NPA’s New MES Delivered On Time, Despite Challenges

Despite the obstacles associated with bringing a six-person technical team to Melbourne from Milan, not to mention the delays caused by the blockage of the Suez Canal, Parvis has successfully delivered a new ABACO-MES to Note Printing Australia within the planned four-month timeframe.

The ABACO-MES (Manufacturing Execution System) is a manufacturing operation management solution designed to fill the gap between the company business administration level (ERP) and the shop floor, providing management with the information necessary to control, improve and optimise the production process.

It is based on systems installed at each individual press and on a centralised data server to which they are all connected. The units on each press are dedicated to accurately count, track and record the operations of the press, detect sheet handling anomalies and, in general, to support operators in their daily activities efficiently and securely. Every sheet is uniquely identified once it first enters the production process and its complete journey in the factory is traced and recorded.

In addition to working around COVID restrictions (for example, the Parvis team had to go into quarantine on arrival in Melbourne), reorganisation of the planned work was needed due to raw material shortages. This included ink supplies being impacted by the Suez Canal incident in which a container ship blocked the canal for six days – the backlog of ships was so extensive that the delivery was delayed for six weeks.

‘We staggered our team in Melbourne, but in total we had six staff altogether at different stages plus remote support from our office in Milan. The results we reached so far are very good – the super users and Print Hall are capable are working autonomously without intervention. They require maybe two to three months of support until they’re fully independent’, said Roberto Latorraca, leader of the Parvis team.

From NPA’s perspective, the project’s delivery – including installation of the ABACO systems and training – is a significant milestone that was achieved while building a strong and positive working relationship with the Parvis team.