Executive summary
2,000+ shop-floor slips a day, 92% confirmed straight-through.
A manufacturer relied on operators to complete time and production confirmation slips during the shift. The information was operationally important, but it reached SAP PP through end-of-shift keypunch. That created a gap between what had actually happened on the floor and what planners, costing and other SAP users could see.
Artificio changed the information path without forcing the operators to change the familiar way they recorded production. Operators still complete their slips. Artificio captures those slips, extracts the production data, resolves and validates the SAP production-order and operation context, and posts eligible confirmations to SAP PP within minutes.
At the stated production scale, the manufacturer processes 2,000+ slips per day, with 92% confirmed straight-through. The floor-to-SAP information lag moved from approximately one shift to minutes. Exceptions are separated from clean confirmations so the administrative team works the records that actually require attention instead of re-keying every slip.
The challenge
Production happened now. SAP learned about it at the end of the shift.
Paper production and time slips can work well for operators because they are simple, familiar and available at the point of work. The problem begins after the slip is completed. When someone must manually key the information into SAP later, the physical event and the digital production record become separated by hours.
During that gap, SAP can show an outdated view of order progress. Planners may not yet see the latest confirmed quantities or operation progress. Costing and production accounting can wait for activity or labor-related confirmation data. Administrative staff must interpret handwriting, locate the correct order and operation, and enter the same information operators already recorded once.
The automation opportunity was therefore not simply “replace paper.” It was to remove the delay and duplicate entry between the shop-floor record and SAP PP.
Before Artificio
- Operator completes the production/time slip.
- Paper accumulates during the shift.
- Admin receives slips later.
- Order and operation are located in SAP.
- Yield, scrap, time and other values are keyed manually.
- Errors or missing information require follow-up.
- SAP order status can lag the physical floor.
- Planners and costing wait for confirmations.
With Artificio
- Operator keeps the familiar floor process.
- Slip is captured soon after completion.
- AI extracts confirmation data.
- SAP order and operation context are validated.
- Clean confirmations post within minutes.
- Only exceptions reach the admin/reviewer queue.
- Planners see more current production status.
- Confirmation history remains traceable to source evidence.
Before automation
End-of-shift keypunch made SAP a delayed representation of the factory.
Manual confirmation entry creates two forms of waste. The obvious one is administrative effort: a person reads a slip and types values that already exist on paper. The less visible cost is latency. Until the confirmation reaches SAP, downstream users are making decisions from an incomplete digital picture of production.
At more than 2,000 slips per day, the process also creates a queue. Clean slips and problematic slips receive similar manual treatment, even though only a minority need investigation.
Artificio separates those populations. Straightforward, high-confidence confirmations can proceed under configured rules, while incomplete, ambiguous or invalid records are held for review.
The solution
Digitize the confirmation, without forcing the floor to change overnight.
- 01 · CAPTURERead the slipPaper · Scan · Photo · Digital form
- 02 · UNDERSTANDExtract confirmationOrder · Operation · Qty · Scrap · Time
- 03 · VALIDATECheck SAP PPOrder · Operation · Status · Context
- 04 · ACTPost or routeConfirmation · Exception · Audit
1. Capture production and time slips
Completed slips are captured through the configured shop-floor process. The source record is preserved so the resulting SAP confirmation can be traced back to the evidence from the floor.
2. Extract confirmation data
Artificio extracts the fields configured for the plant and confirmation process. Depending on the slip, these can include production order, operation, work center or employee reference, posting/date context, yield quantity, scrap quantity, rework where applicable, setup or machine/labor time, activity information, and other required confirmation fields.
3. Resolve SAP production context
The extracted identifiers are checked against SAP before posting. Artificio determines whether the production order and operation exist and whether the extracted record can be associated with the intended confirmation context.
4. Apply business validation
Configured rules can check required fields, quantities, order/operation status, duplicate risk, value ranges, and other controls appropriate to the customer's PP process. Low-confidence or inconsistent values do not silently become SAP confirmations.
5. Post clean confirmations
Eligible confirmations are sent through the customer's approved SAP integration path. The SAP response is returned to the workflow, while rejected or ambiguous records become explained exceptions.
SAP PP validation
The slip is evidence. SAP provides the production context.
Reading a production order number correctly is not enough to safely post a confirmation. Artificio validates the extracted information against the SAP context before straight-through processing.
| Slip evidence | SAP / rule validation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Production order | Order exists and is appropriate for confirmation | Resolve / review |
| Operation | Operation belongs to the resolved order | Match / exception |
| Yield quantity | Required format, UoM and configured quantity controls | Accept / review |
| Scrap / rework | Configured process rules and required reason/context | Accept / exception |
| Labor / machine time | Expected activity/time context where applicable | Accept / review |
| Confirmation date/time | Configured posting and period rules | Proceed / hold |
| Repeated slip/order-operation event | Duplicate / prior-confirmation check | New / duplicate risk |
| Low-confidence handwriting/value | Confidence below straight-through policy | Human verification |
Exception management
The admin team works the 8%, not all 2,000+ slips.
Based on the supplied 92% straight-through rate, the workflow concentrates human effort on the smaller set of confirmations that require attention. Each exception can show the original slip, extracted value, relevant SAP context and the reason automation stopped.
| Exception | What Artificio surfaces | Typical action |
|---|---|---|
| Order not found / unclear | Extracted order reference and source evidence | Correct or identify order |
| Operation mismatch | Slip operation versus SAP order operations | Select/correct operation |
| Unreadable value | Image region and extracted candidate | Verify value |
| Missing required field | Required field and source evidence | Complete / follow up |
| Quantity anomaly | Extracted yield/scrap and configured context | Review / correct |
| Possible duplicate | Source slip and prior confirmation context | Hold / verify |
| SAP posting rejection | SAP response plus attempted confirmation | Resolve business/technical issue |
SAP PP confirmation
Eligible floor activity becomes SAP production status within minutes.
Once the extracted confirmation satisfies the configured controls, Artificio sends it through the supported integration method for the customer's SAP landscape. The exact fields and posting behavior depend on the plant's PP design and confirmation scenario.
The SAP response is retained with the source slip and validation history. Successful transactions move to a confirmed state; SAP rejections remain visible for resolution rather than being mistaken for completed confirmations.
This turns the confirmation process from an end-of-shift batch of clerical work into a near-real-time flow of validated production events.
Planning & costing visibility
The bigger gain is not paper removal. It is shrinking the information lag.
With confirmations reaching SAP through the day instead of waiting for end-of-shift keypunch, planners get a more current view of production-order and operation progress. Teams relying on confirmation information no longer have to wait as long for the digital record to catch up with the physical floor.
For costing and production accounting, timelier labor, activity or production confirmation data can reduce the need to chase missing records. The exact downstream financial effect depends on the customer's confirmation and costing configuration, so the case study does not claim savings that were not supplied.
The administrative team also changes role: instead of transcribing every slip, it focuses on unreadable, incomplete, anomalous or SAP-rejected confirmations.
Technical architecture
Keep the operator experience simple while making SAP the timely system of record.
- SHOP FLOORProduction evidence: Paper · Scan · Photo · Form
- DOCUMENT AIArtificio: Capture · Extract · Normalize
- PP LOGICResolve & validate: Order · Operation · Qty · Time · Exceptions
- SAP PPConfirm & return: Confirmation · Status · SAP response
The exact SAP interface depends on the customer's ECC or S/4HANA landscape, enabled APIs/BAPIs, middleware, authorizations and confirmation design. Artificio works through the enterprise's approved integration path.
Controls & governance
Straight-through confirmation still needs a controlled posting policy.
The 92% straight-through rate represents records that satisfy the customer's configured automation criteria. Artificio can retain the original slip, extracted values, confidence, SAP order/operation context, validation results, reviewer corrections, integration request, SAP response and resulting confirmation reference.
Ambiguous order/operation matches, low-confidence handwriting, unexpected quantities, missing required data, duplicate risk and SAP business errors remain human-in-the-loop.
Implementation
Start with the slips operators already use.
A practical rollout begins with representative production/time slips, plants or lines, order types, operation structures and confirmation scenarios. Discovery documents the required fields, handwriting and print patterns, quantity/UoM rules, yield/scrap handling, time/activity fields, duplicate logic, exception owners, SAP posting method and the controls required for straight-through confirmation.
This approach avoids making a new shop-floor UI a prerequisite for automation. The manufacturer can first digitize the existing information flow and then decide separately whether parts of the operator experience should move to digital forms, terminals or mobile capture over time.
Business outcomes
More than 1,840 slips a day can follow the straight-through path.
Using the minimum stated volume of 2,000 slips per day and the supplied 92% straight-through rate, at least 1,840 slips per day can be confirmed without routine manual keypunch, while approximately 160 per 2,000 slips remain for exception handling. Because actual daily volume is stated as 2,000+, the real counts can be higher.
The most important measured improvement is latency: production information that previously waited as long as a shift to reach SAP can now be confirmed within minutes for eligible records. That gives planning and other SAP-dependent processes a much more current representation of shop-floor activity.
I have not converted the volume into annual labor savings because the supplied case-study information does not include operating days, exact manual keying time per slip, staffing cost or the average effort required for exceptions. Those numbers can be added once measured.
Key takeaways
Paper does not have to disappear before production confirmation can become real time.
Many manufacturing automation projects begin by trying to replace the operator interface. This case shows another path: preserve a familiar shop-floor process while automating the information movement behind it.
The second lesson is that production confirmation automation is not simply document extraction. The value comes from resolving the production order and operation, validating the confirmation against SAP context, controlling exceptions and successfully completing the SAP PP transaction.