n° 12 OCTOBER 2018 - english edition QUALITY CONTROL COMPANY QUALITY CONTROL DEP. CULTURE IN ADDITION XXX. TO AN EFFICIENT DEPARTMENT.
IN THE COMPANY XXX. IN THE COMPANY NEW CONTEXTS TO INNOVATE: LEAN E INDUSTRY 4.0
GENIUS LOCI LOCI: GUCCI ARTLAB XXX LEADERSHIP OF THE TERRITORY IN THE DISTRICTS REPORT.
madein fashion information and technical culture from 2C Coveri
INDUSTRY INDUSTRIA4.0 4.0 AND E INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. ARTIFICIALE. Cosa cambia lavoro What changesnel and what e qual il ruolo dell'uomo. is man'sè role.
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inthisissue Scandicci, october 2018 “madein” is a publication owned exclusively by 2C Coveri srl and dedicated to providing company information for in-house and public use. Under Section 2 of Law no. 62/2001, this publication is not required to meet the criteria for periodicals set down by Law no. 47/1948. GRAPHICS, LAYOUT AND PRODUCTION esociety marketing TEXTS MarketingCamp PHOTOS Marco Peluso TRANSLATION BY Michelle Davis PRINTED BY Grafiche Leonardo
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EDITORIAL
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Doing well is not enough anymore. To achieve excellence, you need the human factor.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN CAPITAL
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Positive balance of jobs and "Italian way" to compete.
THE COMPANY
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New robotized area, new polishing system, and new projects for the future.
GENIUS LOCI: BOOM IN LEATHER GOODS AND FOOTWEAR IN FLORENCE 6
PRINTED ON Paper obtained from recycled material. Deinked without using bleaches. Not treated with whitening agents. Certified for production emission control and environmental sustainability.
in Scandicci a new frontier of creativity, Made in Italy craftsmanship, and sustainable innovation.
© COPYRIGHT 2018 All parts of this publication, except where indicated, are the property of 2C Coveri Srl and are protected by the laws that cover authors’ rights and industrial property rights. Any brand names mentioned for information, didactic, or illustrative purposes are the property of their respective owners. Personal data is processed in accordance with GDPR UE 679/2016.
PEOPLE AT WORK The logic of continuous improvement in one of the strictest departments of the company.
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EDITORIAL
The courage to go beyond. Qualifying and improving work every day is a key development factor.
STRATEGY AND CULTURE. THE LEVERS OF SUCCESS Managers can count on two extraordinary levers: strategy and culture. With the former, you orientate people toward the objectives according to formal logic. But only with the second one you clarify the objectives and guide the company through values, convictions, shared assumptions, and group norms.
FRANCO BARDUCCI AND MASSIMO COVERI (ARCHIVE PHOTO)
Nowadays, in order to remain on the market, you must not only do well, but be excellent. We try to explain this concept every day to workers and suppliers and to make it their own. It is not enough to do your minimum tasks, you must make sure that the Quality of your work has continuity over time, that the problems are dealt with and resolved within a reasonable time, that the given goals are achieved. And this is not only the task of those who are at
the top of an organization, but of every single person with a position in the workforce. We often face situations where the activities are carried out exclusively mechanically or, worse still, waiting for someone to notice and solve their problems. Effective communication and collaboration among people, beyond the mere daily electronic correspondence, is another factor that is equally strategic and important for achieving the goals set. The task that awaits us is therefore to ensure
that everyone has that awareness that allows, every day, to qualify and improve their own work. It is thus understood that the human factor, beyond tools and rules, is the nerve centre of the whole system, on which our present and future depend. Franco Barducci Franco Barducci operations director
ÂŤA better world is a dream that begins to come true when each of us decides to improve ourselvesÂť.
Mahatma Gandhi
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LET’S TALK ABOUT: GENERATIONAL TRANSITION
Artificial intelligence and people: a challenge and a new way for the factory. A threat that we must all commit to turn into miracle. While the economy and society continue to lick their wounds inflicted by decades of changes and crises, two big convoys are starting out there: the train of industry 4.0, along with the circular economy train. It is an epochal turning point, as revolutionary as steam in the 18th century, electricity in the 19th century, and information technology in the 20th century. A phenomenon capable of straightening the foundations of the already cracked capitalism. We know many things but not everything yet. For example, while it is certain that the fuels of the new revolution will be method, innovation, and technology, we still do not know most of the ethical implications. In the twelve issues of madein our antennas have always been focused on these topics, we have talked about it since the beginning of our editorial adventure. In this issue we have decided to go deeper into a theme that is dear to our hearts: people. For example, if we take the phenomenon of delocalization, first in Southern Italy, then in the East, and then even further east to China, the impact on people has been significant. Nobody can deny it. Even the recent return to productions made in Europe and Italy is opening up significant scenarios on the social front. With the difference that this time there is no demand for cheap labour, but for innovation, robots, artificial intelligence, and hyperspecialized personnel. Let's try to understand the role of people by recapitulating in two words the cornerstones of the revolution. In the first place there is data, first source of value. Then their interpretation and only after that the man-machine relationship. The cycle is closed by the bridge between digital and real with manufacturing. This is industry 4.0. At the base of the circular economy, instead, there is the idea that things affect each other, within a whole. Hence the value of energy from renewable sources, the end of wastefulness,
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diversity as a strength, and waste as nourishment for production systems. According to some sources, this will cause millions and millions of jobs to be lost. Machines have long since been replacing man - without asking much of a permission - where there is repetitiveness of work, low creativity, and lack of innovation. Or where there is no need of relational factors like empathy and negotiation. In other words, the fact is that robots and artificial intelligence, according to the forecasts, will steal work from people. A problem? Of course! At least ethical, social, economic, political, cultural, etc. Unless, by looking through the clouds of the revolution in progress, we can spot the silver lining. According to some experts, in fact, the balance of jobs will eventually be positive. Exactly how it happened in previous revolutions. The miracle that we must all commit to making happen is linked to sectors like fashion and to countries like Italy. Here, in addition to not losing jobs, we have an extraordinary opportunity to establish "our way", an all-Italian way to compete not only with the GDP and to thrive by improving society and the world.
AN EFFORT IS NEEDED Society has always responded to industrial revolutions by increasing GDP per capita, real wages, and decreasing many inequalities. It will probably happen for Industry 4.0 as well, but an effort is needed to recover employment in the sector with greater value. For Italy it is a great challenge.
IN THE LIBRARY
Il canto della fabbrica (The singing of the factory) By Fondazione Pirelli Contributors: Marco Tronchetti Provera, Antonio Calabrò, Renzo Piano, Salvatore Accardo, Francesco Fiore, Anna Gastel, Piero Violante, Giuseppe Lupo, Domenico Siniscalco, Pier Luigi Sacco, Massimo Bergami, Stefano Micelli. The contemporary factory, bright, sustainable, and "beautiful", animated by robots and digital technologies, has an original sound, which becomes string music, for violins, violas, and cellos. It is the tale of the new rhythms of research and production. The civilization of hitech machines. People on the move. And, in the form of music, poetry of work.
THE COMPANY
The company’s response NEW ULTRASONIC DEGREASING MACHINE Working in luxury requires extreme precision. For this reason, in addition to implementing new organizational processes, we continually introduce automatic machines of the latest generation, often alongside the manual processes that we still pride ourselves on keeping. The surface treatment of metals is a fundamental step and we talked about it on MADEIN. Today we present a brand-new ultrasonic degreaser, a double-part steel washing system with entry ramps for the automatic transport of the pieces. An "intelligent", automated system capable of withstanding sizeable workloads and at the same time guaranteeing exceptional finishing levels. An important resource for our polishing department and at the same time an even greater quality guarantee for the electroplating.
NEW ROBOTIZED AREA, ONWARD TO INDUSTRY 4.0. Talking about Industry 4.0 is not enough, concrete investments in innovation and technology are needed. This is why we have renewed our robotized polishing areas. We acquired a new robot, equipped with independent units to control pressures, compensations, speed, and dosage of abrasive pastes. An exceptional potential for sanding, satin finishing, taping, and filing. We firmly believe this is the future as long as we are able at the same time to increase the skills of our internal staff and to follow equally optimized processes on customer value.
WE SET A GOOD EXAMPLE. Our "lean" journey continues unabated and we are pleased to have been chosen by an important industry of the territory, supplier of important luxury brands, as a model to approach and get to know the philosophy of lean manufacturing. Thanks also to the friends at Lenovys for the collaboration.
NEW PLANT, NEW SCENARIOS. The new plant is now fully operational. Customers and suppliers visiting our Scandicci office probably noticed the level of innovation and quality of work. But we do not stop here and we are always active to develop projects for our beautiful "factory". Three directions of development: 1) "lean", we move forward with our journey – now at a good point – of identification of the flow of value and consequent alignment of activities; 2) "industry 4.0", we continue with the improvement of working conditions, the increase in productivity, and above all the improvement of the production quality of the systems; 3) "circular economy", we have already started an adoption process of the new important model, starting from the most basic actions such as resource saving, recovery, and recycling. Now a further step awaits, adapting the production concept up to reaching "cradle-to-cradle" design, obviously by collaborating and innovating together with customers and suppliers.
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GENIUS LOCI: LEADERSHIP OF THE TERRITORY IN THE DISTRICTS REPORT.
Boom in leather goods and footwear in Florence. The Florentine fashion sector stands out again in the ranking of Italian district activities.
The latest report on "Economics and Finance of the industrial sectors" speaks clearly: growth in the Tuscan districts is widespread, with exports increasing significantly over the previous year. The report made by Intesa Sanpaolo's Studies and Research Department for Banca CR Firenze confirms the growth for the Tuscan districts that make exports of almost 16 billion euros. A figure definitely higher than the national average. Among all the districts emerges the fashion sector, with Florence Leather Goods and Footwear (+357 million, +10.4%) confirmed as the first district activity. Florence leather goods and footwear rank among the top 20 Italian districts compared to over 150 analysed in the ranking for growth and income performance. Thanks to the fashion sector, Switzerland becomes the first target country of district exports in 2017 with around 2 billion goods destined for this country. On the other hand, the district export recorded a drop in trade with the United States
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(-10.5%), which was affected in particular by the drop in exports of the Nautical district, influenced by the type of operativity articulated over a period of several years. An analysis of the average export distance shows that Tuscan district exports travel on average over 3,800 kilometres, a figure that has grown by 311 kilometres in the last ten years thanks to the growth in the percentage recorded by distant countries such as the United States, China, and Hong Kong, which between 2008 and 2017, increased their weight on exports by more than one point. The consumer fashion sector grew by a further 10% and is still central for Tuscany's sales abroad with about 60% of the regional district export, led in particular by the Leather Goods and Footwear of Florence, Arezzo, by the districts of clothing that all show positive variations, and by Arezzo's Jewellery. In the last ten years, the Tuscan district export has grown by 44% compared to an Italian district average of 19.9%.
CREATIVITY, CRAFTSMANSHIP, AND POSITIVE SIGNS OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY ON THE TERRITORY. Italian fashion is already known for its weight, breadth, and specialization in the top range. The tireless research for lower costs has made room for far more strategic elements like reliability, competences, and quality of the workforce. The investments in digitization are starting to bear fruit, thus leaving room for the true challenge of sustainability. It is not a question of continuing to pay attention to the environment, but rather of transforming and completely rethinking the way in which production and consumption interact. Europe and China have long introduced regulations to the advantage of circular economy and some territories such as Tuscany have seized the opportunity by directing regional policies toward the circular model that makes it possible to find value in consumption waste, extend the life cycle of products, share resources, and promote the use of energy from renewable sources. For companies, it is an opportunity to grasp that is far superior to the (lost) globalization and the (current) digitization.
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SEEN FROM INSIDE
Inside the company: stories and people The section dedicated to our people: in this issue, the quality control department.
MARICA MATTIA
electroplating quality control
raw and finished quality control
TANIA input materials quality control
ALESSANDRA department manager
JESSICA
GENNARO polishing quality control
raw and finished quality control
Quality as a culture. People in addition to technology. Each of our production processes is now completely customer-oriented. Although the fashion industry is extremely complex, we strive to be at the forefront. Those who regularly attend our Scandicci office must have noticed the continuous changes: innovation, method, technology, processes. The corporate culture has changed too, although - to be honest - the principle of "innovation step by step" belongs to the Coveri family since the beginning of the entrepreneurial adventure. Today our activities are fluid, follow pro-
POST-ELECTROPLATING CONTROL
cesses, avoid interruptions, and pursue the logic of continuous improvement. Production is treated globally to minimize complexity and all company functions are involved from the beginning. In addition to design - the pride of the company - in addition to production - indispensable in manufacturing - we are proud of our quality management. Every employee is involved and mobilized in reducing waste and adding value for the customer. This is why, besides being competitive, we have the highest product
FINAL PRODUCT QUALITY CONTROL
standards on the market. So, quality as a culture, but also a team of collaborators focused on quality control. A specialized team to carry out very strict verifications. Each piece passes into their hands and must meet the established standards. For those not in the sector it might seem strange, but today the top-end range requires total product quality. No mistakes nor oversights are allowed. In addition to culture, it is therefore fundamental to have the personal and professional contribution of this department.
PRE-PACKAGING CONTROL.
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NEXT ISSUE
ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT.
Focus on the department where the finished products take shape and are defined. A central moment in production where the creation of value for the customer materializes. Special processes and sub-phases but above all, once again, the people at the centre.
FOCUS: Virgin resources and "cradle-to-cradle" circular economy. On the one hand we have virgin resources in rapid depletion, on the other hand an exponentially growing demand for goods. An announced social-economic and environmental disaster but also an extraordinary opportunity to renew the production paradigm "cradle to cradle".
2C di Coveri S.r.l. accessories for leather goods, footwear, and ready-to-wear clothing REGISTERED OFFICES: via Poliziano 5 Firenze PRODUCTION PLANT: via San Colombano (loc. Granatieri) 187/a Scandicci, Italy tel +39 055 7311219 - 720546 fax +39 055 7310156 VAT no. 01357460482 www.coveriweb.com - info@coveriweb.com