Since 1986, Dibella has been a Europe-wide textile service partner for long-lasting and high-performance contract textiles (bed and table linen, hand and kitchen towels) for the hotel, catering and healthcare industries. As a pioneer in the field of sustainability in its industry, Dibella, based in Bocholt, combines the areas of innovation, responsibility and transparency.
Dibella’s ecological commitment is particularly evident in the procurement of raw materials. The cotton is accompanied from its cultivation in order to fulfill the duty of care towards all employees along the value chain. Dibella visits the growing areas, the production sites and builds trusting relationships with the stakeholders in the countries of origin. The farmers are taken into account and supported in the payment process. This means that the origin of the raw material flows can be traced and the supply chain law can be complied with.
Challenges and advice needs at Dibella
Dibella has started a project to integrate RFID transponders (“transmitter-receiver system for automatic, contactless identification and localization of objects using radio waves”) in so-called roll goods (textiles/fabric on rolls) to store product data, item names, supplier data, etc. Some data in goods logistics is largely available digitally, but is recorded and processed manually. Potential for added value through automation has been identified in order to further strengthen the company’s competitiveness. For this reason, Dibella turned to the Future Center.
The focus of the consultation was automation in the collection and processing of product, goods and supplier data. A template should be created so that all product, goods and supplier data can be processed automatically in the ERP system. At the same time, this should create the basis for a timely analysis of goods and costs. During the consultation, an import methodology was developed with which this data can be easily prepared for the ERP system. For potential daily data analysis, the possibilities of a business intelligence system (BI tool) were presented in order to be able to analyze and display this data graphically and clearly. BI tools can prepare historical and current data graphically and mathematically, identify correlations and thus be used to support decisions.
In addition to this business data, a solution for automatic sorting of textiles was also sought. For this purpose, the measurement data from a UV camera was analyzed together with the consultants from the Future Center and a way was shown as to how it needs to be prepared for automated processes, for example using AI. The raw data from the scanning process was cleaned so that only relevant data remained in the dataset. With the help of this material recognition, Dibella is able to partially automate the flow of goods in the company for sorting textiles by type, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual processes.
outlook
Dibella continues to work on expanding the database and expanding the ERP system. The user interface for customer orders is also being worked on to meet increased service requirements. These technical extensions can facilitate existing work processes and partially counteract a theoretical staff shortage. The intensive examination of your own data should lead to a second consulting phase by the Future Center KI NRW. The scope and quality of data are a necessary prerequisite in order to benefit from the rapid developments in the field of artificial intelligence in the next steps. Dibella has recognized this and wants to work with the future center to increase its own competitiveness through AI.
“We would like to thank the KI NRW Future Center very much for their constructive advice. This enabled us to advance our company in the area of automation in the collection and processing of data and to make work processes more efficient. We are looking forward to continued great cooperation.”
Carsten Ridder, Managing Director Dibella
The KI NRW Future Center looks forward to continuing to support Dibella and will provide advice.
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