As consumerism slowly engulfs the world, manufacturers are burdened with the responsibility of continuously increasing the throughput of their factories and distribution networks. They also face the burgeoning demand for SKUs, smaller batch productions, and mixed orders. Addressing these nuances are intralogistics solutions. These end-to-end solutions combine robotics and automation and enable manufacturers to optimize their inventory, improve product time-to-market, reduce operating costs, and improve employee safety. A major player in this domain is E80 Group—a company that helps manufacturers improve their entire value chain by interconnecting every critical component of product manufacturing. “We specialize in customized robotics and automation solutions that guarantee efficiency and increased safety within factories and distribution centres,” begins Enrico Grassi, President of the E80 Group.

Since its establishment four decades ago, Italy-based E80 Group has offered an array of sustainability, safety, interconnectivity, traceability, and consumer services to clients in the food & beverage and tissue sectors to help them navigate the dynamic trends of Industry 4.0. The company meticulously analyzes its clients’ existing processes, equipment, and products and customizes the solution in accordance with their business objectives. Owing to the capabilities of its remarkable software and hardware solutions, E80 Group manages the entire engineering and production process of the plants—starting from the design phase to assembly, testing of electronic, mechanical, and software components—converting plants into smart factories.

E80 Group’s product portfolio comprises a wide range of AGVs, palletizing robots, high-speed robotic stretch wrappers, empty-pallet control systems, automated labellers, layer picking, repacking solutions, and automated high-density warehouses. In addition to these solutions, the company also offers an innovative software platform—SM.I.LE80 (Smart Integrated Logistics)—that enables facility managers to monitor and manage all the workflows and operations. The software integrates warehousing and peripheral infeed/outfeed systems and AGVs/LGVs, ensuring optimum performance, flexibility, and safety. Elaborating on this, Vittorio Cavirani, Vice President of the Group, adds, “The software simulates a layout that indicates the best implementation and placement of our intralogistics solutions. The layouts can be easily modified to adapt to changes in routes and missions while reducing energy consumption.” With such innovative and manufacturer-centric solutions, E80 Group has consolidated its position in the manufacturing arena and has set up around 350 smart factories globally, installed over 2500 robotic systems and more than 6500 automatic LGVs, and set up 40 automated high-density warehouses.

Venerated brands such as Barilla, Coca-Cola, Constellation Brands, Nestlé Perrier, Niagara, Sofidel Group, Danone, Evian, Carozzi, and many others Fortune 100 companies have trusted E80 Group with their technological requirements and have relished its longstanding experience in the domain to improve their warehouse operations. Recalling a customer success story, William Nelson, President of E80 Group North America, share details of E80 Group’s partnership with Carozzi Corporation, an industry leader in Latin America’s food sector.

Carozzi’s products are sold worldwide in Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, and the USA. In 2013, the company’s production and logistics departments adopted an innovative path with the fundamental objective of improving factory sustainability and services offered to end consumers. The project, termed Optimus, was launched as a quintessential part of Carozzi’s digital transformation strategies. To achieve its sustainability, efficiency, and safety targets, Carozzi selected the E80 Group. In the first phase of the project, E80 Group’s engineers analyzed, designed, and automated the handling pallets within the distribution centre, comprehensively covering reception of goods, shipping, and preparation of orders. Another decisive element has been the option of certified loading developed by a local partner: this system allows the truck driver to view all the information relating to the order directly on his smartphone, which is then visible to the end customer as soon as the cargo leaves the factory. The details were also made visible to the end customer as soon as the factory dispatched the cargo. The second phase involved the construction of high-density warehouses and fully-automated and integrated AS/RS stacker cranes. These allowed facility managers to stack pallets optimally into existing spaces. At 5.500 m2 with 30,000 pallets, the structure has a storage capacity five times greater than the previous one and a saturation of 98%, allowing Carozzi to achieve a total capacity of more than 100.000 pallet on a 72.000 m2 area. After the implementation was successfully over, Carozzi witnessed a profound transformation in its warehouse operations, efficiently utilizing E80 Group’s automation and robotic technologies.

Carozzi improved its shipping capacity by 35%, maximized traceability of the products handled, shortened time-to-market, reduced errors, ensured service reliability, and reduced its carbon footprint. In addition to this, the client also witnessed energy savings of up to 40% compared to the traditional systems it previously used. Carozzi utilized SM.I.LE80 to prepare a 3D map of its facilities to ensure 100% reuse of existing infrastructure, 100% operational continuity, and 30% reduction in project implementation time.

Besides, thanks to the E80 Group’s remote 24/7 customer service and continuous training support, Carozzi keeps the constant development of people and continuously improves company culture, protecting the investment over time.

This story is an evocative representation of the several businesses that actively leverage E80 Group’s solutions today.

E80 Group aims to involve customers in challenging the way work is done today with an eye on building better processes that lead to more efficient systems that produce tangible economic benefits to producers and their customers. E80 is stacked with experts on many levels to assist in project development and planning to ensure a 360-degree focus on business improvement and safety.