FIMI Digital revolutionises industrial operations: Smart factories, IoT insights, and customer-centric solutions for enhanced efficiency

Founded in 1963 in Viganò, Italy, FIMI Group ranks among the top three companies in the world for the design, construction and commissioning of complete plants and machines for ferrous and non-ferrous coil processing, performing in total autonomy thanks to the quality and completeness of its products and services.

FIMI’s success speaks for itself: more than 1500 plants have been installed worldwide, and many of these, installed in the 1970s, are still working successfully. More: the machines for levelling and cutting steel up to 25.4 mm thick and 2.800 mm wide have repeatedly demonstrated results beyond comparison.

Composed of 3 divisions (Machinery, Service and Automation), 8 sites (4 Italian and 4 foreign - China, India, Switzerland, and Germany), and 200 employees, during the years, it has finalised multiple acquisitions of important companies in the field of coil processing such as Samo, Sacma, Selema, Viganò International and Adda Fer.

During its 60 years of activity, FIMI has always focused on constant development based on the search for technologically advanced solutions, always giving priority to the performances and high quality of its products.

Particularly for the aluminium sector, FIMI Group produces:

• Levelling Lines with multi-rolls system and TDDS® patent
• Tension Levelling Lines
  • Traditional with entry and exit bridle combined with snubber and straightener groups of rolls.
  • In pure tension with bridles combined with the Proflexroll^® system.
  • Combined with different systems in cases of high thickness range.
• Degreasing and Pre-Treatment Lines, which are distinguished by their ability to treat even thin thicknesses with maximum process eco-compatibility, available in various versions:
  • washing in hot water or steam
  • chemical degreasing with alkaline and/or acid products
  • electrolytic degreasing
• Slitting (slitter) and Trimming Lines
• Cut to Length Lines
• Coating Lines
• Packing Lines
• Special machines for Aluminium which can also be inserted into existing plants to optimise or improve their performances:
  • Slab milling machines
  • Oilers
  • Embossing machines
  • Stitching Machines
  • Trimmers

FIMI Group uses its experience and expertise to provide innovative and efficient technological solutions that exceed customers' expectations. In this respect, the research and development department, over the years, has developed and perfected patented systems that equip its plants. That is the case with TDDS®, NFTS®, Proflexroll® and Degreasing systems for foil.

TDDS® - Torque Dynamic Distribution System

Applied in the Levelling and Cut to Length Lines, it is based on applying special sliding couplings on each exit shaft of the drive unit distributor as connecting elements to the shafts that transmit motion to the levelling rolls. The purpose of this system is to obtain a sort of distribution of the levelling torque through all the working rolls and a sort of independence of each roll with respect to the others; in this way, each roll can assume its own speed, different from the other rolls and dependent on the bending of the strip being levelled in contact with the roll itself.

NFTS® - Non-Friction Tensioning System

Applied in the Slitting Lines (Slitter), it is designed to ensure uniform recoiling tension for all strips obtained in the slitting lines process of a coil strip.

This tensioning system can be applied in multiple configurations, depending on the types of material, their mechanical and geometric characteristics, and the surface features of the strip.

Proflexroll®

Applied in the Tension Levelling Lines, it is a special variable profile roll that allows thin materials to be levelled at high speed without maintenance and lubrication between roll and material. The roll profile can assume different configurations depending on the defect to be corrected (concave; convex; S-shaped...).

Degreasing for thin materials

Applied in the degreasing lines, it is a multi-rolls system that enables material with thicknesses from 12µ to be cleaned at high speed. The special configuration of the rolls, combined with special nozzles, allows maximum performance on delicate and thin materials.

FIMI Continuous Processing Line for aluminum material recently installed in Croatia

Connect Smart plants with the Industrial IoT technology

Customer satisfaction is our main goal, which is why FIMI Group has created a brand-new division that adds value to electrical equipment by providing Industrial IoT solutions that transform plants into intelligent lines.

This specifical division is FIMI Digital.

Plants have many sensors attached to the various machines that collect great amounts of data. All that data is a potential source of information that can impact a company's productivity efficiency and cost reduction. But collection of data is not enough per se; it is necessary to set a method to extract information from it. This is why we have developed a way to delve into the true value of data by obtaining insights and valuable information that can be used to enhance the productivity and efficiency of our customers' plants.

We do this by endorsing an active and open collaboration with customers who are willing to start their journey in the world of digitalised plants. Following a customer-centric approach, our Application Engineers develop the design and the logic of the platform with our clients to provide them with a tailor-made solution. The interaction between FIMI and our clients continues even after the development of the solution, thanks to the possibility of obtaining insightful analyses to resolve practical problems arising from the line or to improve its productivity.

FIMI Digital is organised in cards, each with a different module, that can be accessed as a web app. Managers can enter the platform from any device and easily consult practical and straightforward graphs summarising the lines' main variables, allowing them to be updated on the state of all the plants they manage across the globe. Along with this, FIMI Digital can be used as a tool to enhance decision-making processes.

For example, one interesting indicator that is shown is the Overall Equipment Effectiveness, an index that summarises information regarding the availability, performance, and quality of production, highlighting the losses due to downtime, low production speed or scrap. Moreover, comparative analysis can be carried out on a large set of KPIs, like MTBF and MTTR, thanks to data aggregation based on parameters such as the thickness of the material, the width of the coil, the number of cuts or the operators' shift. With this real-time information, plant managers can adapt the production to the objectives without waiting for someone to analyse the data.

Another interesting module is Machine Supervision since it acts as a black box with all the inputs received by the PLC moment by moment to allow a thorough analysis of any event happening to the line. This can be crossed with the lists of alarms, warnings, and breakdowns registered during the line's activity to act on them and prevent them from occurring again.

Since sustainability has become one of the most important challenges and objectives of our times, a specific module is dedicated to the analysis of energy consumption; by aggregating data with parameters such as the thickness and the type of material, it is possible to analyse peaks and lows in the usage of energy to optimise the production and consume energy more efficiently and responsibly.

Data collected from the plants is useful to enhance preventive and predictive maintenance activities in a company. A module of FIMI Digital is dedicated to cataloguing components to create preventive maintenance routines. This enables the planning of maintenance activities based on the real usage of the components in the different setups. In addition to this, along with the client, it is possible to identify critical components of the line, train machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies in their behaviour over time and develop a predictive maintenance system that reduces costs and breakdowns that cause production losses. Maintenance technicians can have selected access to the lines they work on to interact with the maintenance modules and optimise maintenance activities.

To allow the creation of FIMI Digital, FIMI had to rethink its approach to digitalisation. Employees from all its divisions were summoned to participate in the design of the solution, and training courses were organised to include digital innovation processes in the organisation's culture. The result of this great team effort is a new way to enhance our customers' satisfaction by providing them with an advanced digital solution that will lead to the creation of even more services that are always aligned with our clients' requests and needs.