Molex lifts purchase order confirmations to 90% with Celonis

Molex has deployed Celonis across its supply chain operations, lifting purchase order confirmation rates to 90% from 30%.

The electronics manufacturer used the Celonis platform to create what it describes as a continuously evolving digital twin of its supply chain. The system gave it a broader view of purchasing, invoicing, warehouse activity and related workflows across its global network.

Molex buys 70,000 parts from thousands of suppliers each year, making supply chain coordination a core operational challenge. Manual processes and limited visibility had previously created knock-on effects that disrupted customer deliveries.

By mapping those processes in greater detail, Molex identified bottlenecks, standardised workflows and improved the quality of its master data. That work underpinned the increase in purchase order confirmation rates, a metric that affects planning and supplier responsiveness.

The company also reported gains in invoice processing and warehouse activity. Touchless invoices reached 87%, reducing manual intervention in procure-to-pay, while warehouse efficiency improved by 10% to 15% through changes to dock-to-stock and picking operations.

Supply chain view

The collaboration reflects a broader push by manufacturers to clean up operational data before expanding the use of artificial intelligence in core business processes. Supply chains often span multiple enterprise systems, supplier interfaces and internal teams, making it difficult to see where delays begin and how they spread.

Molex said the system provided process context drawn from day-to-day operations rather than isolated data sources. That matters because many AI tools struggle when business data is incomplete, inconsistent or disconnected from the sequence of work across procurement, logistics and manufacturing.

MJ Patil, Director of Process Excellence at Molex, described the project as central to the company's wider technology plans.

"Process Intelligence is the heart of our digital transformation and the engine behind our AI journey," said MJ Patil, Director of Process Excellence, Molex.

He said the company's previous view of operations was fragmented.

"Before Celonis, we were looking at data in silos, which made it hard to understand why things were slowing down. Now, it's like we've switched on a light in a dark room. This rich set of data we are building within the Celonis Process Intelligence layer will help us speed up our AI journey by giving the technology the context it needs to make smart decisions," Patil said.

Operational data

For industrial groups, purchase order confirmations are an early indicator of whether procurement plans will hold. Low confirmation rates can create uncertainty over supply availability, increase manual follow-up work and cause delays further down the chain. Raising the figure to 90% suggests suppliers are responding more consistently and that internal ordering data is more reliable.

The invoicing result points to another source of savings. When invoices move through procurement and finance systems without manual handling, companies can cut processing time, reduce error rates and free up staff to deal with exceptions rather than routine administration.

Tony Gainsford, Senior Director, Supply Chain at Molex, said faster access to process information changed how the company viewed its operations.

"The noticeable reduction in time-to-insight provided a complete, real-time visualization of the true operational reality across the enterprise," said Tony Gainsford, Senior Director, Supply Chain, Molex.

He compared the platform's role to a diagnostic layer over existing business software.

"Imagine you can bring an MRI machine or an X-ray machine on top of your ERP. Celonis allows you to scan the whole process end-to-end with one click, which is an incredibly powerful capability," Gainsford said.

Broader rollout

Celonis, which focuses on process intelligence software, has positioned these projects as a way to prepare businesses for larger AI deployments by linking automation and decision tools to real operational flows. Molex is extending its use of the software into order-to-cash, logistics and other manufacturing processes.

That suggests an effort to apply the same method beyond procurement and warehouse operations. In practice, those areas can include customer order handling, transport coordination, plant-level execution and the use of common process blueprints across a global manufacturing base.

Alex Rinke, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Celonis, said companies often fail to get clear returns from AI when systems lack operational context.

"Molex is a perfect example of what happens when you treat your processes as a competitive advantage," said Alex Rinke, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Celonis.

"Many companies struggle to see a return on their AI investments because the technology doesn't understand the context of how their business actually runs. By using Celonis to ground their AI and automation in process intelligence, Molex isn't just fixing problems, they are reinventing their operations for a new era of intelligence," Rinke said.