Industry
Mechanical engineering and metalworking
CEFI: Outdoor SILO² VLM for induction furnace components storage
- Distribution and Logistics
- SILO²
- Accessosries and components
Outdoor SILO² VLM installed to maximise indoor production space
To manage 3,000 SKUs across mechanical and electrical components without taking up valuable production space, CEFI installed a SILO² automated VLM outside its production facility.
Standing 14.5 metres high, the system is insulated for outdoor installation, equipped with picking/refilling stations accessible from inside the facility. and integrated with the company management system through ICON.
The result: inventory activities reduced from 5–6 days to just 1.5–2 days, full real-time traceability and 30% more indoor space available for production.
Product
SILO² outdoor
Key results
• 3,000 SKUs stored in 17 m²
• Inventory time reduced by 70%
• 30% more space available for production
Key feature
14.5-metre outdoor SILO² VLM with picking/refilling stations accessible from inside the facility
CEFI: over 50 years of induction furnaces, every stage produced in-house
Founded in 1973 near Turin, CEFI designs and manufactures industrial induction furnaces for heating ferrous and non-ferrous metals, heat treatment applications in construction and large infrastructure projects, and aluminium rolling processes.
Every machine is fully built in-house, from steel fabrication and electrical panels to mechanical components and electrical programming. This integrated manufacturing approach allows the company to ensure quality, flexibility and fast response times.
In recent years, CEFI has undergone a major transformation process, including post-Covid business diversification, the opening of a new facility dedicated to mechanical automation and the implementation of a new management software system. At the centre of this evolution was warehouse automation with ICAM’s SILO² VLM.
Every machine is fully built in-house, from steel fabrication and electrical panels to mechanical components and electrical programming. This integrated manufacturing approach allows the company to ensure quality, flexibility and fast response times.
In recent years, CEFI has undergone a major transformation process, including post-Covid business diversification, the opening of a new facility dedicated to mechanical automation and the implementation of a new management software system. At the centre of this evolution was warehouse automation with ICAM’s SILO² VLM.
The logistical challenges
The Castellamonte production site extends over more than 4,000 m² and is entirely dedicated to the manufacture of highly customized induction furnaces. Each order generates a specific bill of materials; the mechanical and electrical components are numerous, often purchased on a project basis and not always available in stock.
The critical issues before automation were:
- Warehouse managed as an open-access “supermarket”, with departments independently picking materials, leading to disorganisation and shortages of critical components.
- Inventory knowledge relying on operator memory rather than structured traceability.
- Annual inventory counts requiring 5–6 days, often revealing discrepancies between recorded quantities and actual stock levels.
- Fully saturated indoor space, with no room for expansion.
- Unreliable inventory accounting and stock control caused by the lack of real-time data.
Insulated outdoor SILO²: 14.5 m in height, 3,000 part references in 17 m² outside the facility
The SILO² Vertical Lift Module is installed outside the Castellamonte facility in an insulated outdoor configuration: 14.5 m high, with 2 storage columns, 2 side-by-side picking and refilling stations facing inward, and a footprint of just 17 m². It is one of the tallest ICAM vertical storage systems installed in Piedmont. The trays, equipped with modular containment side rails and separators, accommodate multiple part references at the same time and adapt to different component sizes and formats. The system manages around 3,000 part references, 80% of CEFI’s total, leaving only oversized items or parts purchased for specific projects on conventional shelving.
ICON integrated with the management system: complete traceability, digital bills of materials and real-time inventory
ICON is integrated with CEFI’s company management system: every component, from the smallest bolt to the most complex part, is tracked in real time. Bills of materials are generated and distributed digitally, each linked to the relevant materials to speed up picking and reduce errors. Continuous stock monitoring eliminates discrepancies between recorded and actual quantities, a structural issue in the previous manual setup, where the warehouse operated like an open “supermarket” for departments with no traceability.
Inventory times have been reduced from 5–6 days to 1.5–2, with the possibility of carrying out a mid-year inventory check for accounting verification of stock levels.
Inventory times have been reduced from 5–6 days to 1.5–2, with the possibility of carrying out a mid-year inventory check for accounting verification of stock levels.
Key results
From open-access warehouse to a just-in-time system with full traceability
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3,000 SKUs in 17 m²
80% of CEFI’s active catalogue stored in a compact footprint, with maximum flexibility for components of different sizes and formats.
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–70% inventory time
Inventory time reduced from 5–6 days to just 1.5–2, with real-time verified inventory data
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+30% production floor space recovered
Internal space previously occupied by shelving returned entirely to manufacturing
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Full real-time traceability
CON-management system integration: every component tracked from receiving to retrieval
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Digital bills of materials linked to stock
Digitally generated BOMs automatically linked to materials for faster picking and reduced errors
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Simplified onboarding
The digitalised system eliminates dependence on operator memory, allowing new staff to work efficiently from day one within a structured process.
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Real-time alignment between inventory and accounting data
Physical inventory and accounting records remain constantly aligned through real-time stock updates, eliminating manual end-of-period adjustments
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Operational continuity guarantee
Since installation, only two machine stoppages, both resolved remotely by ICAM in under 30 minutes
Find out how we optimized CEFI’s logistics at every stage of the process
It was not easy for people who had worked here for decades to change the way they work, but today we have a centralised system that guarantees traceability and precision.
Discover the solution chosen by CEFI
SILO²: the Vertical Lift Module
With 2 to 7 storage columns, over 120 tray size configurations and specific tray load bearing capacity up to 1,000 kg/m², SILO² is ICAM’s answer for companies managing small and medium-sized items, even those with a very high specific weight.
Explore SILO²
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