The interview with Patrizia Zanussi and Alessandro Chinellato, respectively responsible for Unifarco’s planning and information systems, highlights the path of innovation and growth of the important Venetian company.
Leader in the production of cosmetic, nutraceutical and dermatological products
Unifarco is a joint-stock company founded and formed by pharmacists who created it in 1982 at the foot of the Belluno Dolomites Park. The company develops a range of cosmetic, dermatological, nutraceutical and make-up products, which are supplied to over 4,400 customer pharmacies throughout Europe.
Manage the strong commercial expansion and the increase in the mix
For years in strong growth, Unifarco closed 2017 with an increase in consolidated turnover in Italy of 23% compared to 2016. The rapid and important growth in terms of products manufactured and the breadth of the product portfolio led Unifarco to evaluate whether the process and tools used for production planning were able to support this strong expansion. In fact, a growth of this size, if not adequately supported by production planning, risks leading to frequent stock outs.
To manage production planning, an Excel file was used that was no longer sufficient to adequately manage material capacity and production capacity. “After a series of in-depth analyses carried out by the internal team and with the support of an external consultant, we came to the conclusion that due to the characteristics of Unifarco our IT system was not adequate and therefore we began to look around a bit.“
Unifarco then looked for a solution that was able to provide an objective and not subjective analysis. In fact, planning through spreadsheets required some personal experience, which made the analysis individual and not impartial.
CyberPlan the Advanced Planning and Scheduling software
The search for a way to solve the situation started first with the search for an implementation of the management software. Soon this path proved impractical for technical reasons of construction of ERP systems.
The word of mouth received from other manufacturing companies as well as from the ERP provider itself suggested turning their attention and energy to departmental software, and not management software. More specifically,the software indicated was APS, i.e. the most advanced software for planning and scheduling production. The research thus turned to a solution that was proven by other companies and with a history behind it, customized and adapted around the company but not a new solution created ad hoc for Unifarco, in order to guarantee continuity and assistance for future developments.
The software selection process soon highlighted an APS solution as the most suitable for supporting Unifarco’s needs over time: CyberPlan.
The CyberPlan project began with the creation of a prototype of real business data to be presented to management. This phase allows the implementation of a first analysis that allows the company to know the software and its real potential.
Once the prototype was approved, all the data was introduced and CyberPlan was integrated into the management system. Once the two systems were integrated, the processes were refined.
CyberPlan went live in 6 months of the project, within the established times and costs. The trust established with Cybertec and the potential of CyberPlan led Unifarco to undertake a second project to extend CyberPlan to cover demand planning, budgeting and forecasting processes.
A single system integrated into the ERP for production planning
CyberPlan has been perfectly integrated into the company’s management system with automated procedures that have eliminated the need to use Excel sheets. The management system passes to CyberPlan data such as master data, cycles, sales orders, etc. In CyberPlan, the best production plan is created with attention to stock outs, and production and purchase proposals are reported on the management system. In this cycle for Unifarco, the presence of instant alerts on the feasibility of the plan on the management of human resources and machines
is important.
Thanks to this integration, the time required for planning has also decreased: once the proposals have been frozen, in addition to having instant alerts on their feasibility, a series of reports on the missing proposals has been created based on the frozen proposals.
Furthermore, for Unifarco it was essential to have a system that allowed an objective analysis and not dependent on subjectivity. The analysis of an Excel file naturally required some experience and knowledge and therefore became subjective. Today a part of the activities is done by other people and therefore also from the corporate point of view there is greater security even at times like this of continuous double-digit growth in which being able to have a non-subjective tool is essential.
Strong reduction in stock outs and rapid ROI
The CyberPlan advanced production planning and scheduling solution has brought numerous benefits, in a short time. In particular, benefits such as:
- Strong reduction of stock outs both in terms of numbers and in economic terms;
- Rapid ROI thanks to the considerable reduction of stock outbreaks;
- Strong increase in the level of service;
- Impartiality and objectivity of analyses relating to production;
- Reduction of the workload for planning operators and the time needed for planning;
- Greater security of the planning and scheduling process;
- Management in CyberPlan of different sales channels (ordinary, promotions, production campaigns) and forecasts and the creation of a communication channel between production and sales;
- Greater ease in coordinating production and packaging.
In addition to this, an automation process has been created in the creation of production and purchase proposals as well as for the reaction of automatic alerts relating to the feasibility of the plans and the workload for the resources.
What led you to choose CyberPlan?
“We chose CyberPlan for a set of things – continues Patrizia Zanussi – First of all it impressed us for its intuitive and malleable graphics and for the coverage of the processes necessary for us without the need for special customisations. In addition, CyberPlan is well known in the industry and has been strongly recommended to us by our management consultants and before choosing it we also contacted companies that already used it and we had all positive feedback.”
Learn more about CyberPlan
Contact us today to request a 30-minute live demo to see for yourself how CyberPlan can help you streamline your production planning and scheduling processes.
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