Once the reel leaves the production line we can find three labels: one positioned on its cardboard core, one on its outer surface and one that will be placed on the bundle of reels packaged as per customer request. This allows you to always have all the information relating to the various stages of production and packaging. However, it is possible to add even more information to the reel, a goal that can be achieved thanks to A.Celli's automated intralogistics.
But it does not end here: the available information can be further enriched, since the machines designed by A.Celli allow you to manage any end-of-line process in a nonwoven production plant, from the unwinding to the shipment of the finished product, totally in automatic and with a high level of integration between the production line and the warehouse. This allows you to get precise information on every single operation that involves the reel: this information can be reported within the virtual label.
The value of a high level of integration
In a nonwoven production plant, intralogistics is a sort of glue between the end-of-line machines, the warehouse, the loading bays and the shipment. In fact, it manages the movement of the reel between the machines themselves and, after processing, between the machines and the storage area. In addition, intralogistics ensures that, once retrieved from the warehouse, the reel is correctly handled and transported to the dispatching area.
In addition to being a supplier of solutions dedicated to intralogistics, such as AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) for the handling of materials and finished products and the software for the management of intralogistics itself, A.Celli manufactures all types of necessary machinery for the end-of-line and reel packaging.
This allows, together with the chosen forming line, to create a fully automated plant with a very high level of integration that responds to the dictates of industry 4.0, where digital, connectivity and sensors used by the Internet of Things (IoT) are the protagonists.
In this way the production software can connect directly to the company information system to communicate with the ERP and receive all the information necessary to create a reel in line with the customer's specific requests.
Working in an automated and interconnected environment, with high integration between production and warehouse, allows you to have total control, in real time, over everything that is happening in the plant. This offers an important opportunity: the creation of virtual labels.
Virtual label: the flagship of an automated plant
Automation is now an essential feature of the production line of most companies. When both production and warehouse management are automated, it is possible to achieve a high degree of integration between the various production and storage phases, reducing the need to overrun production and reducing the inefficiencies of material overstocking, further optimizing all processes.
Among the benefits deriving from integration there is also that of virtual labeling. In practice, every time a reel is moved or processed, a set of data is created in real time that keeps track of which intervention was carried out and for what reason. In this way, the virtual label adds a series of qualitative information to the physical label which, on the contrary, collects only quantitative information.
The new data makes it possible to trace the entire value creation chain in a certified and incorruptible way, from the production line to storage (warehouse inventory management) and shipping.
The next step is the blockchain
Risen to the headlines for its connection with cryptocurrencies, the term blockchain has become synonymous with trust. This is because it implies reliable transactions, which take place in a decentralized way without an effective manager, thus preventing hackers and cybercriminals from interfering.
The blockchain in fact rests its foundations on the creation of a distributed database, which contains information that can be shared in a network, but not modified. In practice, the information is stored in the database as blocks linked together in a chronologically consistent manner within a chain that cannot be deleted or modified without the consent of the entire network. It is thus possible to create a sort of unalterable ledger that allows you to track orders or the movement of goods.
This can also apply to the entire production process and warehouse inventory management, obtaining an even more "reliable" indication of the virtual label regarding the traceability of a reel.
To make the nonwoven production process further safe and reliable, and also to better protect producers in any disputes with customers, A.Celli, as a manufacturer of solutions for the handling of materials and finished products, is planning to be able to trace the production and storage process of the reels also through the blockchain.
