Cédric analyzed the logistics process at SmartCoat Inc. using process mining software. He visualized the interactions between employees in handling smartphones and the flow of smartphones through locations. This revealed that Alix performs all coating activities alone, posing a risk if she is absent. It also showed smartphones spending significant time in the warehouses, suggesting bottlenecks. Cédric plans to calculate process costs in the next episode to identify savings.

1. Process mining explained by an example
The logistics process at SmartCoat Inc.
SmartCoat
Episode 6 (out of 8): interactions

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What’s on this week?
Interactions

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What preceded …

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What preceded…
Marie, CEO of SmartCoat Inc., asked us to analyze and make
recommendations for the logistics process via process mining and data
analytics techniques ... Just by looking at the data in SmartCoat’s ERP
system!
In the fifth episode, Cédric investigated the bottlenecks in SmartCoat’s
logistics process. He identified lengthy process activities, process loops and
some violations against business rules.
Have you missed the fifth episode? Click on Marie … and you will be
redirected to the fifth episode!

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Interactions

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Hi, welcome … or better, welcome back!
In this episode, I will show you the logistics process at SmartCoat Inc. from a different
perspective. I will visualize the “journey” of a smartphone at SmartCoat Inc.
First of all, I will investigate the sequence the SmartCoaters handle smartphones and what
interactions exist amongst the SmartCoaters.
Do you remember who the SmartCoaters are? No? Here you go …
Cédric, your horsum guide
Cédric
Consultant
ArthurTomAlix Elise JeromeEdward
Warehouse
assistant
Coater Test engineerTest engineer Warehouse
manager
Warehouse
assistant
Marie
CEO

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Cédric, your horsum guide
Secondly, I will show you the flow of the smartphones
through the SmartCoat locations. As a reminder, you
can find the locations on the right.
To perform these visualizations, I will again work with
the process mining software Disco:
RECEIVE
CHECK
STORE UNCOATED
PICK-TO-COAT
COAT
TEST
STORE COATED
SHIP
PICK-TO-SHIP
Process activity Who? Location?
Warehouseman Inbound area
Warehouseman Inbound area
Warehouseman Warehouse uncoated
Warehouseman Warehouse uncoated
Coater Coating room
Test engineer Testing room
Warehouseman Warehouse coated
Warehouseman Warehouse coated
Warehouseman Outbound area

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Analysis

9. On the right, you find a
visualization of the
sequential flow of
smartphones: you are
able to see which
SmartCoater has handled
a smartphone and how
he/she interacts with
his/her colleagues.
Let’s discuss this further
on the next page.
1. The journey via SmartCoaters

10. 1. The journey via SmartCoaters
Here’s what I see when I look at the visualization:
• The bigger the arc between 2 people, the stronger
employees are connected with each other in the logistics
process.
• I see that all arcs from and to Alix (coater) are the biggest.
This is normal because she is the only one who performs
the coating activities in SmartCoat Inc. To me, this is a huge
risk … what would happen if she is out … is there a back-up
in place?
• I also note that Edward performs significantly more the first
test on smartphones compared to Elise. This is shown by a
big arc from Alix to Edward. This confirms what I saw in
Episode 4.

11. 1. The journey via SmartCoaters
Now, I will include the time perspective to make the process come alive. The screenshot below
shows the smartphones present in the logistics process on Friday March 16, 2016 at 15:32:08.
Do you want to see the full animation? Click on the screenshot and watch it on YouTube!
Last week, I noticed that Arthur does not perform any logistics activities as from March 10, 2016.
The full animation confirms this trend: At first, I see Arthur mostly performing the inbound
activities. However, after a while I see that only Tom is receiving smartphones.
Let’s discuss this with Marie …

12. 2. The journey through the SmartCoat locations
On the right, I visualized the flow of
smartphones through the SmartCoat locations.
As last week, I mention 2 performance
indicators next to each arc.
The upper one represents the total duration of
all smartphones combined between 2 process
steps (activities). This indicator highlights the
high-impact locations.
The lower one represents the number of
unique smartphones that pass this location.
Again, the bigger the arcs, the more time the
smartphones do stay at this location.
Let’s discuss this on the next slide …

13. 2. The journey through the SmartCoat locations
I notice that smartphones spent the most
time in both warehouse locations
(“warehouse uncoated” - 34,3 weeks &
“warehouse coated” – 22,5 weeks).
I see significant red loops next to these
locations. Why? Well … because it is
registered when a smartphone enters and
leaves the location. As such, multiple
activities are performed in these locations
resulting in loops.
Thanks to these registrations, we can exactly
determine the time a smartphone spends in
our warehouses!

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Feedback to Marie

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Feedback Marie, I have analyzed the interactions amongst your employees and
the different locations. This is what specifically caught my attention:
Alix is a key person in the process. In prior episodes, I saw that she is
the only one who performs coating activities. You should think about
foreseeing a back-up in case Alix would be out for a period of time.
What happened to Arthur? He has not performed any logistics
activities since March 10th, 2016 …
Smartphones are significantly longer present in your two warehouse
locations (uncoated and coated). I suggest looking into this because
on-time delivery is important to your customers. Maybe you can
speed-up your logistics process which will increase customer
satisfaction.
In addition, lowering the time of smartphones in your warehouses will
save SmartCoat money. Let’s dive into the details next week… when I
will calculate how much the process costs.

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Do you want to know how Cédric will analyze the
process costs?

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17www.horsum.be
Watch the episode next week!

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Planning
April 7th, 2016
April 14th, 2016
April 21st, 2016
April 28th, 2016
May 5th, 2016
May 12th, 2016
May 19th, 2016
May 26th, 2016
Episode 1: introduction
Episode 2: process discovery
Episode 3: process deviations
Episode 4: benchmarking
Episode 5: bottlenecks
Episode 6: interactions
Episode 7: process costs
Episode 8: prediction and real-time
www.horsum.be

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www.horsum.beOr check our website!
www.horsum.be

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Contact us!Questions?
www.horsum.be

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Contact us!
Dennis Houthoofd Frederik Vervoort
T: +32 488 90 41 40
E: dennis.houthoofd@horsum.be
T: +32 473 91 05 80
E: frederik.vervoort@horsum.be
www.horsum.be

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horsum services
Data analyticsFinancial projectsProcess optimization Process miningInternal audit
Processes, data, finance and business control
Result-driven, pragmatically and customized
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