Plan de Mejora en Proceso de Importación en AAK Colombia S.A.S.

Abstract

This undergraduate thesis was developed based on the professional internship completed at AAK Colombia S.A.S., a company dedicated to the production and commercialization of vegetable oils and fats. During the internship, a critical weakness was identified in the Foreign Trade department concerning the management of invoices and payment receipts issued by the customs agency. Delays in delivering these documents generated reprocessing, operational bottlenecks, and difficulties in meeting the deadlines required by shipping lines during the import process. Based on this diagnostic assessment, an improvement plan was formulated focusing on the design of an automated workflow using Microsoft Power Automate, with the objective of optimizing document tracking, reducing manual tasks, and strengthening process traceability. The project successfully developed a functional prototype capable of automatically classifying emails containing invoices, storing documents in an assigned repository, and extracting relevant information to consolidate it into a structured database. However, full implementation was not possible due to corporate permission restrictions that prevented final integration with SharePoint, which was required to generate automated reports and issue daily reminders when payment receipts were not delivered within the expected timeframe. Despite this limitation, the workflow design demonstrated the technical feasibility of automation and highlighted its potential to improve operational efficiency and transparency in document management within the Foreign Trade department.