Company

Secondo Vergani S.p.A. is a key player in the confectionery industry. Its production process, at the historic headquarters in Cremona, is automated both in the production and packaging phases. The company primarily serves the Italian large-scale retail (GDO) market, but its international market share is rapidly expanding across all product lines. Joining the Lameri Group in 2006 fostered a stronger entrepreneurial approach, leading to new commercial strategies and significant investments aimed at improving all business processes.

The Challenge

In the food industry, one of the main challenges is managing the seasonality of sales. With increasing sales growth rates, production volumes, and product mix, the most pressing issues were:

• Controlling stock levels and optimally planning the availability of raw materials and packaging.
• Managing the complexity arising from the seasonal increase in production volumes.

Solution

Considering the unique characteristics of the industry, the introduction of Compass allowed the company to achieve integrated management (within a single IT system) of Sales, Production, and Purchasing, fostering and unifying information exchange across departments. The new system is used to:

• Plan finished product launches (MPS).
• Prepare finite capacity production schedules.
• Define purchasing plans.
• Collect actual production data (MES).

Results

The new system enabled a reduction of:

• 50% in finished product stock of mustard and nougat within one year.
• 20% in setups during the peak season (October-December), increasing productivity thanks to Compass’s ability to optimize production sequences based on item characteristics.

The improved planning capability (using finite capacity approaches) also allowed for:

• Reducing night shifts and better controlling production capacity needs.
• Stabilizing scheduling by reducing rescheduling due to shortages of raw materials and packaging.
• Gaining better visibility and control over finished product stock profiles.
• Accessing complete information for defining purchases and material call-offs.
• Achieving greater integration across company departments through centralized planning information.