Capgemini in Italy has supported Esaote, the world's leading manufacturer of medical diagnostic systems, to undertake a rapid digital transformation based on SAP® solutions, aimed at improving the efficiency of its production processes as well as reducing time-to-market and costs. Departments across the entire company have benefited from the new ‘Smart Factory’ model.

Esaote has more than 1,200 employees worldwide. With its own production and research units in Italy and The Netherlands, Esaote is recognized as one of the top 10 diagnostic imaging companies in the world. Active in Research and Development, the company has been at the forefront of biomedical systems’ innovation for over 30 years. Esaote needed to harmonize the production processes in its plants to gain production efficiencies and optimization in order to reduce costs, through leaner cycles. It also wanted to achieve less production defects to enable scrap and rework cost reductions, and correct plant maintenance strategies to improve overall component traceability.

A transformed technological architecture

To address these challenges Capgemini devised a transformation aimed at harmonizing and simplifying Esaote’s technological architecture, through SAP solutions based on the ‘LifeSciencesPath' vertical approach, designed in accordance with the sector’s best practices. The full implementation of these solutions was achieved in less than 10 months.

“Esaote wanted to digitize its business processes and create efficiencies by adopting a unique and integrated way to manage them. Capgemini helped us to achieve a rapid transformation of our technological and production infrastructure into a Smart Factory model with SAP solutions. With a constantly controlled, performing and abundant IT architecture ensuring service continuity to all users, we can better plan and monitor the production of our probes in a timely manner while reducing the work-in-progress and scrap costs,” said Mauro Roncari, CIO at Esaote.“This important step in our IT architecture’s modernization process – a pillar for our company - provides a sturdy and reliable basis to manage our business globally.”

Real-time connection enhancing production

Thanks to real-time integration with machines and the speed of data processing as well as the quality control framework, it is now possible to capture diagnostic images and compare them with target scans, which verify the correct set up of probes. With the real-time connection removing the need for physical interaction between operator and machine, the operator can focus on collecting and analyzing data and recording measurements, all supported by automated management of the non-compliance issues. 

Performance is now monitored in real-time with KPIs and analytics. The solution is highly scalable as it defines processes enabling the production management to then map machines, workstations, skills, operations’ lines and sequences that need to be performed.

Gerardo Ciccone, Head of Manufacturing & Life Science at Capgemini in Italy, said: “We brought together our expertise in digital manufacturing with SAP solutions to support Esaote in achieving its goal of transforming its technological infrastructure with a Global ‘Industry 4.0’ platform. It now optimizes and manages a fully integrated and scalable production process within a comprehensive network of suppliers, customers, and post-sales services. We worked closely with the Esaote teams, in a very collaborative way, to identify the best process solutions for the systems.”

Capgemini integrated Esaote infrastructure with SAP solutions, leveraging the "Fast Digital 4 Discrete Industries" (FD4DI) offering, a Capgemini and SAP joint initiative to help clients in discrete manufacturing industries  manage their digital transformation, as they seek to adopt innovative concepts driven by ‘Industry 4.0’, the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, Big Data, and Smart Automation. FD4DI provided the Digital Transformation framework, centered on digital experience to achieve excellence and agile processes, with the coverage of end to end processes from Sales to Operations.