Scaling an RPA automation program intelligently and efficiently
In collaboration with Mindbox, Danone has been consistently planning and developing a smart automation program using UiPath’s Robotic Process Automation tools. The Citizen Development project has now been launched, under which 70 employees from Danone’s business departments across European subsidiaries will receive training that will enable them to design, build, and manage RPA robots on their own.
Danone is a global company offering products that promote healthy eating and well-being to customers in over 120 countries across five continents. Danone’s mission is “to bring health through food to as many people as possible.”
In Poland, Danone’s first imported products became available as early as 1990, and just two years later, the company began local production. Today, the Danone Group in Poland employs over 3,000 people across two offices – Warsaw and Cięcina – and seven production facilities mainly located in the south of the country, including the Nutricia Factory in Opole.
Danone’s Robotic Process Automation program dates back to 2019. At that time, the company decided to approach automation in a thoughtful and strategic way, without rushing, aiming to identify the right processes for automation. It started by building the foundations through workshops focused on what automation is, the optimal approach to it, and how to choose processes that are ideal candidates for automation.
During these workshops, Mindbox experts demonstrated to local teams what could be achieved with software robots and what would be difficult or outright impossible. The workshops took place in subsidiaries across Poland and Western Europe, initially focusing mainly on supply chain and inventory management issues.
“The workshops served as a catalyst for launching the first pilot projects. Following a proven strategy, we initially focused on low-hanging fruit—processes that could be automated quickly, simply, and cost-effectively, while delivering strong business results. This approach was not only aimed at ensuring a high and fast return on investment but also at promoting automation within the organization. The idea was to show everyone that success is easy to achieve with robots because success is easy to implement,” says Konrad Jakubiec from Mindbox.
Literally within weeks of holding the workshop at Danone, the first software robots were already up and running.
Moreover, more extensive internal training was conducted based on these initial implementations. Representatives from various business units were shown examples of outcomes and the challenges that needed to be overcome.
This led to the formation of Danone’s first internal teams, which – both independently and in cooperation with Mindbox experts – began to expand the automation program and scale the implementation of more robots.
“Automation at Danone across Europe is organized in a hybrid model. The headquarters manages all UiPath software licenses, but regional teams independently decide which processes to automate and how. This structure encouraged the creation of small teams in European subsidiaries that were already capable of delivering more advanced automation projects on their own,” says Danone representative Piotr Grządziel.
This way, in just three years, the corporation reached the point where over 100 robots had been launched, and the list of potential process candidates reached 500 entries. There is a strong business and technical understanding of RPA within the organization, so a decision was made to take the next step and expand the entire project. The decision was made to launch the Citizen Development program, which aims to democratize the use of UiPath technology at Danone. The program will include 70 employees from business departments across various European branches. During the training, they will learn, among other things, how to use UiPath tools that allow robot-building without the need for coding skills.
“Such a large number of trainees is the result of extensive educational efforts launched three years ago. The company carefully planned the automation program and has been implementing it. We support the entire initiative from a technical standpoint and are also responsible for knowledge transfer. In this way, we help build internal teams that can draw on our experience from many other projects – something that would be very difficult to achieve in a company that doesn’t specialize in automation implementations,” says RPA expert Jakub Bugdoll from Mindbox.
In this way, the company will continue to build and develop its competencies over time – with the support of a partner who accelerates project delivery, helps avoid time-consuming and sometimes costly mistakes, and is responsible for more technically advanced projects.