2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR2022) 19-20 May 2022, Bangkok, Thailand

A Study on the Implementation of Robotic Process

Automation (RPA) to Decrease the Time Required
for the Documentation Process: A case study of
ABC Co., Ltd.
2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR) | 978-1-6654-9475-5/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICBIR54589.2022.9786521

Phuwadon Waiyanet Pairor Madonkha

Logistics and supply chain management Logistics and supply chain management
Faculty of Business Administrations Faculty of Business Administrations
Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology
Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, Thailand
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— . The research is to study the possibility of the time and significant errors. Moreover, the vast majority of
implementation of robotic process automation (RPA) to tasks have always illustrated repetitive steps, and
decrease the processing time in the pre- custom’ s sophisticated documents also require a lot of resources. These
documentation process in export- import companies; a case operation wastes will inevitably contribute to the business
study of ABC Co. , Ltd. Currently, there are a number of cost. Consequently, this research paper will discuss “Robotic
delays and high human errors in the document validation Process Automation (RPA) Application Guidelines” since
process, especially transferring information from mater bill of RPA is the novel technology that is the basis of the first step
lading (B/L) to any relevant documents for completing the
of automation in the digital workforce evolution. It is a
customs process. Moreover, the aforementioned steps include
software system capable of handling large amounts of data
a variety of information, documents, and many items that must
be recorded and validated daily. Moreover, such procedures
and also not only provides a comfortable price for an
have still been processed by validators, causing a remarkable investment of SME but also furnishes friendly users who are
proportion of human errors and time- consuming. Therefore, first time of coding.
this research aims to study the guidelines on the features and
capabilities of RPA to decrease the documentation time and
II. MEDTHOD AND ANALYTICAL TOOLS
human errors, leading to noticeable improvements in working A. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
methods in new ways. The results showed that spending time
in invoices recording to the central system at destination Firstly, the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Robotic
customs significantly decreased from 61.21 minutes to 8.26 Process Automation (RPA) is a software or program that
minutes. Validation processing time considerably inclined from helps businesses build robots (Bots) to perform repetitive
80.34 minutes to 6.45 minutes, providing the total process time tasks instead of people by combining Rule Engine, Image
substantially decreased from 252.63 minutes to 121.73 minutes. Recognition, Machine Learning and AI to automate work
reduce errors more efficient and work 24 hours a day [1].
Keywords—Robotic Process Automation (RPA), ECRS
Types of RPAs Robots created by RPA programs fall into
Principles ,Bill of Lading (B/L), Documentatin, Validation.
two main categories: Attended RPA, a human- only robot
I. INTRODUCTION Help the user as they want at the time they want. Suitable for
tasks that require speed and data to be used for further
Nowadays, the export of goods is very popular for Unattended RPA, a robot that works automatically without
entrepreneurs who would like to improve their business manual intervention, can work 24 hours a day, helping with
opportunities. Freight Forwarders are agents who are various tasks with large volumes. Complicated procedure It
responsible for handling international freight and also may take a long time, the working time can be set. [4].
organize customs clearance procedures on behalf of the
importer and the exporter who owns the product; preparing a RPA has the following business benefits:
bill of lading, submitting a ton of set of goods declaration - Reduce errors in the work caused by humans
documents to the customs officers at the destination for goods (Human Error)
releasing, and also delivering goods to employers. Therefore,
the management of mentioned processes must be organized - Reduce costs, reduce costs because they can work
effectively and timely in order to provide reliabilities as well 24 hours a day.
as meet the needs of customers. AE-EDI Department, whose - Improve work efficiency by increasing Output
primary functions are export documents preparation and and reducing Error.
declaration, has indispensably faced complicated customs
documentation process, especially transferring the crucial - Makes repetitive tasks no longer boring.
information from one document to another. For example, they
often record B/L and manifest serial numbers from PDF files Several recent articles [15], [17] engage with the
into the EDI central system leading to an increase in waste application of RPA to real-world case studies, and all of them
highlight a specific increase in productivity realized by the

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 2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR2022) 19-20 May 2022, Bangkok, Thailand

organization as a result of RPA implementation. The authors development and improvement of work processes in which
compare and contrast giving back- office work to robots and there are many process charts. This chart analyzes the flow
people in [2] . Back- office jobs are typically tedious and of raw materials, parts, workers, and equipment moving in
repetitive, and when they are assigned to people, they become the process along with its activities using five standard
weary or bored after a period of time, increasing the chance symbols defined by ASME in the United States: [18].
of error and lengthening processing times, but robots do not
suffer from these problems. Indeed, the study found that
using RPA to supplement current teams increased the number
of cases serviced by the organization by up to 20%. Lacity et
al. showed in [11] that utilizing RPA at Telef'onica O2
improved the customer experience while also lowering costs.
Another study by Lamberton et al. [12] found that without
RPA, the number of workers required to process claims for
an insurance business would be 300 percent higher.
B. Fish Bone Diagram and Why Why Analysis.
In the 1960s, Kaoro Ishikawa [13] proposed the use of
fishbone diagrams to depict cause and effect in the context of
continuous improvement of industrial processes [14] . The
design was originally known as a " Ishikawa diagram," but it
was later nicknamed a " fishbone diagram" because to its
resemblance to a fish's skeleton— a horizontal spine with the
" head" representing a problem or result, and the " bones"
protruding at acute angles denoting causes. A generic
fishbone diagram is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Example of a Flow Process Chart

A cause and effect diagram, often known as a Fishbone 1. Circle (Operation) instead of planning, calculating,
diagram, is a pictorial technique for locating and analyzing and receiving orders.
influencing elements in determining the characteristics of
work output quality [3], 2. Square color (Inspection) represents quality,
quantity, and object characteristics.
Fishbone diagrams are also commonly used in health care
for cause and effect analysis in relation to patient safety [10], 3. Arrows (Transportation) instead of moving, staff
as well as for evaluating quality management systems [8], walking
[9]. 4. Half circle (Delay) instead of waiting for the next
position or the temporary storage of materials during
work.
5. Triangle (Storage) instead of storing materials for a
long time
According to research of [15], using Flow Chart Theory
and Flow Process Chart techniques to solve problem of
loading goods in receiving and exporting process. The result
showed that the production capacity increased to 25%,
compared with original.
Fig. 1. Example of a generic Ishikawa fishbone diagram D. ECRS Technique
ECRS is a motion study approach that is used to analyze
Why-Why Analysis is an analysis QC tool that begins to processes in a manufacturing line. The following
ask " why" questions until the root cause can be found. They fundamental principles are used by ECRS to analyze
usually create a plan to show two types of structures, namely processes and activities: E = Get rid of any job that isn't
the fishbone and the tree. Both chart formats are considered necessary. C stands for combining operations. R = Rearrange
answers to questions that have been set up. This tool uses a the processes in a different order. S = Simplify the operations
method to visualize "impact" and "cause" in some issues, but that are required. [5]. Based on prior research and literature
not immediately conclude what is causes it. It will continue assessments, it can be concluded that ECRS is a simple and
to try to correct the facts in order to continue to find the root effective way for enhancing the efficiency of manufacturing
cause. And such an procedure is useful in that it can allow us lines. To reduce idle time during the ice-cream producing
to understand it in a step-by-step manner and in a systematic process, Awapak et al. [6] used the ECRS technology and the
way without a single drop. [2]. single minute exchange of die (SMED) approach. Miranda
C. Flow Process Chart . [7] recommended using ECRS to improve clean room
assembly process workforce efficiency, which resulted in a
Flow Process Chart is a critical tool used to record reduction in manpower expenses for one electronics
information in detail, conciseness, distance, and time, manufacturing in the Philippines. Makprang [16] used ECRS
illustrated by symbols. Captions and lines inform the details to lower the canned fruits production line's total internal
of the production process to analyze and get a clear picture of transportation distance and number of operators. Kasemset et
the manufacturing process from start to end, leading to the al. [17] used ECRS to reduce negative product costs

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 2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR2022) 19-20 May 2022, Bangkok, Thailand

associated with faults at a Thai plastics packaging industry.

As a result, because the fundamental goal of ECRS as a
process optimization tool is to eliminate non-value-adding
activities, it can also be utilized in administrative procedures.
III. PROCEDURE
A. Research Procedure

Fig. 4. Fishbone diagram

TABLE I. WHY WHY ANALYSIS

Problem Spends more time for validate documents
Why 1 Use staff for keying and document validation.
Why 2 No have equipment for support validation

According to Fig. 4 and Table I. It is undeniable that it is

an important factor that cause all operations to be delayed
and represent high errors in the work process.
2) Process Analysis by Flow Process Chart.
Secondly, this research examines the duration of the
process (60 samples) , as shown in Fig. 5, showing 8
Fig. 3. Sub processes for documents before customs clearance activities, namely processes 1 and 3, which are the export
declaration process. Generating and verifying the accuracy of
Generally, the main factors that result in the delay and the invoice by human took an average of 60.21 minutes and
high error in the process are invoice entering and document 80.34 minutes, respectively. Moreover, there also had a
verification. Not only did a large number of data and waiting period from the steps of customer's data checking,
documents need to be recorded into the customs EDI system matching the confirmation as well as the authorization by
and checked daily, but also such steps still were organized by customs officers. What is more, AE-EDI had the movement
inspectors, leading to an increase of significant human errors in the steps of printing the set of export declaration
along with several daily tasks. documents and summiting to the shipping department. The
total time accounted for 252.63, was been average from 60
We began to study the steps in the documentation process
samples.
before customs clearance and the identified problems by
using a flow process chart. After that, The authors applied
the Fishbone Diagram and Why-Why analysis tool to find
out the root cause and ECRS to rearrange the wasting
process. Researchers then designed the framework of the
RPA software by practicing the UI path, a name of RPA
software. The scenario test was organized into 50 samples of
shipments throughout the period of study. Finally, program
amendments were determined and set standardization.
B. Problem and Process Analysis
1) Problem Analysis
First and foremost, we apply the QC analysis tools
namely Why-Why Analysis and Fish Bone Diagram to
examine the root causes in the steps of recording of export
declaration information and checking the correctness of the
bill of lading. It was found that the main cause of the
problem was the fact that the company still used its Fig. 5. Flow Process Chart
employees to record in the ton of data receiving from invoice
and verify the correctness of the documents by their physical, IV. RESULT
showed in Fig. 4 and Table I. According to the cause of the problem analyzed by the
Why-Why analysis, the Fish Bone diagram showed that the
document validation time is the main point that needs to
improve. Therefore, applying the robotic process automation
(RPA) adjust for time decrease is the solution for this study
the possibility of the research.

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 2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR2022) 19-20 May 2022, Bangkok, Thailand

A. Results of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

A study of the guidelines on the features and capabilities
of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the application
shows that the significant decrease of human errors, number
of workers and document reviewing time. Basically, there
are a lot of data and the relative PDF documents that have to
be put and copied for new generating final invoice process
and accumulating all of detail in to one Excel file. The result
represented that novel generated RPA truly solve the
problem by reducing the time spent on opening and closing
PDF by workers, and also facilitating for the process of
information extraction from PDF of image files.
Fig. 6. An example of using invoice processing of Uipath. B. Results of creation of a program to assist the verification
of the correctness of the documents.
Fig. 6 shows the details of the automatic software system.
Previously, it was found that the document verification
(RPA) that writes instructions for the program to display
process would be difficult as using a manual method to
important information in order to key in the data to the
verify the correctness of documents. However, when we
company's program to make the invoice out, such as Invoice
applied RPA on the circumstance (step 1 - 8). we found that
No. / Dates, Packages / GW / NW, HS Codes / Tariff
all tasks would finish faster. The new robot can decrease
Quantity / English Desc /, Shipping Mark / Remark, Price,
inspection errors and reduce the duties of the inspectors. It
etc. The system will convert the document image file. into a
also lessons the tasks of employees, resulting in less mistakes
text file automatically.
and improving work efficiency.
C. Results of time and tasks.
We applied ECRS principle by using "R" or rearrange into
step 1 to 8 that created the new automatic architectural robot,
so called" RPA, to substitute the human functions. Fig 9
shows that the compensated program can decrease the
number of tasks, resulting in a total processing time accounts
for 121.73 minutes, compared with 252.63 minutes, after the
process improvement. As a result, the work process is
reduced to take an average of 61.21 minutes. It can be seen
that the first step is to produce the export declaration, which
is decreased from the original to only 8.26 minutes and when
Fig. 7. An example of data in the bill of lading is output in Excel. the validity of the document is complete, it will result in the
work process before improvement took an average of 80.34
minutes, decreased to only 6.45 minutes.

Fig. 8. implementation flow chart of robotic process automation(RPA)

Fig. 8 describes the particular implementation details of a Fig. 9. Flow Process Chart after Improvements.
software automation (RPA) system that guides the validation
of the invoice. The novel generated architect will V. CONCLUSION
automatically retrieve the information. Afterwards, the The research is to study the possibility of the
relative documents will be compared between the data from implementation of robotic process automation (RPA) to
company and the customer. When the inspection complete, decrease the processing time in the pre-custom’s
the system will display "Completed". On the contrary, if documentation process. Researcher has begun to follow the
there is an error, the system will show " Error" and inform procedures proposed in Chapter 3. The proposal is procedure
the wrong shipment number and notify the AE-EDI for making export declaration and checking the correctness
department to amend the correct information before the of the declaration documents in the Picking List and
submission of final bill of lading to the Customs Department. Shipment before customs formalities correctly and quickly is
good for the staff because there are many invoices and

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 2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR2022) 19-20 May 2022, Bangkok, Thailand

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