How AI helped pet nutrition manufacturer IPN save thousands of hours a year

When Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN), a national pet nutrition brand in the UK, first reached out to us, they said they had the best kind of problem. By that, they meant that orders were pouring in, always good, but that every single one needed to be processed manually. 

Their customer service team of seven was spending between 15 and 30 minutes per order just getting it into the system. That’s just not sustainable. We knew there had to be a better way. So we worked with IPN to build one.

What started as a single solution has become a product that could reshape how B2B businesses handle orders.

“What I like about rb2? They don’t just build what you ask for, they challenge your thinking. With their in-house teams, technical depth, and pragmatic, agile approach, they deliver fast. But more importantly: what they build works is measurable, future-proof, and designed to add real business value from day one.”

Sander van Duijn, Digital Transformation Expert, IPN

The background

IPN began as a family-run feed mill in Yorkshire in the UK, serving the farming community with traditional animal feed. Over time, the business made a big jump into pet nutrition, launching one of the UK’s first branded dry dog foods for retailers. This pivot marked the beginning of IPN’s transformation from agricultural supplier to consumer-facing pet food innovator.

IPN grew rapidly, introducing UK household names like Wagg and Harringtons, investing heavily in its own manufacturing and distribution, and consistently staying ahead of market trends. With that growth, though, comes processes developing organically, and over time, that can lead to an over-reliance on manual work. It was during a particularly busy period that IPN recognized how important it would be to work on their efficiency, especially considering their predicted growth, and so they reached out to rb2.

“It was clear from the start that rb2 were taking a cross-departmental approach to what they built. We wanted them to deliver value for IPN, and they’ve done that not in isolation, but by bringing processes and teams closer together.”

Louise Crossley, Group Finance Director, IPN

From a custom solution to a scalable product

Working side by side with IPN, we developed a solution to automate this repetitive work. That solution became OrderPilot, an AI-powered tool designed to take incoming orders from email and turn them into ERP-ready data, fast and accurately. What started as a tailor-made fix is now being shaped into a standalone product, because the problem IPN faced isn’t unique. Plenty of companies are still manually entering orders. We want to change that.

To make sure we delivered real value, we followed our tried-and-tested four-step approach: start by mapping the full business process and building a solid integration case, then automate the basics with RPA, add intelligence through AI, and finally loop back to optimize further. It’s a lean, iterative model that helps us go from problem to solution at speed, especially under pressure.
The project kicked off in March 2025, with a go-live deadline in April. That’s tight, especially for something this ambitious. But we made it with a full working platform, custom UI, AI transformation engine, and integrations with IPN’s ERP systems, even one that didn’t have an API.

One of the reasons we hit the deadline was the close collaboration between our experts and theirs. While their IT manager provided crucial insight, the technical heavy lifting came from our side in the form of consultants, project leads, developers, tech directors, basically everyone at rb2 had a hand in bringing this to life.

“This project showed exactly what rb2 is great at. We shine when things are so complex that no one else can figure them out. What was really cool was that AI was playing a core role in the solution, and that solution will only improve over time.”

Guus van Boom, Sales Manager, rb2

OrderPilot is worth it

The results? In terms of processing cost savings, it’s in the range of 60% to 80%, and the processing times themselves are 9x faster. The impact is very real and presents an obvious business case not only for IPN but for any other business that has manual processing, which is most of them.

Now we’re helping IPN take it to the next level through the development of key additions to the software, including validation and amendment automation. Those automations mean that checks within a business, like stock validation or order updates from customer emails, can all be automated. The ultimate goal? Keep removing friction. Keep freeing up time. Keep using AI in an impactful way.

At rb2, we don’t just talk about AI, we build with it, experiment with it, and push it to solve real problems. We even have a dedicated  AI task force dedicated to pushing our own work with the technology further. OrderPilot is a perfect example of that mindset in action. It’s smart tech, built by people, for businesses that want to work smarter and save money.

If your business is still stuck manually processing orders, or if you’re curious about what AI can actually do for you, let’s talk. 

‍We run prototyping workshops that give businesses the building blocks of working solutions in just a single day. Book a workshop here to get started.