Project "New investments for the optimization of quality and logistics with a view to Industry 4.0" - Funded by the Marche Region (ID 17365)

In 2022, the project "New investments for the optimization of quality and logistics with a view to Industry 4.0" was successfully completed. Through this project, the company sought to embark on a path to achieve a number of important objectives:

• increased competitiveness in the reference markets and in potential markets that the company intends to enter;
• adherence to the "Enterprise 4.0" paradigm through the interconnection between planned investments and the company's production management system or supply network, making control data available across the entire company network;
• improved environmental sustainability through the reduction of labels and waste;
• optimization of production quality.

Inim and manufactures its products at its own factory in Italy (Monteprandone – AP). This strategic choice contrasts with the tactical choices made by other Italian competitors who have preferred to relocate production to the Far East, maximizing short-term profits but essentially laying the foundations for a drastic reduction (if not annihilation) of their industrial capacity. To support this strategic choice, the company has had to equip itself with the latest technologies linked to an "Industry 4.0" concept, which automate the production process and make it part of a complex, digitally controlled business system. For example, in order to carry out the manufacturing cycle in Italy, and in particular within the factory, Inim has equipped Inim with several SMD (Surface Mounting Devices) component assembly lines. Since its inception, Inim also Inim an in-house testing department that performs parametric and functional testing of the electronic boards produced in the same factory.

The Marche Region has facilitated this innovation process by contributing to the acquisition of numerous sophisticated pieces of equipment that meet the Industry 4.0 paradigm:

• two automatic needle bed testing machines for the latest generation of printed circuit boards (PCBs). The investment minimizes the time and costs involved in verifying the functionality and quality of boards assembled with surface mount devices (SMDs);
• a laser labeler that does not produce paper and prints the label directly onto the product;
• two automated vertical warehouses that allow the SMD and PTH components needed for the production of electronic boards to be stored in a compact space.

In addition, the Marche Region contributed to increasing employment and bringing interns into the company.

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