Aspen Pumps: Freeing staff to focus on growing the business by automating time-consuming administrative tasks with AI
Realizing the potential of business process automation and AI
With revenue doubling every four years, growth at UK-headquartered Aspen Pumps Group has been rapid. But increased business has also brought an increased workload. To support ongoing expansion, the manufacturer used the SAP Build Process Automation solution and SAP AI Core infrastructure to create automation bots that free employees from repetitive manual tasks.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Industrial manufacturing | Hailsham, United Kingdom | ~400 employees | NTT DATA Business Solutions UK&I |
hours saved each year due to process automation.
reduction in manual intervention in invoice processing.
(or €53,346) in savings each year.
Business Systems Manager, Aspen Pumps Group
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 company-wide 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.
With these automations in place, Aspen has now undertaken a number of proof-of-concept projects to incorporate generative AI into its processes. These include technical product assistance for customer service agents, AI-driven customer order matching, and AI-enabled mailbox management for the customer service team. Each of these solutions leverages the scale of SAP Build Process Automation, combined with bespoke AI services deployed from SAP AI Core to add new intelligence to the process.
Business Systems Manager, Aspen Pumps Group
Fueling growth by increasing productivity and enabling process excellence
With the automations in place, employees at Aspen Pumps now spend less time on repetitive administration tasks across multiple different business functions. Thanks to the process automations, the total time saved is equivalent to 10,000 hours each year, helping drive productivity and supporting ongoing revenue growth.
Process quality has also improved, with the risk of inaccuracies due to human error eliminated through automation. The significant impact on cost savings is demonstrated by the BOM compilation bot, which has reduced costs due to inaccuracies in manual processing by £25,000 annually. Added to the £20,000 yearly cost saving as a result of automating the BOM compilation process, this amounts to an annual total cost saving of £45,000 for this one bot alone.
Now free from tedious manual administration work, employees have more time to spend on higher-value, more-strategic tasks such as tracking key trends, finding ways to drive productivity, and improving operational efficiency. They can also spend more time interacting with customers and suppliers, enabling them to build stronger, more-profitable relationships. And with work roles now focusing on more-fulfilling activities, overall job satisfaction is higher, improving employee retention.
Harnessing generative AI to enhance customer service and increase sales
The automations created with SAP Build Process Automation have been pivotal in helping Aspen Pumps streamline business operations and improve productivity, enabling the company to support future growth without increasing workforce size. To further enhance its automation strategy, it’s also now exploring AI capabilities within SAP BTP.
The company has recently begun a proof-of-concept project combining SAP Business AI, SAP Build Process Automation, and NTT DATA’s GenAI Accelerated offering for SAP Business Suite. Using a generative AI model built on Aspen Pumps’ 17,000-item catalog, an AI assistant will provide customer service agents with product-specific recommendations while on calls.
The company anticipates that the new generative AI solutions will cut call resolution time by two minutes while halving the time to onboard new customer agents. Offering a geographical mapping service to direct customers to the nearest retail outlet, the AI assistant will also provide a strong call to action on each call, helping drive sales. In addition, interactions on Meta’s WhatsApp will provide customers with on-site recommendations, specifications, and product information as required.
With help from NTT DATA, the IT team was able to rapidly create a functional prototype to demonstrate to senior executives. Following a successful proof-of-concept project, the technology is planned to go live soon.
Featured partner
Helping clients in over 50 countries move confidently into the digital future, NTT DATA offers consulting, industry solutions, business process services, IT modernization, and managed services. The SAP partner helped Aspen Pumps develop automation bots that have increased productivity by removing the need for repetitive administrative tasks to be completed manually. Learn more about GenAI Accelerated.