VIROSPACK IS COMMITTED TO DIGITALISATION

VIROSPACK IS COMMITTED TO DIGITALISATION

The continuous optimisation of the design is one of the many challenges to dropper pack manufacturers face each day. Virospack, as leader of the market, has a big responsibility in the commitment to innovation and design, as well as the search for new materials for the development of increasingly sustainable dropper packs.

Virospack has responded to this requirement by moving full speed ahead in its future plan, with the digitisation of all areas through the best business software another of the company’s major commitments.

Montse Florencio, Service Manager of Virospack and Project Leader of the digitalisation project, provides us all the details.

 

TRACEABILITY AND EFFICIENCY. TECHNOLOGY AS A LEVER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Technology and digitisation are a more obvious reality for companies every day, two milestones that help improve their efficiency as well as being a lever for environmental change. In line with this, Virospack is implementing a new management system in all areas of the company. As a result of the collaboration agreement with the Swedish business software provider IFS, both companies will work together throughout 2022 on the development of fully adapted tools for Virospack. It is expected that IFS Cloud solutions will start to be used at the end of the year, as commented by Virospack Service Manager, Montserrat Florencio, who said “it is a complete integration of all IFS Cloud transactions that will also include the participation of the IFS partner, Antalis Consulting Services, which will provide its production experience”.

 

Another cornerstone of the agreement focuses on efficiency. By using the new software adapted for the company, its customers will be able to jointly manage all their products in a unified way, on a single API-based platform designed for the cloud, but which can be run anywhere. Traceability is another main objective for Virospack. This aspect affects both the environmental commitment –it allows the carbon footprint of each product to be traced- and other aspects, such as the materials used or including being able to access

documents with a single click. “Better traceability will increase our efficiency. We are already working in this area, but it is difficult to obtain data as we have to use different programs, applications and tools”, stated Montse Florencio.

 

MONTSERRAT FLORENCIO

In what way will the IFS Cloud solution improve Virospack’s management and manufacturing processes?

The new ERP system will provide us smoother interdepartmental communication which will lead to greater efficiency in all the company’s management and manufacturing processes. The availability of a complete integration of transactions and flows of information or materials arising from this, will give us a joint vision of document and/or material traceability immediately. An improvement that will undoubtedly apply to all areas.

To this, and as a significant improvement, is added the Business Intelligence tool, which will provide us with the main indicators. Accessibility to this key information will enable very agile strategic decision-making, providing us greater reaction and response capability, undoubtedly one of our core values.

As far as the manufacturing processes are concerned, we also expect higher performance that will come from a new planning tool. Having the Planner integrated in the ERP will optimise resources (=productive machines) which will undoubtedly help us to improve performance. This Planner will be parameterised with different variables or algorithms per section, since each of our production sections has different needs. We will therefore be able to focus the planning of the rubber, plastic, urea, glass, paint, metallic or screen printing section, based on its own requirements. Its greatest potential is constant and dynamic parameterisation, in order to adapt to our production needs or those of the market.

What is the company’s goal with the implementation of this technology?

Our objective is to have a technology partner that affords us sustained growth. And that the ERP facilitates this growth.

IFS’s technology is sufficiently flexible to, within the security of the ERP system, allow us to make any extensions that may arise according to our ongoing production or market needs.

In what areas and processes will this technology be implemented?

Our vision is to integrate it in all areas of the company: Engineering, Maintenance of material master data, manufacturing routes and product structure, Project management, CRM, Opportunity management, complete Order to Cash process, with all the inherent sub-processes, Supply Chain, Procurement in its external aspects (purchases) and internal aspects (supply between sections), Production with plant data capture, Distribution, with logistics and shipments, Quality, Finance, HR, including Health & Safety.

What role does Virospack play in innovation?

Innovation in Virospack plays a vital role and is part of our DNA. For the type of product we manufacture, fully customised for each customer, investment in resources assigned to innovation and project management is an absolute priority for us.

Our commitment to a new ERP management system, with the economic and human investment that this entails for Virospack and each of its employees, reflects our ongoing desire for continuous improvement. In this respect it offers us an optimum response so that our R&D and Engineering departments can comprehensively oversee a project from its gestation to industrialisation, encompassing all the previous phases of internal and external tests and approvals.

Also, and in addition to the core of our business (designing, developing, producing and offering the market a product with the very highest quality standards), we care about providing the organisation with technological innovation that allows it to update or improve current processes. As a specific example, we are now starting the project to implement a new ERP, but we are also launching the project for an automated warehouse, whose Go-Live is planned simultaneously with the start-up of the ERP.