Keeping customers fully informed at all times is a key success factor for Cologne-based igus GmbH as well. The manufacturer of complex injection-molded components operates its own Delivery Excellence unit, which checks the status of all orders every day and proactively keeps customers updated on delivery dates and other key information. With more than 1,100 ongoing orders in the pipeline at any given time, this is a considerable effort — which is why the continuous improvement of the underlying processes is also one of the core tasks of the Delivery Excellence team.

Automated workflows inside the igus factory — getting products to customers as quickly as possible. (igus)

“We’re like process truffle pigs — always sniffing around for optimization potential,” jokes Vladimir Komarov. For him, automation is top priority:

“It’s the manual steps that have been slowing our workflows down. A lot of valuable work time is wasted there. That’s why we’ve long been using process mining to identify and close — or automate — our process gaps. But we were never really satisfied with the visualizations alone.”

Relief came in the form of a Celonis platform developed in collaboration with ORAYLIS. It not only enables effective visualization and optimization of every process step that relates to customer communication — it also lays the foundation for systematically evaluating and improving igus’ entire process landscape.

Eliminating Knowledge Monopolies and Wasted Labor

It’s no surprise that customer communication became the first lighthouse project. Determining the current status of all active orders required extensive manual work:

“First, we had to painstakingly extract huge volumes of data into Excel,” explains Komarov.

“A colleague with the required expertise would then validate the results and upload them to the ERP system across multiple steps and files. Finally, each customer was individually informed via email.”

The manufacturing processes of igus products are complex and offer a wide range of optimization potential.

This process not only wasted valuable time — it also carried the risk of human error, which is always difficult to justify to customers. Additionally, the team was dependent on knowledge monopolies:

“Order scheduling relied on just a few people with highly specialized knowledge. Whenever someone went on vacation or fell sick, things were never completely smooth.”

Optimization and Automation — Directly at the Core

The weaknesses in the customer communication process were obvious. These “low-hanging fruits” could be tackled quickly with the new Celonis platform.

“Instead of first visualizing processes and then optimizing them, we directly automated the critical process steps,” explains Sarina Sommer, Process Mining Expert at ORAYLIS.

“Celonis uses dedicated business logic to automatically generate fixed delivery dates for all orders. This has already significantly reduced manual effort and increased value. Manual scheduling is increasingly being replaced by what igus calls auto-scheduling.”

The Delivery Excellence team can now — alongside their daily work — continuously monitor and refine these automated flows using the platform. The overarching goal: a fully optimized process that requires no manual intervention at all.

The Celonis solution relies on consolidated process and status data provided by igus’ enterprise Data Lakehouse. Auto-scheduling is not a standalone tool — it is fully integrated into igus’ cloud-based data infrastructure.

“All required data is extracted from the relevant source systems, centrally stored, and prepared. From there, the platform can generate a real-world process view — with all variants — at the push of a button. Weaknesses can be identified based on facts and resolved effectively. Changes are then written back into the system. This creates a continuous loop of data-driven process optimization.”

Results That Impress

“When I saw the results of our auto-scheduling, I was very satisfied,” confirms Vladimir Komarov. “It’s exactly what we needed. We now have a fully automated process chain based on high-quality data and validated logic and rules. The time savings are clear. And we can now give our customers faster and more accurate planning certainty than ever before. Our collaboration with ORAYLIS has opened up completely new perspectives.”

But this is only the beginning. Auto-scheduling is just one part of a company-wide initiative to systematically optimize all processes — from order entry to shipping. The goal is for every igus employee to be trained and empowered to continuously improve or automate their own process environment. With the Celonis platform, igus now has the perfect technological foundation to achieve this.

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