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Interview with Serena Piceni - Information Systems Manager

Can you describe your role within a mechanical production company like Faster SpA? 

My role is to coordinate the IT office, taking care of all aspects, from the management of ERP and MES projects to the purchase of hardware and software infrastructures. Fortunately, Faster Spa considers information systems as the central node of business processes, and this allows me to have a decision-making responsibility in the implementation of new projects. In addition, the international dimensions of the company make my work stimulating both on the technological and cultural side. I come from the ERP management systems.

What needs have prompted you to consider adopting a new MES software? 

We were not satisfied with our previous system because it could not meet our needs. Especially for the software, we were disappointed that our previous IT partner did not intend to make investments to renew the system, despite our explicit requests. He was short-sighted.

How did you know MecMatica? 

The way we contacted MecMatica is funny: their Sales Director Mr. Bollani delivered the brochure, and it arrived on my desk without a direct contact apart from the canonical presentation email. After not even a week, our Administrator instructed me to look for new solutions, I found on the Web own MecMatica thanks to Google, and immediately after my eye fell on the MecMatica folder in part ..." ah but they have already been here! ", and so I decided to go in-depth with the potential supplier, their Informatica solution.

How long did the selection on suppliers last? 

About 4 months for the technological/ economic comparison of n. 3 possible suppliers of the MES software, although MecMatica had shown since our first meetings, to have from now on a step ahead of the other Competitors. The project was then taken over at a later stage, and we formalized the order in November 2010.

What are the reasons for your choices?

Our choice was determined by several factors, among which the spirit of technological innovation of MecMatica Srl, the use of a MES software written in Microsoft.Net environment, the modularity of their solution and last but not least their well-designed CNC hardware.

Once the Project has been confirmed to the Supplier, have the deadlines been met? 

Absolutely yes, in fact we are more than satisfied, within a month the MecMatica technicians have installed the entire system and connected all our machinery.

Now that the MES Metronomo.Net software is up and running, what significant differences have you noticed? 

The main difference was that there were no more hardware infrastructure stops. Now the integration with our ERP is complete compared to our previous system. The production software now has a more "user friendly" interface and users are more familiar with it. Our AD uses is then able to use their Tablet anywhere you are to monitor in real time the status of CNC machines thanks to the Web application of Metronomo.net.

In production, our ability to manage machine workloads has been significantly improved thanks to the MecMatica scheduler and the technical intervention times on machine tools have been greatly reduced thanks to constant monitoring.

Are further developments or projects planned with the supplier? 

At the moment, some projects for additional Metronomo management modules are under way. In addition, we are considering the idea of using this system also at our production sites abroad.

In the light of Vs. first-hand experience, would you recommend Mecmatica as a MES software provider? 

Absolutely, our CEO has always said positive words about MecMatica and its products.

Once the project has been confirmed to the Supplier, was the deadline met? 

Absolutely yes, indeed we are more than satisfied, within a single month the MecMatica technicians have installed the entire system and connected all our machine park (over 60 CN) in our headquarters of Rivolta d'Adda, including the software Metronomo.Net.

Have there been significant deviations from the initial estimated costs? 

Absolutely not, but we have planned further investments later, for our decision.

How many people were involved in this project within Faster Spa? 

The undersigned with my assistant, the head of scheduling/ production and various department heads on the way.

How were the relations with MecMatica both on the commercial and technical side? 

Excellent and always friendly to the commercial side, never any problem to meet our requirements even when they were particular compared to the standard of production in lathes, and I must also emphasize the pro activity of MecMatica technicians. I congratulate the Vs. Help Desk efficient and very fast in giving concrete answers.

What benefits have been achieved in production management? 

We have improved the ability to schedule machines, and when one of our machine tools is stopped, production monitoring makes it immediately visible and our operators intervene immediately. In addition, the graphical color interface of MecMatica scheduler is very User Friendly, machine load management has had a great benefit, and those who say that production schedulers are all the same, have not seen that of Metronomo.Net.

After only 1 month of start-up, what differences did you notice? 

Today, thanks to the new MecMatica MES system, we have finally closed the information loop, the integration between MRP and MES software is complete.

Thanks to Metronomo.Net, users of the system have a greater ease of use and are more willing to use the tool than before.

Thanks to their web interface, our CEO then uses his personal Apple iPad to see the production status where, how and when he wants it. If all the IT projects that I manage were like this, I would sign them, of course our Management believes in them and endorses them.

Are further projects planned with MecMatica? 

Some new software modules of Metronomo.Net are under construction, while the MES software is always expandable in Italian or foreign production departments.

In the light of Vs. first-hand experience, would you recommend MecMatica Srl as a MES system supplier? 

Absolutely yes, our CEO also spoke positively about MecMatica and our choice of supplier.