Interview

We asked Jacopo Malacarne – CEO of Dino Corsini – a few questions about the company’s needs, the solutions implemented and the future perspectives that our storage, management and automation solutions open up for our customers.

What is the history of Dino Corsini, what are the main products you make, and with which production cycle?

Dino Corsini was established in the 1950s, in a small town in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and then moved to the province of Bologna, more precisely to Valsamoggia in Crespellano, at the beginning of the seventies. Since the end of the 1980s, our company has been supplying and partnering with all the largest Italian and supermarket chains and producers. Today, it has developed a series of products ranging from plum-cake to round-shaped products, such as cakes or muffins, to more recently pancake products, the typical American pancakes. It produces a full range gluten-free products line (after obtaining certification in 2005), an organic line, a conventional line and, for the past few years, a protein line. Let’s say that this form of versatility, products and lines allows us to be a reliable and sought-after partner for large retailers including Coop, Conad, Esselunga, Aldi, Lidl, Eurospin; this is a forty-year strategy.

How does Dino Corsini guarantee product quality? What are the criteria, in the raw material selection?

A product quality control department guarantees the highest standards, which are defined by very strict operational solutions and procedures and by a production system that adheres to these guidelines and a whole company, inspired by a finished product made of high-quality materials, compliant with the customers’ agreements. BRC, IFS certified suppliers select the raw materials, or if there are additional certifications for gluten-free, organic products, or milk-free and sugar-free products. Our Q&A dept. taste and check them, before entering the unloading at the machinery and checked in the silos or storage tanks every production shift (therefore approximately every 8 hours). We keep these agricultural raw materials in refrigerated cells at 4 degrees C, in compliance with the F.I.F.O standard and within the formally allowed storage times.

What was the main need/problem that prompted you to adopt Agriflex solutions?

The first need was to automate all the mixer feeding processes and blending machinery from what were manual feeding processes. Therefore, apart from sugar, flour and oil everything else was manually fed. By progressively adopting Agriflex solutions, over the last two or three years, we have switched to a 90% automatic feeding process, thanks to which we have experienced an increase in the volumes and production capacities of the lines. First thing then automation, secondly ease of loading, reloading, feeding the silos of micro-ingredients and macro-ingredients; visibility of weights, visibility of capacities, visibility of residues. In addition, Agriflex machinery made all the feeding systems cleaning possible, from large to small silos, even in between washing and production cycles, as well as in between loading procedures, allowing the pipelines inspection, and cleaning if necessary. All within the Industry 4.0 framework.