The future starts in Calais, Prysmian’s first 4.0 factory
Prysmian Group teams with Dassault Systèmes in the Fast Track project, to streamline production and to support a sustainable use of resources, helping our people to fulfill customer’s needs.
The future starts in Calais, Prysmian’s first 4.0 factory
Heading towards Industry 4.0
Some time ago, Prysmian Group launched the Fast Forward Operations program, aimed at raising awareness about the Group’s Operations Strategy, and to stimulate momentum and participation in terms of the contribution everyone canbring .. This approach relies on four main drivers: Human Capital, Factory 4.0, Impeccable Quality and Production Processes Improvement.
“We’re designing a new approach to our industry
– says Giacomo Sofia, Prysmian Group Manufacturing Director.
“But we can’t change if we don’t evolve our way of working. All improvement initiatives being run within our factories – like Lean Six Sigma, 5S, Manpower Saturation, Maintenance Excellence, Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen event and Good practice sharing – are a big part of this change, with a key purpose always in mind: to serve our customers as best we can and continuously simplify and streamline our processes. We call it ‘World Class Transformation’ and this is a fundamental enabler to have a successful implementation of the principles of Factory 4.0 in Prysmian Group.”
A new chapter
As part of this program we’re working on a system to gather and read all production data, machine performance and material flows – Andrea Pirondini explains. This will be the new Prysmian Manufacturing Execution System (MES). With the help of an interfunctional team, built ad hoc, we first audited and analyzed the “as-is” of our best factories. We then selected a new frame of reference and enriched it with other best practices.
"The Fast Track project, and all other similar initiatives, could be used to schedule machine maintenance, making our plants safer and more efficient, and showing any deviation at an early stage"
Stefano Brandinali
Prysmian Group CIO
The ambitious project, named ‘Fast Track’, is run in partnership with the French software provider Dessault Systèmes, allowing Prysmian to leverage on best-in-class applications for digital manufacturing operations management, ready for the deployment of IoT technologies and Big Data. Beside streamlining work processes and applying a more sustainable use of resources, Prysmian will bring more value to its work, and ultimately to its customers and stakeholders. The implementation of the pilot project in its Factory of Calais will allow Prysmian to develop wider plans with the objective of progressively deploying Factory 4.0 solutions in all of its plants worldwide.
“We use to have just very few people checking data”
continued Pirondini.
“The Fast Track will help more people to deal with them giving to the different functions the data they need to improve their operations”.
We are changing our approach to problems and critical issues, preventing them from occurring rather than just reacting to them. Technology will be key in this, particularly the use of the Internet of Things amongst others” concluded Stefano Brandinali.
"Leveraging on the result of the pilot in one of our better organized factory we will be able to develop wider plans with the objective of progressively deploying Factory 4.0 solutions in most of its manufacturing footprint"
"Leveraging on the result of the pilot in one of our better organized factory we will be able to develop wider plans with the objective of progressively deploying Factory 4.0 solutions in most of its manufacturing footprint"
Andrea Pirondini
Prysmian Group COO
Calais, the future of manufacturing starts here
Dassault Systèmes played an important role in implementing the new monitoring program:
“Thanks to our platform, in a very short time, we created for Prysmian a digital ecosystem that makes it possible to use smart, connected products to manufacture and maintain items in a far more detailed and intelligent manner, and to strategically use information to become more productive and creative,”
declared Guido Porro, Managing Director EuroMed, Dassault Systèmes.
“We are very proud to be recognised as a strategic partner of a forward-looking market leader such as Prysmian,"
he concluded.
The Fast Track project aims to guarantee the full reliability of the manufacturing processes in terms of volumes, quality and timing, through a major leap forward in terms of production execution, and along the whole materials management chain. An approach that ensures full traceability of all manufacturing activities and materials, while managing events that could affect production processes and providing all relevant real-time information needed to identify root causes and possible solutions.
Now, Prysmian is on its way to become a fully developed 4.0 factory where state-of-the-art automation and human added value merge to improve efficiency and competitiveness.
The future of manufacturing starts here. It’s a long journey: we are well equipped and ready to go on.
ETICA E SOSTENIBILITA'
Un anno di sostenibilità
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