A great example of a Smart Factory in the tissue paper sector

One of the world leaders in the tissue paper production market: Sofidel

Sofidel is one of the world's leading manufacturing groups in the production of toilet and household paper; from the main headquarters in Porcari, in the province of Lucca (Italy), the company manages and coordinates the activity of businesses in the production and conversion of paper, located throughout Europe and the United States. These are paper mills that produce jumbo rolls of tissue paper, paper factories that manufacture finished products, and offices that manage sales, logistics and services. Sofidel has internationalized its business by focusing on a technological and strategic approach aimed at optimizing the entire supply chain and ensuring maximum safety and total sustainability of production and logistics processes.

The Sofidel Group’s largest, most modern and sustainable plant was inaugurated in October 2018 in Circleville, Ohio (USA). The launch marked a milestone in the company's development and growth strategy for the United States, where Sofidel has been operating since 2012 and is currently present in seven states (Nevada, Florida, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Ohio and Pennsylvania). The company’s first greenfield investment in the United States, the new plant is integrated and includes both the paper mill phase (from pulp to paper) and the converting phase (which leads to the finished product).

After the success of Sofidel’s greenfield conversion plant in Sweden - inaugurated in 2015 - thanks to the collaboration with our company, the Group again entrusted E80 team with the optimization of all the logistic processes in its new production site in Ohio. The plant is an outstanding 4.0 factory that is highly automated and integrated, from raw material reception to truck loading. Our companies have developed a system for the automatic transfer of paper reels from the paper mill to the converting lines, using laser-guided vehicles (LGVs).  Moreover, we provide complete automation of finished product handling through the Smart Store automatic warehouse, which is capable of handling more than 50,000 pallets of manufactured goods. This choice resulted in space savings of up to 40%. The complete optimization of logistics processes has further enabled Sofidel to achieve important objectives throughout the supply chain: total sustainability of the solutions implemented, reduction of waste and damage to the finished product, full compliance with deadlines, and greater customer satisfaction.

The logistics of the future is customer-oriented. Interview with Luigi Lazzareschi, Sofidel Group CEO 

“Overcoming the challenges posed by e-commerce demands great vision and the ability to understand the needs of tomorrow's market.” 

In your opinion, what will be the most important future developments in logistics on the European and American markets? Will the two markets change in parallel?

“As a result of the profound changes triggered by e-commerce, logistics are becoming more and more customer-oriented. This applies to the European and American markets. The strategies industry applies to designing new distribution models must bear in mind this change in perspective. Today, business is increasingly global and committed to continuous improvement in the services it offers to end customers. Having said this, the European model of logistics is more varied and mixed than its American counterpart and could be better placed to respond to processes of future optimization. We might, therefore, see the two distribution systems moving closer together”.

With this in mind, what factors will be most decisive in determining the solutions and technologies needed to develop fully integrated factories?

“Corporate strategies will be influenced by how logistics is managed in the future. As I have already said, given the focus on customer service, we shall have to look at lead time reduction, information analysis, product availability and personalization, and product storage methods. These are the areas that will see the greatest change. Companies can create added value by investing in systems and technologies that give them greater control over their products and processes. Interconnectivity, flexibility, sustainability and response times will be decisive inside and outside the factory”.

On the subject of distribution, do you think we shall see deliveries direct to end customers without passing through distribution centers and points of sale?

“Distribution will certainly be different. Deliveries must become more personal and arrive either at the consumer’s home or at a nearby distribution point that can act as a connected digital space. We can carry on using the present road and rail model with improvements in the areas of driverless vehicles and electric trains, for example. Or we can revolutionize distribution using innovations that are currently under development, such as predictive shipping and delivery by drones. A lot will depend on what the big-league e-commerce players, like Amazon and Alibaba, do and on what new technologies we shall have at our disposal. Logistics within the factory will depend on logistics outside. A number of different factors are in play, so there is no standard solution. We shall have to seize opportunities as they arise”.

How does your new greenfield investment in the United States fit in with your plans for growth?

“Before the construction of our Circleville plant in Ohio, we had five medium-size production sites covering the needs of the South and the West Coast reasonably well. When we decided on the greenfield investment, our aim was to serve the East Coast too. The new plant is an Industry 4.0 factory, fully automated and integrated from raw material reception to truck loading, with advanced technology developed in collaboration with E80 Group, permitting extremely flexible logistics. It forms part of a plan our group has been enacting for some time, aimed at the creation of 8 or 9 plants in the USA, providing full market coverage”.

How has the partnership with E80 Group influenced the evolution of your group?

“Over the last twenty years, the Sofidel Group has implemented a major development process. Elettric80 and BEMA, today E80 Group, began designing and developing solutions to revolutionize factory logistics and make old technology obsolete at more or less the same time. Let us say that our two groups have developed and grown together in response to changes in the market.”

See the video of the greenfield plant of Sofidel Group in Sweden!

Any questions? Please contact us by email!