The path of research and installation of the Advanced Planning and Scheduling CyberPlan software is told to us by Geom. Gregorio Mele, manager of Imeva. The company aimed to ensure compliance with customer requests and verify the feasibility of the dates requested by customers to verify if it could be met or possibly propose the one provided by the system, after simulations and checks.
What does Imeva produce?
Imeva is active in the production of road barriers and structural elements in corrugated sheet metal, both made of steel. Mele says that “The production process is carried out entirely within the company, so we start from the steel raw material to reach the surface treatments, which are the last stage. Every year we buy about 50,000 tons of steel in the form of rolls, and this is the main item of our costs. Procurement takes place on a quarterly basis and is of fundamental importance as a delay would mean not having the necessary raw material available and halting production. No less important for planning purposes is the accessories, commercial components, mainly nuts and bolts in various types, with semi-annual supply. The unavailability of the accessories, not allowing the assembly of the structures, consequently prevents their delivery. Another critical element is the delivery dates, requested by customers, which correspond to the start date of the worksite, so non-compliance with the commitments would correspond to site downtime with conceivable consequences.“
However, the two products made by Imeva differ in terms of type of production: the pipes are made from corrugated steel sheets that are bent according to the customer’s needs, while the road barriers are standard products that are made and taken from the warehouse after receiving the order.
What prompted you to look for a specific solution for production scheduling?
“Imeva’s production is quite complex, which is why we decided to equip ourselves with software that would allow us to plan production correctly and quickly,” says Mele. The project was initially born with the main purpose of ensuring compliance with customer requests and verifying the feasibility of the dates requested by customers to verify if it could be met or possibly propose the one provided by the system, after simulations and checks.
How was production scheduled before?
“Before, fairly rudimentary systems were used,” says the executive, “systems such as Excel sheets, Access prints… in short, quite disorganised things that gave a mere indication and not a 360-degree control, in addition to which the responses arrived late and any critical issues could not be taken into account. In the past we also had management software that contained MRP modules, but these were impractical and were abandoned due to the infinite capacity and very long processing times. “
Subsequently, Imeva decided to eliminate delays and unforeseen events, for this reason internal solutions were first sought through systems, which proved to be neither sufficient nor timely. Gregorio Mele was therefore commissioned to find a definitive solution “I therefore decided to go in search of the best solution on the market, also verifying a practical use case for each proposal. CyberPlan emerged as a clear winner of the software selection, so its implementation began. ”
How do you schedule production today, Imeva?
“We decided to structure CyberPlan so that it acts as an interface between purchasing, production and sales and that it manages everything a bit. Sales send the information to CyberPlan, with all the related settings: lead time, minimum stocks, overlaps required, etc. CyberPlan therefore provides a response based on warehouses, purchase orders and soon. Then the production planning manager evaluates this plan and, in the event of unrespectable critical dates, studies a solution in the absence of which he communicates the information to the reference salesperson so that he can redefine the conditions with the customer. Following the confirmation of all this, CyberPlan proceeds to launch the purchase, production and order proposals directly to the customer.”
What benefits have you achieved thanks to APS?
“Before we missed various elements and above all it was difficult to calculate the need for raw materials, especially in the event of unforeseen events. Oggi with CyberPlan we can give an answer within a few seconds in any case, even to sudden customer orders with an immediate delivery date.” says Mele.
“Another advantage is that we have reduced the risk of working to produce items that seem missing, but are actually already in stock. So in addition to saving time, there are also big savings from lowering inventories and decreasing the risk of obsolescence of materials, this was a huge step forward for production.
Today we also have accurate and fast information, because CyberPlan gives visibility on all the elements that make up the product, in particular on the semi-finished products and their status.
Finally, an advantage we have is that, being equipped with CyberPlan, we have a highly customisable tool at our disposal, which can be adapted if the company structure changes.”
“Among the advantages of having CyberPlan are the speed and accuracy of the answers” Geom. Gregorio Mele
Imeva, production of road safety barriers and structural elements in corrugated steel sheet
Imeva, now in its 50th year of operation, is now one of the leading manufacturers of road barriers in Europe.
The company, based in Benevento, produces structural elements in corrugated sheet metal and steel road barriers; the latter can be traffic partition, bridge edge or raised edge. The effectiveness of the barriers is tested by carrying out tests (also known as crash tests), which have become mandatory at European level to obtain CE certification and which are part of an internal discussion of production organisation and quality monitoring.
Imeva, founded as a small family-run business with a mainly domestic market, has grown to date by expanding into the foreign market whose share is worth 80% of the entire turnover. The property is owned by three brothers, who manage the company together with collaborators to push Imeva towards continuous growth; turnover is around 45 million euros per year.