Top 10: RPA Platforms

Robotic process automation (RPA) has moved from pilot projects to production staples in manufacturing. 

Faced with margin pressure, skills shortages and volatile supply chains, plants need faster ways to take waste out of planning, quality and logistics without ripping out core systems.

RPA meets that need by combining unattended bots for back office scale with attended helpers for line-side and supervisor tasks. 

Used well, it complements APIs and modern integration, filling the gaps between ERP, MES and PLM so data flows cleanly from supplier to shopfloor to customer.

This week, Manufacturing Digital looks at the top 10 robotic process automation (RPA) platforms which are being used by the world's biggest manufacturers.

10. Tungsten Automation

 HQ: Irvine, California, US
CEO: Peter Hantman
Founded: 1985

Tungsten Automation specialises in document-centric automation. Manufacturers use the platform to manage certificates of analysis, batch records, purchase orders and goods-in paperwork. 

Its strength is intelligent document processing paired with orchestration and RPA, so suppliers, ERP and quality systems stay in sync.

In 2024, the company rebranded from Kofax, signalling a broader intelligent automation focus while retaining decades of expertise.

9. Automation Anywhere

HQ: San Jose, California, US
CEO: Mihir Shukla
Founded: 2003

Automation Anywhere’s cloud-first Automation 360 provides manufacturers with central governance. 

Plants and supply chain teams can utilise Automation Anywhere to automate vendor portals, inventory updates, transport paperwork and production support.

Users can also benefit from discovery, analytics and web automation to cut breakage across supplier sites. In addition, fast cloud deployment, robust SAP connectors and Gen AI roadmaps make it a primary engine in office and plant-adjacent work.

8.  UiPath

HQ: New York, New York, US
CEO: Daniel Dines
Founded: 2005 (Bucharest, Romania)

UiPath is a rounded choice for manufacturers across the plant, supply chain and corporate teams. It blends attended and unattended automation with process mining, testing and strong IDP. 

Deep SAP and Microsoft integrations, plus industry accelerators, help manufacturers to speed delivery for order management, planning, quality and finance. 

7. Pegasystems (Pega RPA)

HQ: Waltham, Massachusetts, US
CEO: Alan Trefler
Founded: 1983

Pega blends RPA with case management and decisioning to help manufacturers tackle end-to-end flows that cross plant, service and supply chain.

Pega RPA is also used in returns and repair, warranty adjudication, non-conformance handling and engineering change cascades. Pega supports attended and unattended patterns, and its workflow heritage helps orchestrate people and bots cleanly through SAP, PLM and service interactions. 

Global manufacturers also value versioning, visibility and compliance controls that Pega RPA provides, as well as strong governance across functions.

6. SS&C Blue Prism

HQ: Warrington, UK (SS&C Blue Prism) | Parent SS&C in Windsor, Connecticut, US
CEO (parent SS&C): William C. Stone
Founded (Blue Prism): 2001; acquired by SS&C in 2022

Blue Prism, part of SS&C, is used by manufacturers that need hardened unattended bots and tight governance at a multi-site scale. 

Its industry platform supports supply chain and production tasks, fitting regulated or high-reliability environments with strict change control. 

Plants also use it for SAP transactions, order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, planning data hygiene and service workflows. 

5. EdgeVerve AssistEdge (Infosys)

HQ: Bengaluru, India
CEO: Sateesh Seetharamiah
​​​​​​​Founded: 2014

EdgeVerve’s AssistEdge targets large manufacturing enterprises and is typically used in order capture, warranty, supplier enablement and finance operations, integrating to SAP and MES with help from Infosys. 

EdgeVerve’s AssistEdge targets large manufacturing enterprises, combining discovery, attended and unattended automation with governance for multi-site rollouts. 

It is typically deployed in order capture, warranty management, supplier enablement and finance operations, where web automation and IDP reduce exceptions. 

Deep integration to SAP and MES is accelerated by Infosys teams and templates, helping standardise processes in plants, improve data quality and shorten cycle times from supplier intake to invoice and fulfilment.

4. ServiceNow RPA (Automation Engine)

HQ: Santa Clara, California, US
CEO: Bill McDermott
Founded: 2003

ServiceNow’s value in manufacturing is keeping automation inside the platform where teams manage work. 

Automation Engine layers RPA onto ServiceNow to blend API actions, human approvals and desktop flows across IT, field service and OT. 

Plants standardising on ServiceNow benefit from user provisioning, IoT-driven ticket enrichment and bridging legacy HMIs. With single-pane governance tied to records, it excels as a second platform that reduces tool sprawl and adds AI.

3. SAP Build Process Automation

HQ: Walldorf, Germany
CEO: Christian Klein
Founded: 1972

For manufacturers, SAP Build Process Automation embeds low-code workflows and bots in the digital core.

Prebuilt content and hooks to S/4HANA, PLM and IBP align with SAP authorisation, events and data models for smoother operations. 

Teams can automate quality notifications, master data, order changes and logistics, trigger bots from events and extend Fiori without portals.

2. IBM Robotic Process Automation

HQ: Armonk, New York, US
CEO: Arvind Krishna
Founded: 1911

IBM RPA targets manufacturers with complex legacy systems. 

It integrates with mainframe, host and virtual desktop environments and plugs into IBM’s stack for integration, process mining and observability. 

Plants use it for compliance admin, batch documentation, feeding analytics and wrapping green-screen inventory maintenance apps. Identity and security controls aid regulated sectors, while hybrid deployment fits on-premise rules. AI and document processing bolster logistics, lab and QC workloads, backed by services.

1. Microsoft Power Automate

HQ: Redmond, Washington, US
CEO: Satya Nadella
Founded: 1975

For manufacturers, Power Automate brings desktop and cloud RPA into Microsoft 365. This is ideal for organisations where Windows, Teams and Office are standard.

Manufacturers use the platform for operator-station tasks, SAP GUI steps, compliance reports and supplier communications via Outlook or SharePoint. 

Hosted RPA simplifies provisioning and scaling, while connectors and Power Platform integration enable governed citizen builds. 

Azure and SAP connectors are also beneficial for manufacturers, especially when pairing Copilot with API orchestration.