Case history
An example of a complete system, from the external loading of ingredients directly into silos and tanks to the handling of macro, midi and micro-ingredients in powder and liquid form.
Dino
Corsini
We present one of our latest projects carried out at Dino Corsini, in the province of Bologna. Of the tailor-made solutions realised for this plant: external ingredient loading system that allows raw materials to flow directly into the fabric silos (sugar and flour) as well as into the tanks (for oil) and systems for handling macro-midi and micro ingredients in powder and liquid form, each equipped with dosing points that allow the ingredients to be fed into the rest of the industrial line.
Case history
Dino
Corsini
An example of a complete system, from the external loading of ingredients directly into silos and tanks to the handling of macro, midi and micro-ingredients in powder and liquid form.
We present one of our latest projects carried out at the Dino Corsini, in the province of Bologna. Of the tailor-made solutions realised for this plant: external ingredient loading system that allows raw materials to flow directly into the fabric silos (sugar and flour) as well as into the tanks (for oil) and systems for handling macro-midi and micro ingredients in powder and liquid form, each equipped with dosing points that allow the ingredients to be fed into the rest of the industrial line.
Interview
We asked Jacopo Malacarne – CEO of Dino Corsini – a few questions about the company’s needs, the solutions implemented and the future perspectives that our storage, management and automation solutions open up for our customers.
What is the history of Dino Corsini, what are the main products you make, and with which production cycle?
Dino Corsini was established in the 1950s, in a small town in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and then moved to the province of Bologna, more precisely to Valsamoggia in Crespellano, at the beginning of the seventies. Since the end of the 1980s, our company has been supplying and partnering with all the largest Italian and supermarket chains and producers. Today, it has developed a series of products ranging from plum-cake to round-shaped products, such as cakes or muffins, to more recently pancake products, the typical American pancakes. It produces a full range gluten-free products line (after obtaining certification in 2005), an organic line, a conventional line and, for the past few years, a protein line. Let’s say that this form of versatility, products and lines allows us to be a reliable and sought-after partner for large retailers including Coop, Conad, Esselunga, Aldi, Lidl, Eurospin; this is a forty-year strategy.
How does Dino Corsini guarantee product quality? What are the criteria, in the raw material selection?
A product quality control department guarantees the highest standards, which are defined by very strict operational solutions and procedures and by a production system that adheres to these guidelines and a whole company, inspired by a finished product made of high-quality materials, compliant with the customers’ agreements. BRC, IFS certified suppliers select the raw materials, or if there are additional certifications for gluten-free, organic products, or milk-free and sugar-free products. Our Q&A dept. taste and check them, before entering the unloading at the machinery and checked in the silos or storage tanks every production shift (therefore approximately every 8 hours). We keep these agricultural raw materials in refrigerated cells at 4 degrees C, in compliance with the F.I.F.O standard and within the formally allowed storage times.
What was the main need/problem that prompted you to adopt Agriflex solutions?
The first need was to automate all the mixer feeding processes and blending machinery from what were manual feeding processes. Therefore, apart from sugar, flour and oil everything else was manually fed. By progressively adopting Agriflex solutions, over the last two or three years, we have switched to a 90% automatic feeding process, thanks to which we have experienced an increase in the volumes and production capacities of the lines. First thing then automation, secondly ease of loading, reloading, feeding the silos of micro-ingredients and macro-ingredients; visibility of weights, visibility of capacities, visibility of residues. In addition, Agriflex machinery made all the feeding systems cleaning possible, from large to small silos, even in between washing and production cycles, as well as in between loading procedures, allowing the pipelines inspection, and cleaning if necessary. All within the Industry 4.0 framework.
What advantages have you experienced in using Agriflex storage and dosing solutions in your product production?
The advantages of using Agriflex solutions are correct functionality, real-time problem analysis, non-compliant raw materials batches, or any kind of interruption management, which allows us to analyse the entire process and integrate automatically what is missing manually, depending on the case.
How does this synergy with Agriflex adapt to new market trends and technological innovation?
This synergy with Agriflex is highly effective and allows us to receive input from our large customers, whether large-scale retail, discount or (as recently happened) large producers or manufacturers, to automate the raw materials feeding process as much as possible. This is fundamental because the workforce (nowadays also difficult to hire) requires absenteeism, attendance and onboarding time management (such as holidays, illnesses, and so on) that can sometimes create issues and the large production volume increase we are experiencing makes an automatic solution much preferable. This is a reason why Agriflex, as a partner, helps us to follow market trends, reducing labour impact along with larger volume automation, which also means being able to follow large customers.
Did your collaboration with Agriflex help you achieve the necessary goals to realise your long-term vision for Dino Corsini?
The collaboration with Agriflex has undoubtedly helped us achieve increased automation, increased production capacity, and larger customer acquisition, which was not possible before; with an increase in production from 40,000 quintals to 100,000 quintals per year. Per raggiungere questi obiettivi era fondamentale e necessario trovare un partner, soprattutto nell’area approvvigionamento e movimentazione materie prime. In this regard, we are therefore extremely satisfied with the objectives achieved in the plum-cake line and we are now installing a new pancake line, where we expect a similar impact.
We would like to thank Dino Corsini for the fruitful cooperation.
Dino Corsini S.r.l. | Via G. Brodolini, 4| Località Crespellano | Valsamoggia (BO) – ITALY | Tel. +39 051 969072 | corsini@dinocorsini.it