Project: “New Investments to Optimize Quality and Logistics in the Context of Industry 4.0” – Funded by the Marche Region Marche ID 17365)

In 2022, the project “New Investments for Optimizing Quality and Logistics in the Context of Industry 4.0” was successfully completed. Through this project, the company sought to embark on a path toward achieving several important objectives:

• increased competitiveness in target markets and in potential markets that the company intends to enter;
• adherence to the “Enterprise 4.0” paradigm through the integration of planned investments with the company’s production management system or supply chain, making control data available across the entire corporate network;
• improved environmental sustainability through the reduction of labels and waste;
• optimization of production quality.

Inim designs and manufactures its products at its own plant in Italy (Monteprandone – AP). This strategic choice stands in contrast to the tactical decisions adopted by other Italian competitors, who have chosen to relocate production to the Far East in order to maximize short-term profits, but in doing so have essentially laid the groundwork for a drastic reduction (if not the complete elimination) of their industrial capacity. To support this strategic choice, the company has had to equip itself with the most modern technologies associated with the “Industry 4.0” concept, which automate the production process and integrate it into a complex, digitally controlled corporate system. For example, in order to carry out the manufacturing cycle in Italy—and specifically within its own facility—Inim has installed several component assembly lines using SMD (Surface Mounting Devices) technology. Furthermore, from the very beginning, Inim has maintained an in-house testing department that performs parametric and functional testing on the electronic circuit boards produced at the same facility.

The Marche Region Marche facilitated this innovation process by helping to acquire numerous pieces of sophisticated equipment that align with the Industry 4.0 paradigm:

• two state-of-the-art automatic needle-bed test machines for printed circuit boards (PCBs). This investment minimizes the time and cost required to verify the functionality and quality of boards assembled with surface-mount devices (SMDs);
• a laser label printer that produces no paper and prints the label directly onto the product;
• two automated vertical storage systems that allow for the storage, in a compact space, of the SMD and PTH components needed for the production of electronic circuit boards.

In addition, the Marche Region Marche contributed to job growth and the hiring of interns by companies.

Financial support from the European Union: €112,975.28.