Almag and Cubor-Car Choose Kiwitron: Flexible, Tag-Free Technologies as the Winning Solution for Dealers and End Customers

Matteo Gelmi, Manager of the Integrated Management System Quality, Environment, Health and Safety, Energy and Sustainability and RSPP of the three production plants of Almag S.p.a, and Alessandro Borghi, CEO of Cubor-Car S.r.l, tell us how Kiwitron has managed to improve the way both the end customer and the dealer work.

Almag and Cubor-Car now have a historic relationship. How do you get to Kiwitron?

Matteo Gelmi: Almag, a Brescia-based company that has been in the metallurgical business since 1946 and belongs to the H.U.G Holding Umberto Gnutti Group, in its Foundry, Extrusion and Drawing departments produces brass bars for turning and stamping. Almag comes to Kiwitron because it is continuously looking for the best solutions to mitigate investment risk in its production environments.

In Almag we have several dozen vehicles operating for internal goods handling, mainly forklifts and overhead cranes, but also several wheel loaders.

We started a few years ago with other solutions where technology helped us in controlling the risk of half-pedestrian investment: internal operators and external drivers wore vests with identification tags that made the trucks slow down. We have also implemented other applications in specific risk areas where, for example, overhead crane handling is limited to detecting people in unsafe area from suspended loads.

Alessandro Borghi: And in 2021 Cubor-Car included radar in rental solutions. Now Kiwitron’s optical sensor with AI is among the most attractive on the market.

In fact, we are testing 16 rental cars set up with KiwiEye devices in Almag. Personally, I am a big believer in this project.

Cubor-Car is coming to Kiwitron in 2019, with the KeyOne datalogger mounted on a cart at the plant of a company in Visano.

Then, the first real delivery we did in 2020, with 4.0 on a rental fleet of 10 to 11 machines. The things that struck us right away about Kiwitron were the human spirit, the technical staff, and the availability and flexibility of the company.

What advantages does Almag (end customer) and Cubor-Car (dealer) see in Kiwitron?

Matteo Gelmi: Your incident analysis management system and crash notifications enable timely monitoring of events happening in our plants.

The heatmaps function for the analysis of hazardous areas and near misses is essential to get a clear idea of the hazardousness of the movements performed in different work areas.

In addition, being able to think of an integrated plant design that has a reference technology and a single partner to be able to slow down vehicles in the most critical areas (doorways/pedestrian paths, blind corners) without having to equip all pedestrians with tags is a winner.

In Almag we are also working with other suppliers of wheel loaders on which we have the same prevention system as you do.

Alessandro Borghi: definitely AI versus UWB technology. There is no need to deploy tags and reload them. The advantage is that your technology winks at safety and efficiency at the same time.

This partnership between Kiwitron, dealer and end customer allows for more flexible and smooth services. The dealer’s goal is to make life easier for the end customer, and this is made possible through the active participation of all three parties.

A question for Matthew: How did Almag employees react to the inclusion of this new technology?

Workers are always somewhat wary of technological change, but it is easily understood by most of them that technology is being incorporated to avoid accidents and for their safety, so they are welcoming these new solutions in a favorable way: they are moving from an initial perception of obligation to a more conscious one of working together toward the path of best safety applicable to our processes.

What can be improved in the near future?

Matteo Gelmi: It takes a partner that helps companies in the design and optimization of plant goods handling safety, delving into a digitized and measured risk analysis service in all the various environments, proposing related specific risk management prevention and improvement actions: giving this service makes Kiwitron a unique partner for the end customer.

In addition, a solid partnership with dealers, both of forklifts and all other goods handling equipment, definitely gives even more certainty to the end customer.

Alessandro Borghi: The future is knowing how to give the right product in the right context: this is our mission “customer satisfaction.” With rental, we offer flexible solutions that are constantly evolving. The value of 4.0 is active and usable digitization, promoting concrete data, which helps us improve our performance.

Cuborcar grows by interpreting the requests that come to it directly from the customer and looks at continuous improvement by playing the game by his side, supporting him with effective advice first and specific products later. It can only do this if it finds a flexible and helpful partner like Kiwitron.

Partnering with a company like Cubor-Car allows Kiwitron to develop devices that perfectly match the capabilities of the machines a company like this needs and to develop knowledge about the trucks; it also allows Cubor-Car to properly install Kiwitron devices and know how to make the most of them. Cubor-Car’s need for an electronic device that fits the needs of the machine was understood and met by Kiwitron.