Case History

Strada Selva Grossa, 28/30,
61010 - Tavullia - PU

Tel: +39 0721 20021

info@ifi.it
www.ifi.it

Ifi Spa - Industria Frigoriferi Italiana

Mechanical industry, Furniture Complements & Construction

Ifi is a leading company in innovative design and technology solutions in public venue furniture.

Founded in Pesaro in 1962 as an artisan company specializing in the production of bar furniture, IFI marks the history of the industrial bar counter, thanks to the constant innovations that, time after time, have dictated new reference standards for the sector.

Today the company continues to consolidate its role as a leader in the public venue furniture sector, with more than 3,000 installations each year.

Products:

WMS

StockSystem

WAREHOUSE LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

Software for the management of logistics processes.

We looked for a partner for the renewal and rationalization of logistics processes in manufacturing. We can say that we found it in Replica Sistemi: from the very first steps it has been by our side and the strategic goal of computerizing the factory has been achieved.
We have significantly improved the Gross Operating Margin.

Eng. Davide Pezzi, Mirko Vichi

Operations Director INDUSTRIEIFI, entry Logistics Manager

Company

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Founded in Pesaro in 1962 as an artisan company specializing in the production of furniture for bars and ice cream parlors, IFI marks the history of furniture for food & beverage establishments, thanks to innovations that have dictated new standards for the industry, worldwide.

In addition to a very wide range of furniture, the company is in fact credited with the first industrial bar counter (1960s), the first modular bar counter (1970s), the first steel frame treated against passing corrosion (1980s), the disruptive public venue furniture philosophy Platinum IFI Concept (2005), the hi-quality/low-cost bar service Start Up (2012) to enable young job-seekers to start an affordable bar business, and the unstructured, multipurpose furniture proposal Bar Sharing (2013).

Group Structure

IFI S.p.A. is the parent company of the Industrieifi group, which employs about 350 employees distributed in its 50,000 sq. m. production facilities located between the provinces of Pesaro-Urbino and Rimini, and is present in the international food & beverage venue furniture market with five commercial brands:

AIFI - Innovative solutions for design and technology in public venue furniture;
DSL - Built-in technology solutions for interior designers, planners, architects, craftsmen;
Metalmobil - contract and community seating and tables;
Rossi Dimension - custom-made furniture solutions for public venues (turnkey project);
Coletti - Bespoke artisan furniture solutions for public places (turnkey project), mainly dedicated to artisan ice cream makers originating from the Belluno and Treviso areas, operating in Germany.

In addition to a very wide range of furniture, the company is in fact credited with the first industrial bar counter (1960s), the first modular bar counter (1970s), the first steel frame treated against passing corrosion (1980s), the disruptive Platinum IFI Concept public venue furniture philosophy (2005), the hi-quality/low-cost bar service Start Up (2012) to enable young job-seekers to start a bar business at an affordable cost, and the unstructured, multipurpose furniture proposal Bar Sharing (2013).

In 2011, IFI invents the first hermetic closure system for traditional display cases (HCS) and the anti-rotation system for carapins. In 2014, it won the Oscar of design, the Compasso d'Oro, thanks to Bellevue with Panorama technology (design Marc Sadler + IFI R&D) unprecedented synthesis of two archetypes of the artisanal ice cream shop that have always been in antithesis: the perfect preservation of ice cream in the cockpit counters and the visibility of the flavors in the display cases.

Trivia
IFI is also a company deeply connected to the area in which it was born and developed: it has financed the main bicycle paths in the city of Pesaro. The most important one is dedicated to IFI's founder, Umberto Cardinali (cyclist and accomplished entrepreneur).

NEEDS

In 2013, the company embarked on a path of industrial restructuring aimed at a progressive renewal of the production asset with lean manufacturing logics.

IFI's six factories and a logistics hub are distributed within a 15-kilometer radius:

- Three factories for IFI DSL

A factory for insulated shells (the supporting structure of the refrigerator) with shielding facilities that produce
an insulating layer in the metal sheet
a factory for product assembly, organized by production lines and product families
a factory for the final coating

- Two Metalmobil factories specializing in the construction of chairs and furniture accessories

- One factory for "custom" fabrications. It is a kind of carpentry shop with numerically controlled machines.

In addition to in-house production, a chain of suppliers c/outside contractors must be added, covering 50% of the turnover produced.

Everything that was not "core business" was outsourced. For example, sheet metal is designed and controlled, but made to be produced externally.

All these factories have been restructured both from a building point of view and on the operational-functional profile.

Factories have been rationalized by assembly lines, referring to lean technology, in an attempt to combine "mass production" with the pushed customization of products, which the market demands, while maintaining a technological constant.

An important step in this renovation was the synchronization of internal logistics to feed the production lines, according to the new concept of lean manufacturing.

With this in mind, the need arose to search for software, which would integrate with the SAP ERP, capable of fulfilling these functions.

After a careful software selection, Replica Sistemi's StockSystem WMS was chosen in 2014 because, without any special customizations, it already contained the required functionality.

Installed products

WMS: StockSystem

Hardware: 13 terminals Motorola MC9190

Project

Ifi DSL handles about 60,000 incoming part numbers of which 40,000 are operational, because it still keeps alive even references of products no longer in production but needed for spare parts.

In fact, IFI's internal after-sales policy guarantees the customer that the spare part will be available for at least 10 years.

The first factory to start with is the headquarters, the main assembly plant.

ISSUES

It was necessary to adapt to existing structures (factories built in the early 1970s), so it was essential to optimize space
The product classes handled are very different: from veneer material to LEDs for display cases, with different technical characteristics and shelf lives.
Although technology evolves quickly and products are constantly being renewed, Ifi guarantees its customers spare parts for 10 years.
There are about 300 active suppliers, so every day about 7-8 supercube balances full of material arrive to be received and stored.

GOALS

Allocate materials in intensive storage spaces
Reduce time and improve control during acceptance (50% of turnover is purchased from suppliers, so material must be controlled)
Management of the "edge of the line," i.e., the ability to know the quantity and location of finished products present in the plant at the end of the line and not yet stored
Accurate and timely replenishment of production lines (through super markets)
Integration with SAP and supplier management software

The project was carried out in three steps:

Reception

It started with the reorganization of reception.

Approximately 7-8 supercube trucks arrive every day, unloading products to be assembled of very different natures. In addition to "standard" parts, there are many "variants" that all need to be verified. StockSystemEvolution, by checking the requirements immediately determines to allocate the material: in the intensive storage area directly on the line (if provided by the material planning).

Intensive storage area

The optimal allocation of materials was studied by dividing them by areas, but still with the possibility of allocating products in all "free places" in order to optimize space.

Line edge

Thanks to the integration with SAP, the finished product, still at the end of the line, is easily identified by the system and recorded as available stock.

In this way, material and production schedules always know the precise availability of material to guarantee the required/agreed delivery dates to sales and customers

Advantages

Significant increase in GOP evident and recorded from the very first months
Ease of use of the system has facilitated and simplified cultural change in the company
Since the implementation of the WMS, other processes for business improvement and in relations with suppliers have been triggered (e.g., product packaging has been asked to be improved and labeling agreed upon to speed up acceptance)