Florim

Florim Ceramiche SpA has been worldly recognised as a leader in ceramics industry for more than 50 years, thanks to its committment to research, innovation and social responsibility. Florim business style can be summarised in these three core principles: the MADE IN FLORIM style.

The company core business is the production of porcelain tiles

that offers surfaces for all requirements in architecture, interior design and building construction. 1300 employees, with a consolidated turnover of 330 million Euro and 24 milion sqm of ceramic material produced per year:  these are outstanding FLORIM figures.

It is a widely shared opinion among  researchers and professionals that  the industry is approaching the threshold of a  momentous turning-point, which  could  take the shape of a new industrial revolution (the fourth one), driven by the innermost integration of digital technology into industrial processes, changing  processes and products.

Florim is playing a starring role in this futuristic scenario and thanks to continuous investment in research and technology, the company stands  out in the international ceramic framework as far as innovation and manufacturing excellence are concerned.

In such scenario, the implementation of a new software, integrated  to to ERP system SAP R/3, to support the Supply Chain Planning & Scheduling  process is one of the key elements in Florim strategy.

The most relevant features of COMPASS¹⁰ implementation in Florim, are summarised below:

• the MPS process determines the quantity to produce for each item, in order to meet forecast figures and customer  orders as well as the target stock profile. MPS planned orders for finished items are generated by a sophisticated algorithm: advanced lot sizing techniques are able to take into account EOQ of common “dry-pressed” semifinished items, the real process constraint when it comes to planning quantity. The lot sizing function is able to increase, if necessary, the quantity of finished items MPS orders, accordingly to minimum lot size defined at BoM lower levels.

Surplus quantities are used to cover in advance forecast figures  in future buckets of the plan.

• MPS orders are the input to the  MRP run, to determine semifinished dry-pressed items requirements
• finite capacity simulations and “what-if” scenario analyses ca be run and evaluated adjusting managerial levers (capacity, make or buy, mill allocation, …); relevant KPIs can be configured to rapidly analyse the result of scheduling runs
• the production schedule is calculated in a few seconds:
  • optimising production sequences on the basis of item attributes (size, brand, color..), defining relevance for each production resource…
  • simultaneously considering availability of additional resources as a constraint (tools, materials, operators).

Considering the years 2010-2014, Florim has been able to achieve remarkable results:

• 35% reduction of finished product inventory…

• mantaining highest target of service level (88,8% on-time delivery on a monthly basis and 81,4% customer orders  available in stock).
• Increase in resource productivity