TBI
Production optimization for a food-industry company
A consulting project for the reengineering and optimization of production processes through an Industry 4.0 approach, designed to expand the production capacity of a leading company in the food sector.
Project summary
The Client is an innovative confectionery company based in central Italy that, over the years, has developed a distinctive business model in the pastry segment for the food-service sector.
The company produces frozen pastry products intended exclusively for the HORECA distribution channel. Its hallmark is the breadth of its catalogue, with more than 150 references.
The business has retained a craft-style manufacturing process while growing significantly in production and sales volumes, thanks to high product quality and the richness of its assortment.
The challenge posed to Chirale was to further increase production volumes — potentially investing in new machinery — while keeping the plants within the existing facilities (relocation was not viable in the short term) and preserving the current product range, a key competitive advantage for the company.
The project is a strong example of 4.0 Transition for a business positioned at the border between craft and industrial scale. After a careful process-analysis phase carried out inside the production plant, possible improvements were identified by leveraging rapid-prototyping technologies that allowed the proposed solutions to be tested and validated.
- Business-model analysis
- Process analysis
- Research and development
- Testing before Investing
Deliverables
The process reengineering was articulated through:
- As-is process analysis
- Identification of bottlenecks and intervention areas
- Definition of the new (to-be) processes
- Recommendations on the use of the 4.0-technology machines already in place
- Design and 3D-printed prototyping of new tools and machine accessories
Results
Manufacturing new tools through digital fabrication — to be fitted to existing machines or used in manual operations — made it possible to run in-factory experimentation and validate the proposed solutions.
The reduction of cycle times in some stages and a better distribution of workloads, together with the proper exploitation of the Industry 4.0 technologies already present in the company, made it possible to define new operating processes capable of delivering the production-volume increase required in the short term.