Reducing setup times by up to 40 percent without compromising delivery deadlines while improving PPC governance

Innovating the cardboard packaging manufacturing industry

SETA Embalagens (SETA) is a leading company manufacturing corrugated cardboard packaging in Brazil. Founded in 1991 by the couple Sérgio and Tânia Zimmermann, the company started its operations in an artisanal manner, with a small rewinding machine installed in a space of only 8 square meters (m2) inside the founders’ residence in São Bento do Sul, Santa Catarina. Since then, SETA has exponentially grown, becoming a pillar of innovation in the Brazilian packaging industry.

Today, the company serves over 500 clients and has 220 employees, producing over 1.8 million m2 of cardboard boxes per month. Its product line includes corrugated cardboard boxes in various sizes and models, die-cut boxes, corrugated cardboard accessories and rolls of corrugated cardboard, focusing on industries such as furniture, horticulture, e-commerce and general industries.

Recently, the company has been continually investing in digital strategies, seeking to increase return-on-investment (ROI) for adapting to Industry 4.0. Beyond the digital world, SETA is also investing in productive innovations that ensure greater efficiency and competitiveness.

SETA’s commitment to excellence is reflected not only in the quality of its products but also in its agility in customer service and the search for customized solutions that optimize packaging processes for its clients. The company positions itself as a reliable reference, investing in technologies and methods that ensure operational efficiency and the maximum satisfaction of its business partners.

To meet these goals, SETA teamed up with Lean Scheduling Brazil (LSB), a Siemens Digital Industries Software expert partner, and leveraged Opcenter™ software, which is part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

Solving complex and interconnected challenges

SETA faced operational challenges that compromised its market efficiency and competitiveness. With the expansion of operations and increased demand, the company’s production planning and control (PPC) processes were no longer keeping up with the pace of growth, creating a series of difficulties.

The first major obstacle was the lack of a structured PPC process. SETA was still using a centralized and unstandardized scheduling model based on spreadsheets and informal communication between departments. Lacking a unified platform for managing information created a workload overload, hindering agility for decision-making and visibility over the progress of operations. This issue generated constant communication failures and increased the chance of errors, impacting production efficiency.

Another critical issue was the absence of visibility into production capacity and assembly line bottlenecks. The company was unable to monitor resource use and labor allocation accurately, resulting in operational inefficiencies and underutilization of machines and equipment.

Additionally, without control and traceability of material use, it was difficult for the company to identify problems such as waste or stock shortages, directly affecting its ability to meet deadlines.

Decentralizing information was also a limiting factor. Although valuable data was available in various systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and isolated spreadsheets, the lack of integration between them prevented a clear, real-time view of the entire production chain. This made proactive planning difficult, created inefficiencies and increased the risk of errors in executing production orders.

Finally, the inability to run scenario simulations was a critical limitation. The company could not model production alternatives and assess the possible consequences of its choices. Without this, it was difficult to anticipate problems or quickly adapt to unexpected changes or demand spikes, leading to slower decision-making, increasing the risk of errors and generating inefficiencies.

These challenges, though interconnected, compromised SETA’s internal efficiency and its ability to compete in the packaging market. The company realized it needed a transformation in its PPC process, not only by adopting a technological tool but also by changing its mindset and approach for managing its operations. Implementing an integrated solution that optimized production, increased real-time visibility and improved decision-making became urgent, creating the foundation for sustainable growth.

Using Opcenter APS to improve decision-making and processes

Faced with the operational challenges that compromised its ability to compete in the market, SETA sought a robust technological solution to transform its PPC process. The company knew that improving the existing manual control was not enough, but it needed an integrated solution capable of providing real-time visibility, optimizing resource use and enabling scenario simulations for proactive decision-making.

After a thorough analysis, SETA chose the Opcenter Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software, a platform specializing in production planning and scheduling. Together with the services of the TROIKA team, which was eventually acquired by LSB, leveraging this tool provided integration between systems, complete visibility of operations and scenario simulation capabilities. This allowed the PPC team to anticipate problems and make decisions strategically.

First, TROIKA implemented the solution at the São Bento do Sul unit. This initial phase immediately improved operational visibility and report generation. However, there was still a need for greater integration, as data was synchronized only via comma-separated values (CSV) files, which required manual effort and did not allow for real-time communication between systems.

After acquiring TROIKA, LSB took over the project’s second phase by shifting the strategy to expand and enhance the previous phase’s results, ensuring complete integration and effective standardization for the company’s Linhares unit. The major change was fully automating data integration, replacing CSV files with direct communication between Opcenter APS and SETA’s ERP. This advancement eliminated errors caused by manual imports and allowed data to be synchronized automatically, providing a clear, real-time view of production orders, inventories, resources and technical lists.

Further, LSB standardized PPC processes between the São Bento do Sul and Linhares units, ensuring consistent and effective planning practices across both plants. The major differential of this second phase was the formal structuring of the PPC area, which the company had previously improvised with little governance. The department became a strategic area, no longer carrying out reactive and operational tasks, impacting the company’s ability to meet demand with agility, efficiency and less waste.

Improving production plan adherence, visibility and efficiency

Implementing Opcenter APS at SETA’s production units provided significant and immediate results in operational improvement and strategically transforming the company, bringing tangible impacts from production control to decision-making.

One of the greatest advances was transforming the PPC area, which shifted from being an operational function to a strategic one based on real-world data and real-time visibility. The PPC process now operates in a structured and efficient manner, significantly increasing the reliability of its decisions. The department assumed the lead role in scheduling and production focused solely on executing the planned tasks. At the Linhares unit, the company significantly increased adherence to the production plan from just 33 to 80 percent.

SETA also optimized operational efficiency by reducing setup time from over 100 to 60 hours, without compromising delivery deadlines. The ability to conduct clear machine sequencing, coupled with efficient material management, allowed production to become smoother and more efficient, with less downtime and better resource use.

By implementing Opcenter APS, the visibility of the production chain was completely transformed. The automatic integration of data between Opcenter APS and the ERP eliminated errors and delays caused by manual processes. Continuous monitoring of machine occupancy and resource allocation provided more accurate data on plant capacity utilization and allowed quick adjustments to optimize production.

Additionally, scenario simulations and the use of robust operational reports allowed SETA to anticipate issues – such as material shortages or production bottlenecks – and make more assertive decisions on resource utilization, avoiding additional costs and improving on-time delivery (OTD). Reducing forklift use by 33 percent directly reflects better resource usage resources and the operational efficiency that integrating Opcenter APS generates.

This transformation consolidated a new way of planning, managing and optimizing operations, raising PPC to a new level of strategic maturity within the organization.

“We had a choice: continue growing the company chaotically or take a step back, get things in order by using Opcenter APS and then grow,” says Leonardo Zimmemann, operations manager at SETA. “We decided to get things in order, that way we can grow consistently, which is happening now. With Opcenter APS, we’re growing without chaos, almost like a clock.”

Aiming for the future

After the successes achieved with Opcenter APS, SETA is implementing other solutions from LSB, integrating it with Opcenter APS and real-time production management. This will allow SETA to have real-time control of production and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) calculations, taking the company to new levels of efficiency and operational maturity.