The “spirit” of digitalisation
14 May 2018
Campari Group is the world’s sixth largest manufacturer of premium brand spirits and has long since pursued a policy of growth by acquisition. For each newcomer to the group, its products, equipment and assets all have to be integrated into the overarching operations management system. Campari Group achieves this using the Simatic IT Suite from Siemens PLM Software.
The capability of this Manufacturing Execution System (MOM) includes the management and standardisation of around 21,000 product specifications, which significantly improves efficiency across the Group’s entire product development and production processes.
They are a familiar sight at most social gatherings – branded aperitifs such as Campari and Aperol or bitter liqueurs such as Cynarand Braulio from the manufacturer Campari Group. This global corporation offers a product portfolio numbering well over 50 premium spirit brands which are produced in 18 group-owned factories around the world. In total, the corporation operates 58 sites. To manage an organisation of this complexity, Campari Group introduced digitalisation of its operational processes back in 2012. For its product specification management, it selected Simatic IT Interspec, a flexible and independently configurable Manufacturing Execution System (MOM). This enables product specifications to be developed, configured and managed and also made available on a central data platform.
“As the Group expands, we really need to standardise product information and collection methods, defining clear and consistent approval flows to confirm the correctness of collected data and their efficient distribution all over the world,” explains Marco Rocca, Global Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) Content Manager at Campari Group. This is done by collecting qualitative and quantitative product information and making it available in a data source which can be accessed by stakeholders everywhere. Documents required for external communication – such as product data sheets – have also been standardised. The Simatic IT Suite consequently enables Campari Group to process and manage new product information in real time – something which used to involve a turnaround of seven days. The new system will be rolled out to all 58 sites. Once the project has been completed, the suite will contain 21,000 specifications, 8,000 packaging designs and almost 7,000 documents.
In addition to Simatic IT Interspec, Campari Group has implemented a number of other modules including Simatic IT R&D Suite for research and development and Simatic IT Unilab. This interfaces on the one hand with the SAP software and on the other with Simatic IT Interspec. When a product comes from in from a supplier or from internal production, the SAP sends a sample verification request to Simatic IT Unilab. The operator then classifies this as “released” or “blocked”, and sends the information back to the SAP. Using the Simatic IT Report Manager, different types of reports can be generated from Simatic IT Interspec.
“The project with Siemens started from the urgent need to manage technical specifications,” says Carlo Bidoglia, global application director PSC, Campari Group. “Using the Siemens OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) solution, we can identify possible areas of improvement and define corrective actions during plant maintenance or process revision, in order to increase production efficiency.”
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