Journey into Enterprise AI/Gefond

Read here From Il Sole 24 Ore of Friday, Sept. 20, 2024

The company that makes die-casting plants and takes care of their technical support has launched Perpetual: the mission is to extend the life of plants.

Artificial intelligence is usually perceived as a tool to improve efficiency, personalize products and services, and refine forecasting. But it can also turn into new business models for increasing and diversifying revenues. Such is the case with Gefond, a Milan-based company that sells third-party die casting equipment and provides technical support for it.
The idea to focus on an artificial intelligence solution was Tiziana Tronci: "When I joined the company," she recalls, "I tried to figure out how to ferry Gefond into the future. Not only did I bring my 20 years of experience from the world of communications but also a new way of approaching the foundry sector by focusing on innovation."
Thus was born Perpetuo, an AI-based solution with a mission to extend the life of implants

Artificial intelligence is usually perceived as a tool to improve efficiency, personalize products and services, and refine forecasting. But it can also turn into new business models for increasing and diversifying revenues. This is the case of Gefond, a Milan-based company founded just 20 years ago that sells third-party die-casting equipment and takes care of its technical support, 10 employees for a turnover of 5.5 million euros that has chosen to flank a predictive maintenance program.

The idea to focus on an artificial intelligence solution was Tiziana Tronci, daughter of the founder, who by choice after her studies wanted to get her experiences outside the company. Then in 2016 she decided to humbly jump into Gefond, even though Dad, who was more protective, wanted her to continue on her own path. "When I joined the company," she recalls, "I tried to figure out how to ferry Gefond into the future. Not only did I bring my 20 years of experience from the world of communications but also a new way of approaching the foundry sector by focusing on innovation." All the more so at a time of crisis in the industry.
Thus was born Perpetuo, an AI-based solution with a mission to extend plant life, the result of an intuition to add intelligence and service to the pure and simple maintenance that was Gefond's DNA. The predictive maintenance software was developed based on a partnership with Brescia-based T4SM, which has predictive algorithms that have been tuned to Gefond's heritage process control background. The mathematical algorithmic basis was thus integrated with plant knowledge to give rise to a system that claims to be able to extend the end of life of plants with an average life of around 20 years by 15 percent. But that has the same time reduces downtime and consequent setbacks to the production cycle by more than a third with a 16 percent increase in production.

For now, the new business is worth about one-tenth of total sales, allowing the investment costs to be recouped. Now a contract with a large international group is on the home stretch. Tiziana Tronci is not standing still and aims to increase Perpetuo's contribution to the growth of the group: "My idea is that it should be provided directly of the machinery manufacturers as an integrated solution in the plant. There is no doubt that there are several advantages in monitoring the plants after the sale: revenues increase, spare parts can be scheduled, research and development can be done on the machines, and pro-active service can be provided that builds customer loyalty."

"Compared to traditional manufacturers of AI solutions for predictive maintenance," he continues, "Gefond has the advantage of starting with field maintenance expertise and knowledge of machines and the production process. So far it has faced some skepticism from the 50 or so plant manufacturers globally. But it is not giving up and is looking ahead: next month it will be the industry trade show in Indianapolis to try to make inroads in the United States.

The Sun 24 Hours, Friday, September 20, 2024