Innovations in the coffee world by EVOCA Group: minimizing waste with the objective of eliminating it altogether, thus achieving operational excellence. Production becomes 4.0

For Digilean Factory, read Innovation: The Evoca Group has achieved the objectives it set out in its three-year improvement plan, 2016-2018. Consequently, we now have a digital, lean and efficient factory that is responsive to the requirements of the market’s increasing competitiveness. This is the latest industrial revolution, characterized by a marked adoption of information technologies to support business processes, such as digitalization (digital) and streamlining (lean).

This renewal allows the company to achieve three fundamental objectives: the management of planning processes with a single tool for a greater alignment between production, material flow and orders; so-called "shop floor management", i.e. the acquisition of knowledge of production performance in nearly real time; and the traceability in production at the level of serial numbers, lots and components, in order to trace back, at any time, the history of every machine we manufacture - a fundamental requirement of the main Vending players for everything to do with food and safety issues.

The results were not long in coming, as project manager Gaetano Luciano, Supply Chain Manager of Evoca Group, says: "We have increased production by 16%, with the same number of resources employed in plant logistics; the level of stock accuracy has improved by 15% and, above all, we have acquired new customers thanks to the project, as they have been able to personally verify the way we work by visiting the plant.”

As for the digital approach Carlo Rotigni, ICT Manager of Evoca Group, explains that it has resulted in the implementation of a specific Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software and a Warehouse Management System (WMS) software, selected ad-hoc to support the management of production, both in terms of processes and in the collection and availability of real time information. Both systems are integrated, through the orchestration of the data flow, mainly with the company's ERP as well as with other environments capable of carrying out advanced analysis of the collected data.

Ivan Grigis, Process Engineering of Evoca Group, explains: "The MES system receives inputs from the ERP, organises the processes and then sends the information to the line, to the assembly areas of the common parts, to the tinsmithery and to the WMS logistics system, indicating what is needed, when and where. In addition, there are three production progress stations along the line that enable us to monitor the traceability and visibility of other production supervision processes. To achieve the desired results, we have equipped ourselves with "4.0 machines", interconnected to the MES system that sends and receives data on what is happening in the factory.”

On the WMS front, the our aim was to streamline the goods procurement and inspection processes and to collect all the information of the raw materials arriving at the plant. Marcello Falconi, Raw Material Planning & Material Handling Valbrembo Coordinator,  explains: "In addition to traceability, WMS offers the advantages of obtaining information about the warehouse, handling efficiency and route optimisation. It has also allowed us to change the logistics of line feeding, because we now know exactly when the material is needed and in what quantities. We have also improved safety, because we have eliminated about 40% of the material from the lines with consequent reductions in material movement.”

The lean model, on the other hand, also involves the organisation of the entire supply chain, from suppliers to customers, in order to make significant improvements in the management of the Operations area and the entire Supply Chain. For the Lean Material Management (LMM), for example, significant improvements in efficiency are already visible in the company.

Evoca Group's drive for innovation is facilitated by willingness to that is embraced by entire organisation. For this reason, from the very beginning the company has aimed to engage of people, as much as possible, starting with listening to first-line operators, the real 'winning' card of the project.

Started in 2016 from the Valbrembo headquarters, the project is extending to all Italian production sites. In May of this year, the implementation of the software started in Montano, in October it’ll begin at Mapello, and next year in Mozzo.