Autodemolizione Pollini Decreases Interruptions by 20%
Autodemolizione Pollini Group is an Italian automotive recycling company with more than 40 years of experience. The company, which processes 70-80 end-of-life vehicles daily and maintains a spare parts stock of around 350,000 items, shifted from using consumer-grade devices to enterprise-class devices for its operations.
Zebra Success Story: Autodemolizione Pollini
Overview: Automotive Recycling Challenge
Autodemolizione Pollini Group needed durable, easy-to-use, all-in-one enterprisegrade devices that could last an entire working day. It also needed to centralise the management of mobile devices and have real-time data available to assess performance and actual device usage to improve operational efficiency.
Benefits / Outcomes
- Increased warehouse management productivity and efficiency
- The number and time spent resolving interruptions decreased by 20% and 10%, respectively
- Easy implementation, remote management and improved technical support
Customers
Autodemolizione Pollini
Bedizzole, Italy
Partner
Industry
Automotive Recycling
Solutions
About Autodemolizione Pollini
With more than 40 years of industry experience, Autodemolizione Pollini Group is a unique business focused on recycling end-of-life vehicles, dismantling and selling spare parts. The company aims to recover as much material as possible, using the best solutions and technologies available on the market. As such, sustainability and the circular economy have always been important drivers for company success.
Around 300 employees currently work across Autodemolizione Pollini Group’s seven factories in northern Italy, mainly around Brescia. They process an average of 70-80 vehicles daily, handle around 2,000 spare parts and maintain stock of approximately 350,000 items in the warehouse for delivery. Garages, body shops and private customers in Italy and further abroad can purchase spare parts from the company’s physical stores and through its e-commerce site. Scrap components and materials that can’t be used as spare parts are sent to grinding plants to recover raw materials before being resold to third parties.
The Challenge
Autodemolizione Pollini Group follows comprehensive procedures to comply with all applicable environmental and safety regulations, from vehicle recognition to the disposal of hazardous liquids. It also includes a disassembly list to catalogue spare parts to be recycled. These parts are subjected to strict quality controls, labelled with an identifying bar code, photographed, stored in the warehouse and put up for sale.
Warehouse operators previously used consumer-grade devices as part of the labelling process, but they were not rugged and lacked the functionality and battery life needed to operate throughout the working day. Operators needed three different devices to manage the entire storage process, which proved time-consuming and unproductive. Moreover, each location had to manually update their device pool, which increased the risk of inventory inefficiencies and inaccuracies.
“We were looking for robust, easy-to-use, all-in-one mobile devices capable of covering an entire working day without interruption,” said Giacomo Pollini, Owner of Autodemolizione Pollini Group. “The ability to manage the devices and provide support remotely was critical, as was enterprise-class Wi-Fi connectivity and extended-range scanning capabilities for fast and reliable barcode reading. We needed devices that could provide the best readability outdoors for our large storage areas and warehouses. Last but not least, we needed software capable of tracking all processes and analysing data in real time to ensure targeted and timely actions.
We are sure that one of the pillars of sustainability is digitalisation. Thanks to Zebra’s innovative hardware and software solutions, we have been able to digitalise our business processes, improve productivity and increase environmental protection.
The Solution
Autodemolizione Pollini Group recognised that data analysis, digitalisation and automation could improve company quality and productivity. The company selected Progetto6, a Zebra Business Partner and Registered ISV Partner, who specialises in automatic identification technologies and Industry 4.0 and helps customers to adopt the most appropriate consumables for each need while helping to improve their performance, to analyse Autodemolizione Pollini Group’s needs. Progetto6 identified Zebra Technologies as the ideal collaborator to meet the company’s requirements.
The consumer handhelds used by front-line workers were immediately replaced with Zebra’s enterprise-grade TC57x ruggedised mobile computers, which offer durability in demanding environments and meet operators’ needs in spare parts management, from disassembly to sale. The robust devices were also equipped with Zebra’s Workcloud Communication (Workforce Connect) software to help optimise warehouse management and track spare parts.
Front-line operators can receive an order with all the necessary product information directly from the mobile computer and see where it is and move it safely and conveniently. The TC57x mobile computers also offer Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity for better communication between operators. The new devices can be used as phones or walkie-talkies without compromising the ease of use or computing power essential for data entry.
Autodemolizione Pollini Group also deployed Zebra’s VisibilityIQ™ Foresight software to improve efficiency with device configuration, management and updates, and further optimise operational activities. By managing their connected devices, Autodemolizione Pollini Group can monitor mobile computer health and usage from a single dashboard available on the cloud to provide useful insights and forecasts.
Autodemolizione Pollini Group also received a range of industrial printers from Zebra. These include ZT231 industrial printers, the ZD421 desktop solutions and the ZQ630 mobile printers. This makes it easier to label components during disassembly. Outdoor durability is guaranteed with durable thermal adhesive labels, also supplied by Zebra.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
Zebra’s mobile computing and printing solutions have enabled Autodemolizione Pollini Group to move from reactive to proactive management resulting in better device availability, increased operational productivity and a better return on their investment. Specifically, the number of device interruptions and time spent resolving the interruptions decreased by 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively, with a significant impact on annual savings.
While frontline workers find Zebra’s solution more intuitive and user-friendly overall, technicians in the IT departments are more efficient using centralised device management and standardised processes. As a result of the positive changes, Autodemolizione Pollini Group also intends to implement a Zebra RFID solution for tire inventory management.
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