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

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

• increased competitiveness in the company’s current markets and in potential markets it intends to enter;
• adherence to the “Industry 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 facility in Italy (Monteprandone – AP). This strategic choice stands in contrast to the tactical decisions made by other Italian competitors, who have opted 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 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 the plant, Inim has equipped itself with several component assembly lines using SMD (Surface Mounting Devices) technology. Furthermore, since its inception, Inim has maintained an in-house testing department that performs parametric and functional testing of the electronic boards produced in the same plant.

The Marche Region Marche facilitated this innovation process by helping to acquire a wide range of sophisticated equipment that aligns with the Industry 4.0 paradigm:

• two state-of-the-art automatic needle-bed testers 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.

European Union financial support: €112,975.28.