Digital Automation in the Manufacturing Industry

We are quickly reaching an inflection point in the digital automation space. Processes that historically have been completed because “That’s how they’ve always been done” can now be re-imagined using many technologies. Robotic process automation (RPA) is at the heart of the transformation we are seeing at Weyerhaeuser. Using RPA, we have been able to automate and improve processes, including capital asset entry and tracking, inventory management, write-off processing, report generation, and control monitoring. The greatest feature of RPA technology is that when set up properly, the “bot” rarely makes mistakes, doesn’t get tired, and always cuts and pastes data in the right space. RPA is an amazing tool that allows us to take the ‘robot out of the human,’ empowering our people to think critically and focus their time on value-add projects rather than monotonous, repetitive tasks that are tedious and un-rewarding. At Weyerhaeuser, people are our greatest assets; we want to ensure they spend their time doing meaningful, impactful work to drive the business forward. There is no task too small for automation. If the process does not meet the requirements for our team to work efficiently, we recommend the individual automate the process themselves if they can, and we  provide education and support to anyone who wants to reduce their manual, repetitive work.

My favorite part of the job is the excitement this technology brings. When we go into a new department looking for tasks to automate, there are multiple people who jump out of their seats with possibilities. Many of them have tasks they do not love, like manually moving data from one application to another. Or they see the new possibilities automation brings – generating and formatting a frequent data export to give them insights on a fast-changing market – something they previously did not have the time to do. A third solution automation offers is digitizing the institutional knowledge of a team, reducing the need to train new members on a repetitive task. Automating these tasks lets them focus on projects and ideas that have a bigger impact. Innovation is one of the key behaviors we focus on at Weyerhaeuser, and RPA has tapped into this element of our culture and mindset. It has both encouraged and accelerated our innovative efforts in creating new efficient processes, as well as allowing our people to focus on finding the next big innovation.  

“Using RPA, we have been able to automate and improve processes, including capital asset entry and tracking, inventory management, write-off processing, report generation, and control monitoring.”

Most processes in place today have been designed with the limitations of the human workforce in mind. What is the delay in generating this report? Why are there errors in the data set? When can we expect the payment to be processed? These are all valid constraints of the human workforce that automation can solve – processing the simple repetitive tasks, allowing humans to focus on more important work. Through automation, we can improve processes and also create new, more efficient processes with automation in mind. What if a report is generated and distributed as soon as new information is published? What if the data is error-free? What if the payment is processed as soon as it is received? These are the types of questions we can ask with automation in mind, driving value through new-found efficiencies. 

At this point, we are only at the tip of the iceberg regarding our automation efforts. Since we began our automation journey a few years ago, there have been countless learnings and advancements in the digital automation arena. Additionally, we have been learning ourselves. We have built out a strong, well-functioning internal automation team with the tools and processes in place where we can take the next step in scaling automation at Weyerhaeuser. We envision becoming more strategic with available technologies, continually evaluating and understanding “what is possible .”We believe there is enormous potential to expand and scale automation across the company, especially in operational areas where real-time data and insights are the most valuable.