31
de Març
de
2017 - 12:14
Act.
05
d'Abril
de
2017 - 11:20
"Look at this table, chair, the light hanging from the wall... almost everything around us has some type of bolt." Antonio Garcia is the General Manager in Spain of Bossard, a Swiss multinational whose distribution of bolts has become the first step in any factory making the transition to industry 4.0. Often not even companies are aware of the number of bolts they use, whatever sector they are in. The Bossard Inventory Management system provides smart management of the smallest piece of the chain. "At the end of the year it can account for 0.5% of the company's budget and is a little overlooked. We make sure industries no longer have to think about it and can devote their time to more valuable tasks," says Garcia, who next week will be one of the speakers at the Advanced Factories fair.
Connected distribution
"When we visit a factory for the first time we normally find boxes with different types of bolts all over the place," says the Bossard head. A part of seemingly small relevance can bring the factory to a halt if there is no way of finding the right bolt amid the disorder. Bossard's solution puts the stock of bolts in order on numbered shelves and pallets, each one with a scale connected to the Internet that monitors the stock in real time.
In this way the company always has the bolts it needs in the factory, through automatic orders that are distributed at whatever interval is required. "A single delivery arrives with everything, and not one every now and again that could be overlooked," says Garcia. Moreover, he insists that "the factory gains in efficiency, its stock is more adequate and always available. Without forgetting that everything is ordered."
Swiss culture
With a presence in Spain that goes back 14 years, when it acquired a French company that had a delegation here, Bossard is a Swiss multinational with more than 250,000 clients around the world. "We are making a great effort in Catalona," says the executive about the territory that accounts for 50% of company revenue in Spain. It is a volume of business that just about doubled in 2016 to three million euros.
Connected distribution
"When we visit a factory for the first time we normally find boxes with different types of bolts all over the place," says the Bossard head. A part of seemingly small relevance can bring the factory to a halt if there is no way of finding the right bolt amid the disorder. Bossard's solution puts the stock of bolts in order on numbered shelves and pallets, each one with a scale connected to the Internet that monitors the stock in real time.
 |
| This is how bolt stocks are generally 'organised'. PGF |
In this way the company always has the bolts it needs in the factory, through automatic orders that are distributed at whatever interval is required. "A single delivery arrives with everything, and not one every now and again that could be overlooked," says Garcia. Moreover, he insists that "the factory gains in efficiency, its stock is more adequate and always available. Without forgetting that everything is ordered."
The contribution to smart fabs is one of the three pillars of Bossard's offer, along with consulting services and the product range itself. Garcia says that the bolts a company uses can be reduced by 30%. "We analyse what they are using and whether we can substitute one part for another that is multifunctional." To be able to choose from a catalogue of 70,000 types of bolts is a great help.
 |
| An example of the Bossard facility, in this case in the Germans Boada factory. PGF |
Swiss culture
With a presence in Spain that goes back 14 years, when it acquired a French company that had a delegation here, Bossard is a Swiss multinational with more than 250,000 clients around the world. "We are making a great effort in Catalona," says the executive about the territory that accounts for 50% of company revenue in Spain. It is a volume of business that just about doubled in 2016 to three million euros.
 |
| Each tray is on a scale connected to the Internet. PGF |
As for the smart facilities, there are currently 10 installed, such as the one in Germans Boada factory in Santa Oliva. In all, they manage 4,500 connected trays. It is a presence on the rise but still small if compared with other markets they are active in. "The change of industrial culture is just beginning in Spain," concludes Antonio Garcia.