September 2023 - Carlo Gavazzi installs Reel aMounts in their factory in Zejtun, Malta

Carlo Gavazzi, an international group designing and manufacturing industrial electronics, have installed Seratel's Reel aMounts system for component counting and inventory control at their plant in Zejtun, Malta.

Inventory accuracy with unrivalled speed and integration

In common with other plants producing products in low to mid volumes, Carlo Gavazzi's Zejtum facility must deal with frequent production line changeovers. There is a resulting loss of material in handling - a loss that placement machinery cannot record - which makes maintaining accurate component inventories a problem.

Etienne Ellul, Head of SMT at Carlo Gavazzi, explains, "Reel aMounts allows us to count reels returned from production instantly, but it also calculates for each part the attrition during the build and can forward to our IFS ERP system an appropriate scrap transaction. That means that our component inventories can always be up to date, and we avoid unexpected stoppages."

This also means that Carlo Gavazzi no longer need to include scrap factors in their BOMs. Attrition can be properly costed, and pricing and purchasing decisions can be more informed.

Seratel's Michael Bloor points out, "Reel aMounts can count components on reels of any size in just 1.2 seconds. At all times, the system automatically tracks every reel using both the system's own unique reel ID and Carlo Gavazzi's equivalent ID, thus providing extensive traceability."

Remote commissioning and training

Seratel is committed to supplying energy efficient systems that are implemented in the most ecological way and passing the resulting savings on to the customer. Mr. Ellul says, "Seratel supplied a ready to run system and then provided one-to-one, on-line training sessions. Delivering training this way means that we could schedule sessions for individual staff to fit in with shift patterns and availability. It also allows the supplier to give short, refresher sessions as we expand the use of the system into new areas."

The results show the benefits of this. Mr. Ellul wrote, "it can be seen that we made the right choice since your support is so outstanding".

Simplicity of operation

Reel aMounts provides the fastest possible counting for tape and reel components by linking a computer, electronic weighing scales, bar code scanner, bar code printer and a database of component types. Patented technology, unique to the system, is used to provide accurate results.

When a reel is returned from production, the Carlo Gavazzi operator simply places it on the Reel aMounts scales and scans a bar code on the reel. The system counts the reel instantly. The operator then scans a Reel aMounts "command" bar code. This records all the count details in a database, prints a new label for the reel and updates a linked ERP system.

Web based reporting - including detailed inventories

For every counting transaction, Reel aMounts generates a database record with thirty items of information about that individual count. Reel aMounts Reporting Centre - an extensive, web-based reporting system - then provides over 200 reports, including both management statistics and detailed analysis of the data. Reports available range from detailed traceability by individual reel through to data on plastics recycling.

This information includes providing detailed inventories, showing any part code broken down by reel, even where the associated ERP system can only provide overall totals. Carlo Gavazzi can use this to select the best fit material for any build.

The Reporting Centre can be used on any authorized PC, tablet or smart phone. Information can also be forwarded to an ERP system, printed as reports or exported to Excel for further analysis.