Manufacturers today face increasing demands for efficiency, traceability, and compliance. For companies that supply highly regulated industries, managing raw material certificates can be especially painful. At PennEngineering, an outdated and manual process for handling certificates slowed operations, burdened employees, and created frustration for customers. 

At INFOCUS 2025, Melody Bivona shared how her team transformed certificate handling and purchase order receiving using automation, orchestration, and digital workflows in JD Edwards. The project eliminated thousands of hours of manual work, improved data accuracy, and elevated the customer experience. 

The Challenge: Manual, Paper-Based Workflows 

For years, PennEngineering relied on paper processes to manage raw material certificates. Certificates arrived with purchase orders and were physically handled by clerks and quality staff before being scanned into the imaging system. 

When customers requested certificates, service teams had to manually retrieve, rename, and send PDFs one by one. This reactive process was error-prone, slow, and labor-intensive. At one point, customer service and IT help desks were fielding over 1,200 certificate requests per month. 

The Turning Point: A Portal Failure 

Ironically, the push for transformation came from an unexpected problem. PennEngineering’s customer portal, which allowed customers to self-serve certificates, abruptly went offline. Overnight, help desks became overwhelmed. 

The crisis gained executive attention, and the IT team had an opportunity to not just replace the old system, but to reimagine the process end to end. 

The Solution: Automating Certificates with UiPath and JD Edwards 

PennEngineering implemented a new digital workflow powered by UiPath OCR and JD Edwards Orchestrations: 

1. Suppliers Email Certificates – Instead of shipping paper, suppliers send PDFs to a dedicated inbox.
2. UiPath Reads and Validates Certificates – Using OCR, UiPath extracts purchase order numbers, lot numbers, and chemical/physical test results.
3. Automated Orchestrations Update JD Edwards – Data flows into the JD Edwards Quality module, triggering pass/fail checks against predefined specs.
4. Seamless Receiving and Routing – If specs pass, materials move directly into stock via automated routing; exceptions generate alerts for quality review.
5. Professional Certificate Generation – Certificates are rendered with Oracle BI Publisher, providing customers with a branded, accurate, and automated record. 

Results: Time Savings and Better Data 

The impact was immediate: 

• Help desk requests dropped from 1,200 to just 26 per month. 
• 60+ hours of manual work saved weekly, including paper handling, scanning, and manual JD Edwards data entry. 
• Certificates are automatically stored in the imaging system, ensuring compliance. 
• Customers now receive professional, branded certificates automatically with their shipments. 

An added bonus? By capturing detailed material data in JD Edwards, PennEngineering can now automate full material disclosure reports for sustainability and regulatory requirements — something previously handled manually. 

Customer Experience Elevated 

For distributors and customers, the change was just as significant. Instead of calling or emailing for documentation, they now receive certificates automatically, mapped to work orders and part numbers. Many customers have automated their own ERP systems to ingest these emails directly, extending the automation chain all the way to end users. 

Lessons Learned and Continuous Improvement 

While the automation framework is robust, it wasn’t without challenges. Supplier variability in certificate formats required flexible OCR configuration, and exceptions such as backordered quantities or duplicate certificates had to be handled. 

By layering orchestrations, error-checking, and quality alerts, PennEngineering created a resilient process that continues to improve. Today, the same framework is being extended to sites in China and Malaysia, scaling the benefits globally. 

Key Takeaways 

This case study highlights how manufacturers can: 

• Eliminate manual certificate handling with OCR and orchestrations. 
• Unlock new value by capturing certificate data for compliance and reporting. 
• Enhance customer satisfaction with automated, professional documentation. 
• Build resilient, scalable frameworks for continuous process improvement. 

PennEngineering’s journey shows that what begins as a compliance necessity can evolve into a strategic advantage — reducing costs, empowering data-driven decisions, and strengthening customer relationships. 

Want more?  

Explore more content and resources to help you get the most from your JD Edwards investment:  

• Be sure to check out the INFOCUS 2025 Event Hub (coming soon) for presentation slides – available exclusively to Quest members.  
• Explore the JD Edwards Orchestrator Strategic Content Center for more Quest-exclusive resources.  
• Visit the Quest Learn Library for blogs, how-to demos, and on-demand sessions.  
• Connect with peers in one of our Quest JD Edwards Community User Groups to swap stories, ask questions, and share tips with other users facing the same challenges.  

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