Process mining even gets the most exotic flaws. Pipple helps logistics company Rhenus to roll out the technology to their European branches.

Does a picker in the warehouse receive his instructions via an automatic voice instruction? And does that include a product from bulk packaging? Then things go wrong, process mining at Rhenus showed: a method in which a computer program analyzes a large amount of internal data for patterns. They also discovered that a type of order that always had to be checked manually, escaped the dance in 20% of the cases.

Proof of value

These are just a few results of a test period with process mining software package Celonis. The test was supposed to show whether a business license would be worth the hefty annual price tag. Dennis Batenburg, Manager Business reporting & controlling at Rhenus, asked Pipple for a proof of value. He already knew the Eindhoven data consultants from data projects in other departments.

Real-time process data

The fact that the company could benefit greatly from process mining emerged in a brainstorm with Pipple. Rhenus’ financial reports showed that some locations invariably achieved the KPIs for the customer, but without earning a penny. If adjustments were made, the effect was only visible in the next report, a month later. That had to change, Batenburg decided: ‘Only when the shop floor has real-time process data can you really be in control.’

Count out your winnings

After three months of trial runs in their warehouse in Tilburg, Batenburg gave the green light for the purchase of the package. The business case is far exceeded. ‘Process mining saves us 100K annually in this warehouse alone. We are now rolling out to warehouses in Poland, France and Germany, where the products and processes are almost the same. Count out your profit if we apply this to all our sixty warehouses!’

Process mining saves us 100K annually in this warehouse alone. Count out your winnings if we apply this to all our sixty warehouses!

Specialist process management

Although Rhenus itself has a battery of experienced project managers, Pipple’s project management is indispensable for success, according to Batenburg. ‘Such a package is not a Windows that you just roll out. You can’t experiment with this yourself: everything is tailor-made and everything has to be right. There are different activities than a typical project. Pipple has dealt with this axe many times before. Database connections, transformation scripts, dashboards, use cases: they know what is needed when and how long it takes to develop.’