Interview

Could you tell us about Multimac and the work you are doing in the field of digitalization and supply chain management?

Multimac works in these areas: production, logistics, transports and point of sale as well as in reverse logistics. Therefore, in the context of the flow of material, Multimac creates a so-called Digital Twin giving back a perfect correspondence of what is happening in the real world on your PC, in order to have the maximum visibility and transparency of the flows.

How are we doing it?

We do it using technologies that are among the best known, including the barcodes rather than the RFID or automatic localization systems based on various technologies like computer vision systems and systems related to intelligent mobility. Our goal is to make the entire production flow easily visible from any digital device.

Which are the main domains in which smart supply chain solutions are useful?

Along these five stages of management (production management, logistics management, transport management and of the point of sale) we monitor the raw material or the semi-finished good throughout the transformation process which uses production machinery clearly aided by workers and in this area we deal with what the concept of Industry 4.0 in order to have real-time visibility on what the various machines are doing in the production field. All this is summarized with the world MES (manufacturing execution system).

In doing this we must keep in mind that there may be simple supply chains, but there are also very complex supply chains that need not only a production plant but hundreds of production plants which are producing a single piece of the final product. Therefore, having the visibility of all these micro passages is essential especially for what is happening now.

Let’s see the container ship which was stuck in the Suez canal leading to significant delays in delivery. Knowing in real-time what is happening in the factory and the material flow allows each player to put in place the necessary measures to reschedule the route and prevent risks. Also concerning particular geopolitical situations as we are seeing during the pandemic that is hitting us.

So the more I know about every single movement in my supply chain and in the processing of materials, the more I am able to accumulate data that allows me “to take the next best action”.