In the world of cardboard packaging and displays, where creativity and service are among the main competitive elements, Grafiche Lambro S.r.l finds its position.
At the foot of the Lombard Prealps, in Brianza, in Piano d’Erba (CO), where one of the rivers that crosses it gives the name to the company, stands Grafiche Lambro, an industrial reality organized in two factories developed on an area of about 10,000 sqm.
Grafiche Lambro was founded in 1981 as an offset printing supplier for third parties, whose first customer was Smurfit Kappa factory in Orsenigo very close to them. As a contractor company, with the entry of Maurizio Fumagalli into the company in the early 2000s, Grafiche Lambro decided to offer itself directly to the end customer, gradually investing in technologies that would allow them to change their strategic positioning.
The specialization in packaging and displays, supported by the high creative and design skills of the internal professionals was the key that allowed the company to evolve over time and to offer the customer a truly unique complete service. Over the last few years, Grafiche Lambro has made significant investments in digital printing and cutting technologies, with the aim of increasing the quality of customer service in the supply of realistic prototypes and just-in-time productions, even of small and medium quantities, broadening considerably the range of materials used. As regards large orders, the company has developed a series of strategic collaborations with printing companies, while all the finishing stages such as lamination, die-cutting, gluing, packaging and shipping are handled internally.
These strategic choices have allowed the company to increase its turnover and this growth, combined with the need to excel in supplying of complete services, from the study of the project to its integrated in-store realization, has pushed Grafiche Lambro to focus on ”adoption of an industrial management software such as Packway by B + B, able to harmonize all the activities within the various departments, from the pre-production, budgeting and production phases, being able to manage the entire production process in detail from customer’s request to delivery.
Grafiche Lambro has found in B+B International the ideal partner for solving its needs and through the inclusion of Packway management software the company improved the management of all strategic business processes, obtaining an increase in internal communications between different company departments, increasing management control, providing precise and timely answers to the customer.
Face to face with Maurizio Fumagalli, Ceo of Grafiche Lambro
What are the reasons that led you to consider the inclusion of a specific management software for packaging and display?
“The market evolution is dictated by the need to respond extremely quickly, by an increasingly fragmented demand, consisting of orders for small batches and above all by a growing demand for complex displays composed of several different raw materials and which will have to be realized with different production processes: to face all this we have to manage high amounts of information and data with completeness, effectiveness and efficiency and to monitor every phase of product development and production.
We felt the need to let the whole company speak the same language by making the information shared and no longer in the hands of single operators. We needed to keep track of everything that was done in the company, making the process controlled, streamlined and fast, reducing the risk of errors or delays.
We approached Packway first of all for its verticality and specialization. In our opinion, Packway is the only software created and developed specifically for cardboard converting, especially for the management of displays, capable of managing the complexity of the production flows typical of a cardboard converting company like we are. Packway is a complete software, that has allowed us to improve the management of commercial activities, the management of the technical office, the budgeting in a truly intuitive way through the graphic interface of the technical sheet, which is one of the main distinctive elements of the software and manages to consider all aspects relating to materials, matching working centers, times and production methods. We can keep all the internal and external processing phases under control thanks to an in-depth management of ? and semi-finished products, exploiting specific functions in the production planner which acts in direct contact with the detection of data from the machine and logistics, another extremely strategic issue for offering quality customer service.
The punctual and complete control of all these phases allows us to elaborate statistics through directional analyzes, managing to understand where we can improve, the economic values per single order or aggregate data, helping us to make industrial and strategic decisions”.
How strategic is it to improve the quality of relations between sales and technical office?
“For us it is absolutely essential, and we did not know there was a software that was able to help us in everything that precedes sending the quote. Docupoint, the Packway module relating to Pre-production, is not just a Crm but it is a tool that concretely allowed us to improve the communication between sales and technical departments in order to improve customer response.
Thanks to the digitization of all information and the planning of technical-commercial activities, it allows us to have an immediate photograph of the workload of our technicians, to make them participate and aware of the activities to be carried out for a certain date, therefore to define times and priorities.
Docupoint is a web-based software that includes all the information previously contained in various tools or paper documents relating to a project, from project briefing to attachments, from customer confirmations to revisions as well as all the files that are part of the project. It allows you to manage all those activities preceding the order, which for our type of business is an extremely relevant aspect”.
How crucial is it to be able to quickly create quotes and orders for both simple and very complex items such as displays?
“Customer response time is now a variable on which our result is very often determined. Clearly, in addition to being timely, the response must be qualitative but allow me to quote a nice expression from one of my clients “it is difficult to sell carnival masks when carnival is over”. Aware of this critical success factor, we noticed that in some cases we were unable to be sufficiently timely, exposing ourselves to risks in some cases. After careful comparisons on our operating methods and on the possibilities for improvement found in the estimate phase, we realized that we needed a tool that would facilitate us throughout the project development process, obviously including the offer to the customer. Estimation is a crucial moment for every company, especially for those who, like us, manage complex products such as displays, articles designed each time ex novo on the specific needs and indications received from the customer.
Packway enchanted us with its technical data sheet. In a simple screenshot it is possible to graphically view all the raw materials used and the entire production process of a product, truly considering all information. Packway’s technical data sheet has been designed precisely to facilitate display manufacturers and for those who need to have all data relating to material, equipment, production processes and special processes that make up the finished product in a single file. With Packway, estimating has become simpler and more intuitive and has allowed us to reduce the expediting times for orders”.
Production is the beating heart of every company, how much did Packway help you in this department?
“The possibility of having a complete and precise production planning through the implementation of the planner, machines and logistics was another important challenge within our company. In a reality like Grafiche Lambro, what turns out to be essential for us is not only planning our internal activities but also the external processing entrusted to subcontractors. Knowing the methods and times and incorporating them into our production program means having a clear situation of all stages of production and of each single order. This allows a continuous improvement in the relationship with the customer and with the suppliers, to whom precise and reliable delivery times are communicated as well as giving us the possibility to plan and accept orders with the certainty of being able to fulfill them respecting the established agreements. Production management, through a planning and graphic visualization application, also in this case shifts the knowledge from the single person, production manager or programming manager, to the company software, allowing multiple resources to have an immediate visibility of the load of work and be able to make the appropriate considerations”.
Was it important to have a single interlocutor also for the accounting part?
“For accounting we have chosen to adopt eSolver by Sistemi S.p.A., for its completeness and ease of use and its perfect integration with Packway. This allows us to be able to communicate with a single interlocutor who knows both systems perfectly, as in addition to having them integrated, it offers the assistance service. Thanks to the deep partnership that binds B + B to Sistemi, it is possible for us to have in a single dashboard more information related not only to the operations part but also to accounting and financial information, allowing us to have an overview”.
How much did B + B’s strategic proposal “Digital Formula” influence your choice?
“Initially we turned to B + B for the evaluation of a cutting, creasing and milling plotter to replace the one we already owned, to be used alongside our digital printing machine. Our need was to have a large format industrial plotter that would allow us to work different materials in a productive and versatile way. This prompted our curiosity towards a machine that could help us in the cutting, creasing and milling phase of durable and flexible materials, allowing us to work, through a single tool, all the components of the same product. We went to visit B + B to attend a demonstration of a Kongsberg C44 plotter, which we decided to buy, and we realized of the entirety of products and services offered by B + B and the fact that in addition to the CAD/CAM part they offered a ERP management software specific for our sector. Then we got involved in the overall B + B proposal, what they summarize with “Digital Formula” and we decided to fully embrace their solution. We have found in B + B specialization, high quality products but above all an extraordinary attitude and technical competence of their staff. A combination of elements that have allowed us to work in close synergy, thus being able to choose and dress to our measure a set of tools that we believe can really help us in our growth path.
We do not sell products in the catalog, our products require a new design every time and consequently a constant and continuous interaction between sales, technical office, quotation and production. Everything must be managed in an organized manner capable of creating tailor-made projects and products with an increasingly industrial logic.
We believe that thanks to Packway and a partner as B + B, we have made an important step in organizational growth, an essential and strategic element to be able to face the current and future challenges of our market”.
