IKH is a strong national player in the import and trade of technical products, with an ever-evolving product range of over 50,000 products for workwear, protection, contracting and work machines. The company strives for continuous improvement and process efficiency, and over the past year, IKH has explored the use of robotic process automation (RPA). For example, the establishment of new products in the company's ERP system was previously manual and time-consuming work, but in the future, the work will be automated with the help of Efima's RaaS service.
The RaaS service provides everything IKH needs – from the robotic process automation platform to its implementation, support, maintenance, and continuous development. “The robotic process automation implementation project is our first of its kind, and with Efima’s service, we can quickly see the benefits of automation without the need for our own RPA development expertise. Robotic process automation frees our staff from routines for other value-adding tasks, improves the quality of our processes, and also allows for scalability in our business, as we can add or reduce robots as needed”, says Milka Pääkkönen, Development Manager at IKH.
IKH sought a long-term partner who would also help identify new automation opportunities. “In collaboration with Efima, we have already identified several other automation targets, and in the future, we plan to use robotic software to replace repetitive manual tasks found in different functions”, Pääkkönen states.
Teija Puurunen, Business Director of Intelligent Automation at Efima, is delighted with the new partnership with IKH: “We are pleased to be part of IKH’s digitalization journey. Our solution, one of the largest automation platforms in Finland, enables not only robotic process automation but also comprehensive artificial intelligence capabilities, making it easier to automate end-to-end processes. We believe that our collaboration will bring significant benefits to IKH in terms of efficiency, quality, and job satisfaction.”
IKH, Development Manager Milka Pääkkönen
milka.paakkonen@ikh.fi, +358 40 711 6274
Efima, Business Director Teija Puurunen
teija.puurunen@efima.com, +358 40 845 0830
IKH is an import and trade company specializing in technical products, serving both business and consumer customers. IKH’s selection of over 50,000 items related to workwear, protection, contracting, and machinery is available through an extensive store network and online shop. Sales in the Finnish market are mainly through the IKH store network, which covers the entire country with nearly 120 entrepreneur-driven partner stores and 14 IKH-owned stores. The growing export trade is conducted to Estonia and Sweden, as well as other Nordic countries. IKH’s headquarters and logistics center are in Kauhajoki. IKH is part of the Irish Grafton Group, with a turnover of 168 million euros in 2022 and about 430 employees.
www.ikh.fi
Efima is a pioneer in digital transformation and automation. Efima helps large and medium-sized companies streamline their business with enterprise resource planning (ERP), financial management and intelligent automation solutions as well as digital financial management services. At the heart of everything are people, cooperation, and partnership. In 2024, Efima employs almost 300 employees in Efima's two offices in Helsinki and Tampere.
www.efima.com
Tero Salminen
CEO
+358 40 767 5311
tero.salminen@efima.com
Päivi Holmqvist
Marketing & Communications
+358 40 504 4444
paivi.holmqvist@efima.com
