The prestigious german magazine FTS/AGV-FACTS interviewed Mr. Francesco Furzi, Sales Manager of A.Celli for the R-WAY® product range, asking questions about the vehicles and solutions offered by the company and their field of application.
The A.Celli Group, which includes A.Celli Paper and A.Celli Nonwovens, is an entrepreneurial reality based in Lucca, present for more than 75 years in the global paper and nonwoven market with high-end and cutting-edge technological machinery and solutions.
The Group, which counts a workforce of more than 300 employee, closed the 2021 with a value of production equal to 205 million euros: the best result ever for a company that, to date, still boasts a 100% Italian ownership and is led by Mauro and Alessandro Celli, direct descendants of the founder Alvaro Celli.
Among its products we can find complete turnkey plants for the production of tissue paper, end-of-line machinery such as unwinders, winders and rewinders for tissue, paper and nonwoven, flexographic printers, finishing lines and even Industry 4.0 digital solutions for plant monitoring and optimization.
In the last years, true to the spirit of innovation that has characterized its entire history and to the motto “one source, one responsibility”, A.Celli has expanded its core offer to include solutions like roll handling and packaging systems, automated warehouses and AGVs, all under the brand name R-WAY®.
Why did you start your own AGV systems?
Over the years, our customers reached out A.Celli, looking for an AGV system tailored for the nonwoven, paper and tissue manufacturing environment, which has its own specific requirements and needs. The manipulation of a jumbo roll or a soft bundle requires some specific knowledge of the production and packaging processes that go beyond the performances offered by an all-purpose AGV.
Since A.Celli is worldwide leader in the creation, forming and packing of reels, we decided to invest our reputation and know-how in the very final stage of the product we contribute to manufacture by offering the handling and the warehousing.
Of course, we have no problem in extending our technology into some more conventional areas like handling pallets and boxes.
Are you selling AGV systems only in conjunction with other products such as winders, rewinders or paper machines?
Not exclusively in combination, we also go to the open market.
Which fields of application are you targeting outside printing business?
Any manufacturer of reels of any kind and size is our primary target, but we are ready to listen to any unanswered need of our customers, in order to help them to move, store and retrieve their products.
How many people are working in the AGV division? How many units has A.Celli produced?
The staff allocated to the R-WAY® business unit is currently consisting in 15 people, among technical and commercial roles. As regards the AGV division, in particular, we are investing in an ever-growing team of talents from the material handling industry and we are investing in the know-how of our most talented technicians in order to meet the overwhelming demand from the market and from our loyal customers.
The strength of our company is to have a crosscutting vision with respect to the industries of competence. This means that the specific knowledge of the rolls and products that we aim to move with our vehicles is a heritage that comes from decades of insights and experiences.
This is an unparalleled value that goes beyond the mere number of personnel employed: the specific knowledge possessed by professionals and specialists who, if necessary, can be applied in numerous business units.
A.Celli has a huge portfolio of products under the R-WAY® brand. What about charging, lifting heights, capacity?
Our focus is on flexible technologies for safely and efficiently handling master rolls and finished products, with payloads above 5 tons (with lifting height capacity up to 8.5 m for lightweight products and 6.5 m for heavier reels).
We are also committing on a new generation of navigation systems, like natural and autonomous driving methods, that can reduce the impact on the infrastructure of our customers, while offering the outmost flexibility in reconfiguring and reprogramming the navigation flow.
We have access to the most efficient lithium batteries and recharging methods, we have built an impressive supply chain of the best brands in the market, in order to offer our customers a superior quality and an unlimited 24/7 support, with no bottlenecks.
How about VDA5050?
VDA 5050 is a standard for the German automotive industry that we are not targeting, but we closely watch this interesting development and we will be ready to implement it, as soon as the paper/tissue/nonwoven market will be mature enough.
What kind of navigation systems are you offering?
The industry standard is the Laser triangulation and the so called “mixed” or “multi” navigation that we have started to implement into our solutions.
Nevertheless, the technology is now there and mature enough in order to go all-natural for the vast majority of the applications, with the only exception of the very narrow aisles with dynamic aisles, where an inertial sub navigation system is still required and still will be required for some years to come.
We do not want to limit ourselves nor do we want to limit our high demanding customers, so we will be happy to implement the most suitable navigation method for each specific application, no matter what.
How do you connect with existing CRM and ERP systems?
All our systems can integrate SQL and Oracle database, native. We offer a vast array of SW solutions to interconnect our systems with any existing ERP. We do no limit ourselves at any specific level of integration, we talk with any ERP/MES/WMS vendor and we are also in the position to offer our tailor made solutions to customers that want to build up their SW infrastructure from scratch.
How is the sales division organized?
Sales are cross-division among the companies of the A.Celli Group and we have concentrated all our offering inside the newly created R-WAY® division. One single point of source and one single point of knowledge for our customers and for our enormous sales organization on filed, worldwide.
Do you employ system integrators?
We do partner with system integrators in some markets, but we do not currently have any strategy in place for our global sales with system integrators. If a system integrator is capable of bringing a relevant value for our customers, we are open to it.
How about service partnerships in Germany, Austria and Switzerland?
Service is not something that a company with our reputation can delegate or outsource. We are heavily investing in our new world-class service department, we are devoting our best talents and pouring an enormous effort and investments in our 24/7 service concept. We are also ready to launch our new internal automated logistics that will minimize the delivery times and the availability of spares.
Nevertheless, the future and the present of the Aftersales is called preventive and predictive maintenance. We cannot let any of our customers down, for any reason. Any shutdown is too long and too expensive for our customers. We only have the option to prevent the shut downs, not to manage them.
For this reason our main focus is on remote support 24/7, spare parts available on site, overnight deliveries and the presence of our subsidiaries abroad.
When did you enter the market in the aforementioned countries?
A.Celli is in the international markets since day 1: we distinguish ourselves for being the closest to our customers, we follow them everywhere, listening to their needs and we are proudly ever-changing our organization in order to better suit our demanding markets, with no geographical restrictions nor limitations.
What are the next products?
We are currently focusing our main efforts in omni-directional AGVs with natural navigation system and heavy weight lifting capabilities.
We cannot forget the niche markets of the parent roll storage, high-density warehouse for the nonwoven industry and for the pulp raw material.
But the largest product and project for the years to come will be the fully automated factory (zero people from raw material to finished product), capable of working also in harsh environments, like the dark factory (ambient with no artificial lighting) or the low oxygen warehouses.
Surprisingly, we are not far from there and we are proud to be part of this revolution in manufacturing.