Learn, explore and unleash your inner chef.

Could you briefly explain how has Bosch integrated the P2P process in indirect purchasing?

We were looking at different aspects of the process and decided on user centricity. This means looking at our employees and what would help them most by considering user experience and simplicity. We introduced a virtual shopping mall to guide the user through the self service buying channels to increase automation. PO creation is automated wherever possible or supported by RPA.
From there we have a purchasing cockpit that automates purchase orders where we can use templates and workflows. Finally, we have a collaborative platform with our suppliers to streamline the P2P process and data flow. We utilize e-
Invoices as much as possible to support our vision of “zero touch” P2P processing.

What are the challenges faced in moving towards high standardization level?

The main challenge we face is reducing complexity. Bosch has a footprint in dozens of countries, and each country has unique legal, statutory, and process requirements. Furthermore, Bosch itself is a complex company with a diverse range of businesses, products, and internal systems. Over time, Bosch has also developed a complex system landscape, with over 50 different internal SAP systems. Our challenge is to introduce simplicity within this environment.

What are the main challenges for further automation?

With the known methods like eCatalogs, Marketplaces, etc. it is getting harder and harder to increase the automation rate so we need to look into new fields. This means to better integrate the Source-to-Contract process, to improve data quality or to experiment with innovative topics like I4.0.

Country-specific legal requirements have a big impact on automation improvements; these requirements impact our system configuration, our master data and our internal processes. For example, some countries such as India or China, have highly specific and complex tax rules that apply at both national and state levels. For other countries such as Brazil, the frequency and volume of legal changes make it difficult to interpret, test and implement timely changes to our systems and processes. And then on a practical level, invoice formats diverge widely by country.
Our challenge is to align our systems with these variables, to maintain and synchronies our master data, to continue to ensure information and process security, and to continue to improve our processing volumes and accuracy. It will be an exciting journey.

What would you like to achieve by attending the 11th Edition P2P and Robotic Process Automation Strategy Workshop?

I would like to learn from other companies, establish collaboration platforms and see what best-in-class processes look like within different industries.