Company
Vimi Fasteners S.p.a. is a global leader in the manufacturing and commercialization of mechanical fastening components for high-engineering industrial applications. Founded in 1967 as Viterie Mirabello and part of the COMER Group since 2002, its headquarters and production plant are located in Novellara, Reggio Emilia. The company also has commercial offices in Charlotte (NC, USA), Schermbeck (Germany), and Shanghai (China). Vimi Fasteners fosters deep collaborations with its customers, contributing to their success by providing high-quality and technologically advanced solutions to meet complex production needs.
Need
The implementation of the MES system is part of a broader project to innovate the company’s production processes, with the initial step focused on reducing production lead times.
Decreasing lead times is critical for increasing flexibility and responsiveness to market demands. In less than a year, Vimi Fasteners reduced production lead times by over 60%, also lowering work-in-progress (WIP) levels while maintaining production volumes. The next step was to focus on setup activities and their reduction, as Vimi Fasteners specializes in medium-to-low quantity batch production, making setup time a critical factor.
“To achieve this, we initiated three parallel initiatives, one of which was the introduction of an MES system for tighter control of setup times, alongside SMED activities on stamping machines and a continuous training project (TWI),” said Matteo Iemmi, Logistic & IT Manager at Vimi Fasteners Spa.
Matteo Iemmi, Logistic & IT Manager Vimi Fasteners Spa
Solution
Vimi Fasteners had already been using Compass for data collection, but in offline mode, resulting in delayed data entry, outdated order progress status, and errors in reported data, leading to unreliable performance indicators.
The project launched in mid-2014 aimed to overcome these limitations through an advanced MES data collection system, featuring:
- 56 dedicated touchscreen panel PCs installed on each line (25 cold-forming presses, 21 thread-rolling machines, 3 induction hardening systems, 5 lathes, 1 CNC transfer machine, and 1 grinding machine).
- 2 control panels housing PLCs for direct machine integration (piece counting and machine status: running or stopped).
This infrastructure allows real-time recording of all factory events. Operators manually declare activities (setup start, production start, maintenance, etc.) through user-friendly panel procedures, while direct machine integration automatically records production counts and machine statuses.
Results
The introduction of Compass, together with the other interventions, enabled:
- Immediate identification of setup-related issues through daily reports on setups exceeding standard times.
- More accurate and timely calculation of process KPIs (OEE).
- Real-time information on production order progress.
According to estimates, this will reduce average setup times in the cold-forming department by 21% for headed screws and 19% for stud bolts in 2015. Reduced setups will lead to greater efficiency, smaller batches, and shorter lead times.
