Growing efficiency in the mechanical engineering industry: a leading company chooses Compiere Erp and Intellimag WMS as management partner

It was 1983 when a leading company in the design, production and marketing of power transmission solutions, including industrial gearboxes and electric motors, was established in Bologna.

In 2004, the first branch outside Italy was established, and with the advent of the new millennium, this industry leader initiated its expansion. With operations in Europe, Asia and South America, the company is now a benchmark for clients worldwide, thanks to its ability to respond to their specific needs in a timely manner.

The rapid growth of the group and the expansion of its headquarters and warehouse soon made it necessary to automate and optimise its management processes. The company thus partnered with Infolog Spa to accompany it along this path of innovation.

The project

The first area of action was the optimisation of the company’s operational processes:

In 2008, the company needed to be able to better manage its growth, especially from an organisational point of view, while increasing its flexibility. It therefore decided to invest in technology, to improve integration between its various areas, optimise its data management and obtain a timely, accurate view of its performance. In fact, the company needed to implement a more modern, flexible software, capable of satisfying its needs and its plans to grow, including abroad, while also enabling it to redesign certain flows and processes; what better solution than an international open source product? – explains Giorgio Tesorieri, Infolog's Sales Director.

In order to optimise the on-going digitalisation process, the company partnered with Infolog to implement its new management system faster.

Compiere ERP, the management software of choice, enables fast and clear data management in a single solution, offering a panoramic view of the company and enabling management to make accurate decisions in real time.

In addition to generating competitive advantage with increasingly accurate and detailed data, using Compiere as its ERP also benefited the company’s organisation with its cyclic inventory function, a far simpler and less burdensome approach than the classic year-end inventory method.

With Compiere as the company’s ERP, workflows could be redesigned for better and faster performance with fewer staff, who could be reassigned to value-added activities of greater value to the company.

Furthermore, by exploiting the potential of Compiere, we were able to create and remodel entire modules, including quality, non-conformity, WIP management and warehouse procurement, – explains Andrea Zarri, PM for Infolog.

In 2015, with the opening of the new subsidiary in Spain, Compiere ERP, as an international and multilingual management software, was easily able to handle the new logistical needs of the market, ensuring flexibility, scalability and speed of execution. This is a critical strategic value that has contributed to the growth of the organisation.

The second area of focus was warehouse logistics management:

In 2014, the rapid growth the company was experiencing led to the emergence of criticalities, and the need for ever faster development processes with ever shorter life cycles, and an increasingly fragmented demand, led to the need for a customised, high-quality product, a difficult balance that can only be achieved with flexible production processes. The warehouse was therefore the place where high value-added operations are concentrated in order to realise a level of service adapted to the market.

As a result, a system like Intellimag WMS was needed to manage warehouse logistics with real KPIs, employing a single system for all processes, regulating all warehouse operations, and making all materials identifiable and traceable, – explains Andrea Zarri, PM for Infolog.

Intellimag enabled us to resolve the various phases of execution (warehouse map, receipt, preparation/arrangement, dispatch, production, management and costs) as a coherent whole. With its ability to control the entire logistics flow with full tracking and traceability, Infolog SpA's WMS is the most suitable solution for total process control.

The innovations that led to a significant optimisation of the client’s processes include: radio frequency terminals, industrial laser printers for laminated labels and barcode label printers - technologies that have led to an extraordinary increase in performance.

Intellimag is a logistics supervisor that provides simulation of all phases, and automatically configures processes accordingly, while still providing a flexible response to non-standard requests to handle specific order preparation and production requirements. Thanks to its extraordinary adaptability and reliability, it is the best choice for the ever-changing logistics sector, well able to adapt to the demands of the market without reducing competitiveness.

Today, Intellimag and Compiere are two winning products used by the company, integrated into their operations every time a new company is acquired or created.