SACMI establishes its Intralogistics BU: a new approach to intralogistics in ceramics, rigid packaging and other industries, ranging from software architecture to robotics
A new approach to material handling in the ceramic industry and other sectors: after two years of in-the-field investment and development, SACMI is strengthening its customer-oriented intralogistics. The goal is to provide customers with new opportunities tailored to their specific needs, with an ambitious focus on extra-business development that relies on being able to stand out from the international competition. This high-added-value proposal focuses on digitalization of the company supply chain and integration-coordination of the latest automation technologies through digital twin modelling of the developed projects.
With its first installation, recently inaugurated in Friuli-Venezia Giulia for a leading player in the woodworking industry, SACMI has thoroughly tested its expertise and development capabilities in this sector. By spring, the new automated warehouse in Via Selice Provinciale 17/A, Imola is expected to be operational, providing valuable support to the production departments of the parent company, SACMI Imola SC.
So what makes the SACMI approach so distinctive? Firstly, the focus on software architecture and process control. In other words, intralogistics is not seen as a machine or a single plant engineering solution. It is, rather, a response to different needs in terms of real-time control and management of production flows/data, and involves everything from raw material/semi-finished product procurement to finished product storage, shipping order preparation and truck loading.
Merging different technologies – all of which seek to optimize processes and reduce costs and inefficiencies – has long been a mission of SACMI, whose Global Network gathers real-world feedback from customers every day. And, thanks to the support provided by that SACMI Global Network, we offer new tools that add value to the process, reduce product time-to-market and enhance customer satisfaction.
One of the key aspects of this strategy is that it generates opportunities to monitor technologies outside the industry via a multi-business approach that’s already a SACMI hallmark, allowing it to offer customers original solutions that match the specific needs of individual fields.
In the ceramics industry, intralogistics is especially relevant to large slabs, from semi-finished product management to finished product storage and order composition. Here too, the starting point is not a single machine or technological solution, but the plant supervision and management software itself.
With the SACMI HERE extension and real-time tracking - that is, the ability to assign a digital ID to individual slabs - it’s possible to implement a completely new approach to warehouse management. The former, the actual warehouse, continues to serve production requirements. The latter acts as a ‘dynamic buffer’, helping to make up orders as efficiently and quickly as possible. This is achieved by implementing newly-developed solutions with picking islands and automatic sequencers, doubling efficiency compared to other manual or semi-automatic systems and ensuring full control over the traceability, quality and integrity of every single slab handled.
The SACMI Intralogistics digital platform, complete with vision and AI applications, allows smooth integration of any automatic material handling system. The formula is to take a ‘distributed and diffusive’ approach to intralogistics by deploying robotics and autonomous industrial vehicles (LGVs and AMRs).
Modular and configurable as per customer requirements, this solution provides the opportunity to ‘split’ production flows (i.e. to separate production from shipping) and does not, therefore, depend on a specific technology: in short, SACMI works in concert with the customer to define the most suitable configuration. This provides opportunities to apply any solution (already in use or derived from other industries) that helps achieve the desired goals.
Software, autonomous vehicles, robotics and artificial vision systems ensure SACMI Intralogistics is equipped to provide customers with an all-round response that includes cutting-edge ‘digital twin’ simulations and a swift return on investment. This completes the range in an area that’s crucial to the future of SACMI’s core businesses and offers new opportunities for growth beyond them.
With its new Intralogistics BU, SACMI completes the easy Factory concept and comes full circle on ceramic plants - and beyond - positioning itself as a sole provider of complete, turnkey lines, from raw materials to finished product shipment. This is a major development, especially for the large slab sector where high-added-value products with specific requirements demand groundbreaking solutions that supersede those used in traditional product logistics.