Digital Transformation Archivi

Fabiano Benedetti, CEO of the company, tells us the story of beanTech and we understand that the company is ready to accept the new challenges related to digital transformation and Industry 4.0.

Who is beanTech?

beanTech is a computer reality that supports companies by offering 360-degree solutions ranging from data acquisition to IT architecture, from customized software developments to internal process management, from business analysis to the implementation of sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms.

The company’s mission is to help manufacturing companies in the digitization process, offering end-to-end solutions through technologies such as AI, machine learning, cloud, data collection and analysis.

beanTech offers both solutions to optimize the process within the factory (MES, MOM, IoT, data collection from the factory) and solutions to innovate machinery and plants (predictive maintenance, monitoring, data analysis from a qualitative perspective).

Why and when did you decide to join the IMPROVENET Network?

Fabiano tells us that everything started after a project meeting with Prof. Alessandro Beghi of the University of Padua. “The competitive advantage of joining IMPROVENET was immediately clear, as the activities promoted are completely in line with the ones achieved by the company,” he continues.

In addition, the willingness to join IMPROVENET is also linked to the interest of creating new networks and knowing better some regional realities, combining different skills both from the solution providers and from pilot cases.

“It is necessary to know new partners and promote open innovation exchange”

What is the role of beanTech within the VIR2EM Project?

beanTech is collaborating with the company SIPA, which designs and produces plants for the packaging chain (drinks, food, cosmetics), in order to create a digital system for their machines distributed around the world, of high added value based on

• Asset monitoring system

• Predictive maintenance

• Remote control of installations

The idea is to improve the performance of machinery (thanks to remote management and predictive maintenance) and to change the nature of the relationship between the supplier of the machine and the user, enhancing a proactive collaboration. The ability to react to problems and changes is a competence that must be provided by the manufacturer of digitized machines, which however enjoys a preferential channel in terms of consulting, training and spare parts. All this with a view to improve the service and the after-sales.

What benefits will beanTech receive from the project?

Without doubt, the project will strengthen relations with an important customer, offering an end-to-end technology. This project will be an excellent starting point for testing new technologies in a sector such as packaging.

Furthermore, through the project it will be possible to design and implement architectures for web and mobile applications, with a particular attention to data management and processing on AWS platform.

What are the main challenges that a SME can face in the digital transformation process?

“We are witnessing an increase of Industry 4.0 technologies, but the main difficulty is to bring value and use these technologies consciously,” Fabiano says. For this reason, beanTech thinks that training and customer involvement are at the basis of the digital transformation process of a company. For that reason, beanTech guides its customers in the strategic choices to be adopted through its Academy.

Fabiano Benedetti: CEO & President

Fabiano Benedetti is the CEO of beanTech, an IT company with over 160 employees and 15 million turnover, which supports companies in the challenges of Digital Transformation and helps them to achieve the opportunities of Industry 4.0

SANTEX RIMAR GROUP is a leading multinational company in the textile mechanical engineering sector with headquarters in Trissino (Vicenza), and offices in Switzerland, China and India.

The company is at the forefront in the sector thanks to strong investments in research and development in the different production areas related to looms, machinery for technical textiles, finishing machinery, machinery for the drying of sludge. The Group includes the companies SMIT and SPEROTTO RIMAR, currently members of the IMPROVENET Consortium, in particular both partners of the PREMANI and VIR2EM projects respectively.

Interview with Giulio Mandruzzato, Group CTO and Technical Manager of the Projects related to IMPROVENET.

Why joining the IMPROVENET NETWORK?

Surely one of the first reasons that prompted the Group companies to join IMPROVENET lies in the advantage of access to European funding, which serve to boost new R&D projects where there are large investments to be made. In addition, there is an additional advantage related to the network for the possibility of creating relationships in the territory, partnerships with companies that can support technological innovations (in particular, we have developed a collaboration between SMIT and the M31 technology provider and partner of the PREMANI Project, between SPEROTTO RIMAR and the technology partners: Statwolf, University of Verona and Uqido, for the VIR2EM project).

The relations inside the Network are not simple actions of supply, but relationships between subjects who want to share their own know-how and the added values.

In addition, the network offers the opportunity to discover and form new partnerships with different subjects to have new ideas, to develop new projects based on use cases, to collaborate with research centers and universities for the technology transfer. This latest collaboration also allows to find new specialized resources, with a training of excellence in the sector.

What will the company accomplish during the VIR2EM Project?

Through this project, Sperotto Rimar aims to achieve a development consisting in the overall digitalization of some products. In particular, the ambition is to achieve total control and sharing of data, especially moving towards a strong automation of the machinery produced by the company. All this implies a greater process control, which will be increasingly reliant on algorithms and software, to ensure higher standards of quality, efficiency and productivity.

Another advantage will be to retain the process know-how of these products, as it is generally in the hands of the operator and is difficult to ensure its transferability over time. It will therefore be possible to continuously improve the processes ensuring that they are always in full control over time. The achievement of these innovative objectives would therefore ensure greater knowledge, stability and sharing of the process by operators, both for the manufacturer and for the customer.

With which other RIR partners will the project be carried out?

Sperotto Rimar is currently collaborating with Statwolf, Uqido and the University of Verona in the project VIR2EM. In particular, Statwolf will specifically develop the data collection, analysis and exchange platform, including the necessary infrastructure such as analysis algorithms, predictive analysis, virtual cokpits and all the technology needed to manage from data collection to storage and remote data use. Uqido instead focuses on the use of data to develop Digital Twin algorithms, which are the basis of what was said before to arrive at higher product standards. The University of Verona will develop that part of the algorithms needed to connect the process and the machinery Sperotto Rimar, in order to optimize the management and control systems in the customer’s plants.

During the PREMANI project, the company SMIT collaborated with its technology partner, M31, in order to develop a micrometric system of quality analysis of the fabric in real-time.

How do you see the company at the end of the project?

The company is transformed from the point of view of its digitization capacity, with an eye also to sustainability. In fact, thanks to the control of data and process we can improve performances in terms of energy savings and optimize the resources to be used. Thanks to these projects it is possible to have truly interconnected companies capable of improving the process thanks to the control and management of data and able to be more sustainable.

Giulio Mandruzzato is the CTO of Santex Rimar Group

Graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Padua, MBA at the CUOA in Vicenza, he began his career in Sperotto Rimar. Subsequently he gained other experiences in companies in different sectors covering not only technical roles, but also commercial ones, working mainly in multinational companies. Giulio is also a member of the Board of Directors of IMPROVENET.

BEANTECH: ICT SOLUTIONS FOR DITIGAL TRANSFORMATION

SANTEX RIMAR GROUP: WE JOIN IMPROVENET TO BOOST NEW RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS