Conserve Italia opens the doors of the Pomposa smart factory: over 2.000 people attend the open day

Great success for the open day at the Pomposa plant (Ferrara) of Conserve Italia: over 2.000 people passed through the gates to discover the “secrets” of the smart factory.

Employees and their families had the opportunity to enter the heart of the production site together with members, stakeholders and local institutions, gaining an up-close look at a facility that has been extensively renewed thanks to investments made in recent years.

A day of celebration and sharing, part of the programme of initiatives organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Conserve Italia, a cooperative consortium founded on 24 May 1976, which provided an opportunity, through guided tours, to recount the plant’s journey towards an increasingly automated, interconnected and sustainable production model.

The investment plan

The Ferrara plant was at the centre of the 2023-26 investment plan worth 86,9 million euros, one of the most important development programmes carried out in the 50 years of Conserve Italia’s history. The plan involved seven production plants – Pomposa, Ravarino, Barbiano di Cotignola, Massa Lombarda, Alseno, Albinia and Mesagne – as well as the San Lazzaro di Savena headquarters, with more than half of the resources allocated specifically to the Pomposa site.

The measures included modernising the facilities, digitising processes, improving energy efficiency and developing advanced logistics systems, with the aim of increasing production efficiency and quality while reducing environmental impact, for an increasingly sustainable agri-food industry.

The technologies

At Pomposa, this transformation is now visible at every stage of industrial activity. Among the most significant measures are the two Thor, latest-generation evaporators for tomato processing, which contribute to estimated savings of up to 5.000 tonnes of CO2 per year, and the new automated intralogistics system with 25 LGV shuttles (laser guided vehicles), capable of moving over 5.000 pallets per day.

These new developments are joined by the expansion of the automated warehouse for finished products (up to a total of 120.000 pallet positions managed automatically), the high-density warehouse for dried pulses, the automated picking system for mixed pallets and the enhancement of the production lines, with the new line for fine pulp processing 12 tonnes per hour and the line for vacuum-packed pulses 600 cans per minute.

The comments

“Opening the doors of Pomposa and seeing such a large turnout was the best way to share an important milestone such as the 50th anniversary of our cooperative consortium with the local community,” declares Maurizio Gardini, president of Conserve Italia. “In half a century, we have grown and become one of the leading European food-preserving businesses, but our identity has remained the same: we are a cooperative supply chain that starts in the fields and with our producer members, transforms their raw materials and adds value to them in the markets through historic Made in Italy brands, known and appreciated by consumers. The Pomposa plant represents this link between our roots and the future very well: here, 24 years ago, where there was nothing, we built a factory that is now increasingly at the forefront of technology, production processes and logistics. This is how cooperation, starting from agriculture, creates value for the local community.”

“The Open Day allowed us to show what investing in the future of Conserve Italia means,” stresses Pier Paolo Rosetti, general manager of Conserve Italia. “The recently completed investment plan was not simply a sum of technological measures, but the result of a vision that brings together the agricultural component and industrial innovation. We have made our plants more efficient, automated and sustainable in order to be more competitive in the markets and, above all, to continue making the best possible use of the raw materials supplied by our members. Pomposa is the most advanced expression of this journey, and opening it to so many people was a way to share not only what we have achieved but also the direction in which we want to continue moving in the coming years.”

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.