a process requires combining Excel and SAP data, I can take care of the SAP portion of the scenario and let my colleague build the Excel portion of the scenario.

I feel like I have one more teammate in the company who can handle simple tasks for me. As the number of scenarios increases, RK becomes more and more helpful, so I am looking forward to the future of the tool within the company.

I think it is very important to make good use of tools like RK and delegate as many tasks as possible to them. For example, we want to automate more tasks that are close to simple tasks that various departments such as accounting and logistics are doing. By doing so, I hope to achieve solid results in terms of cost-effectiveness, as I mentioned earlier. To achieve this, the support of KEYENCE is absolutely necessary. I look forward to your continued generous support, and if possible, I would like the current support person to continue to be close to our company.