The flagship Italian production plant of leading valve and actuator supplier Bonomi (UK) Ltd, is employing the principles of Industry 4.0 across many areas of its manufacturing operations, to great effect.
The factory is the pinnacle of the company’s European manufacturing activity and together with a five year, 15 million Euro investment in building automated warehouses for finished and semi-finished products, it has given Bonomi scope to seize the opportunities offered by the hyper-amortization of the Industry 4.0 plan.
Throughout its 100 year plus history, Bonomi has been constantly honing its skills through innovation and in more recent times employing cutting-edge technology and smart working principles, in order to reach its current position as an industry leader.
Jason Hill, sales director of Bonomi’s UK operation, comments: “In addition to operational excellence, Bonomi has set about optimising the working environment, a factor which it feels is critical in getting the best from its workforce and attracting the best new talent. Whilst data and smart working procedures are the plant’s new ‘oil’, the company feels it’s vital to employ the best human resource to get the most out of the automated elements of its business.”
The 110,000 sq. metre plant is technologically advanced and designed to be environmentally sustainable by harnessing much of its electricity from solar panels whilst heat is obtained partly via the cooling systems employed in its manufacturing processes, and partly from Geo-thermal ground-source heat pumps, thereby avoiding the use of fossil fuels.
Continues Jason: “The Italian plant is using Big Data both to reduce errors, since everything is interconnected, and to improve the quality of people’s work. Intelligent, intuitive systems can visualise the entire production sequence and make smart decisions based on accurate real time data.”
“By automating key parts of the operation, including automated cart transportation, staff have been relocated to other areas of the business where they can acquire new skills and continue the ongoing training which is vital for them to fully embrace Bonomi’s digital transformation.”
The advantages offered by this automated system; including space recovery, enhanced operator safety, traceability of movement and reduction in errors, demands a workforce with the highest skill set, which is why ongoing training and personal improvement are critical to Bonomi’s continued advancement as we extend our reach even further into new global markets.
