AI Agents automate updates to material specifications in SAP
Context
For food & beverage manufacturers, accurate material specifications are more than a matter of efficiency– they’re a regulatory and operational necessity. Managing raw material procurement becomes even more complex when dealing with sensitive ingredients like allergens, kosher, and halal-certified materials.
Challenge
Our client, a leading European food & beverage manufacturer, with an extensive production and distribution network, needed to manage its production flow and speed while avoiding an increase in workforce.
The Quality Management Department faced a lot of inefficiencies due to the need for manual extraction of material specifications from supplier documents and updates into SAP. Without real-time updates in SAP, our client could not leverage Advanced Planning Scheduling (APS), which led to:
- Production delays caused by incorrect ingredient availability;
- Compliance risks raised by outdated allergen and certification data;
- Supply chain disruption impacting order fulfillment and food safety.
Solutions
The client benefited from an AI-powered automation solution tailored to extract and update material specifications directly into SAP.
Large capacity for data processing
The AI agents could extract up to 70 key data fields from supplier documents, validate the information, and ensure seamless updates in SAP, eliminating manual interventions.
No training, maximum adaptability
The AI solution we created didn’t require any training and could easily adapt to a large variety of supplier-related document formats. This ensured that specifications were always current and accurate, supporting both operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.
Results
Scalability without training
The no-training model enabled the AI Agents to handle diverse supplier documents efficiently, reduced the need for manual data entry and increased the capacity to scale.
Operational efficiency
By ensuring real-time updates in SAP, we enabled the APS system to function properly, improving scheduling accuracy and achieving the higher OEE it was designed to deliver.
Regulatory compliance
Accurate and consistent material specifications in SAP covered compliance with industry standards and requirement, while increasing the quality assurance expected in a highly regulated industry.
