What Does a Shoe Company Need Digital Twins For?
When the shoe company NeroGiardini decided to enter international markets, a new need for a logistics center emerged. Using predictive simulation, it was possible to quickly replenish inventory, so the buyers can have much fewer items in stock. It also means that the costs are lower for the company while still being able to meet customer demand.
Change of the market strategy
The company employs more than 2 000 people and produces around 15 000 pairs of shoes a day. Its headquarters are in Italy, specifically the Marche region, and uses a network of experienced regional shoemakers that deliver high quality shoes which take more time to produce.
After years of constant development, the company was ready to make a change in the market strategy. However, entering international markets couldn’t do without building a new logistics center that would comply with the new suppliers’ conditions and the increased demand. The importance, complexity and cost of the project led the managers to use predictive simulation to evaluate automatized systems.
230 thousand square meters by the highway
The grounds of a former factory with 230 000 m2 of area, that is connected to the thoroughfare linking the region with the entire Central Europe, was used for the new logistics center. It was designed in order to become a distribution center for all NeroGiardini customers guaranteeing 24-hour long stock replenishment for the Italian market and 96-hour one for the rest of the continent. And at what cost? 50 million Euros.
Simulation found blindspots in the system
Creating a predictive digital twin of the logistics center will enable testing various scenarios in the virtual world. Before any investment is made. NeroGiardini got a visual plan of their new logistic junction and therefore was able to test functioning of the automatized system, as well as optimize technical solutions, demonstrate alternative options and prove their validity.
It was shown that the predictive digital twin provided the company with a deeper understanding of the way the logistics center would work. Furthermore, it was able to identify room for improvement, because it pointed out the project’s blindspots. NeroGiardini managers were able to make decisions while fully understanding all the context, causes and subsequences of their steps.
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