CONEPO SERVIZI SCARL

Conepo Servizi is one the most important private company and operator of environmental services and transport, specialised in the field of special and non-special waste disposal activities, in Venice historical centre and mainland. Conepo Servizi is specialised in the management, take-away and transport for disposal and recycling of all types of waste produced by cruise ships and transport of goods parked in the port of Venice and Marghera (room and kitchen waste, cargo residues, similar to urban waste, recyclable, special, hazardous, oil, etc.), as the exclusive concessionaire for port environmental services. The very high qualification in the management of services to passenger and merchant ships makes it possible to intervene on a daily basis both by water and land to carry out the activities regulated by the Ordinances of the Venice Port Authority and the Venice Harbour Master’s Office (Maritime Authority). It also has all the information on ships’ arrival and departure in real time through the documental and authorisation workflow computer system provided by the port operators. It provides packaging, sacks, labels as well as advice and information for the most correct management of special waste, sending it to authorised and accredited collection centres. The management and disposal of waste in an area as fragile as the Venice Lagoon confronts the company with choices of responsibility and the urgency of environmental sustainability. With respect to this issue, CONEPO has launched a campaign – MAKE THE DIFFERECE – to raise awareness of environmental protection and responsible actions in terms of sustainability.

The experimental knowledge transfer intervention in brief

The main objective of the intervention was the digitalisation of the data collection of the waste collection service. Operating in the transport and waste sector, the company interest is to deepen the automation of document management, from initial data to invoicing, linking it to the service and traceability of the goods transported and / or stored. The company’s activity consisted in recording on paper forms the quantities of waste taken from ships by Conepo vehicles in the performance of the normal service. In other words the operating personnel who, – by means of trucks, vans or boats – unload waste from ships, had to manually record on paper forms (called vouchers) the different types of waste, the cubic metres unloaded and other information relating to the ship, the agency, the charterer and the shipowner. These vouchers were then collected and delivered daily to the administrative office, which must copy the same data into the software for management control and administrative activity. The aim of the experimental in-company intervention has been therefore to develop an application that allows Conepo’s staff to enter the information on waste services at the terminal and to use the information for all the company’s needs without having to retype or import data. A further objective is to re-elaborate some of the information collected (duration of services, efficiency of operating personnel, …) in order to obtain information for the optimisation of the overall activity of this area of the company and, consequently, to identify further areas for improvement. Optimisation should also be seen from a green perspective, with objectives linked to fuel savings and reduction of emissions from waste recovery vehicles and also to the reduction of printed paper production. The outcome of the experimental intervention and of the process analysis led firstly to a flow chart presenting the application of 4.0 to the process and, consequently, to the development of the new flow that a software house should replicate through application. Secondly the experimental in-company intervention led to the development of a responsive web application that meets the identified company objectives. The application is divided into two main sections: the first, for use by the planning office, allows operational managers to plan the routes that the Conepo vehicles must take in order to carry out the waste collection service in the best possible way. The second, optimised for mobile devices, is instead for use by field operatives who have the task of recording the types and quantities of waste released by each ship. For the identification of the ships, cruise or merchant ships, present in the port, a procedure has been integrated that imports a data track from the Logis-PMIS system, the official environment of the port authorities and the Harbour Master’s Office, containing all the information useful for planning and that previously was managed manually by the operational managers. The data entered by the operators are then directly made available to the administrative software for the related activities. The application has be also completed by the management of all the necessary master data (ships, berths, agencies, personnel, …) and a section with reports and data analysis.

Some feedbacks

The development of the data analysis has been carried out in constant collaboration with company staff, thanks to which some areas for improvement have been identified. The most important is the one related to the signing of the voucher. This is currently carried out manually by the ship’s contact person but the objective is to implement electronic or digital signature systems to avoid the paper printing of the receipt and to digitalise this activity as well. The company is looking for funding opportunities to start further improvement projects in terms of Industry 4.0. An example of improvement area is the development of a real time localization system of the position of its vehicles on a map. According to the experts the company has shown a great propensity for developing knowledge for innovation, constantly and competently supporting the experts with internal resources. Thanks also to the product treated by the company – the waste, it has shown a particular sensitivity to energy saving, reduction of emissions and proper disposal of waste, including special ones.