Atam, a leading Italian company in the production of coils and electrical connectors, can boast a history of constant growth.
Andrea Ciceri, CEO of Atam, spoke about his vision for the future in these terms: «Our goal is to become more and more a point of reference for operators in our sector, distinguishing ourselves for our responsibility, transparency, service and technology. We want to have a collaborative approach, not only with our customers and suppliers, but also with our competition, because Atam components are often combined with those of other manufacturers too.
We want to overcome the selfish vision of the success of the individual company and establish relationships of mutual trust that can last over time, and that will be increasingly useful for everyone to face, together, unforeseen market issues».
Sharing, for the benefit of the entire supply chain
Atam enjoys an excellent reputation thanks to its quality and high-tech products but is working to gain greater trust through transparency and shared operations. The first step is to focus on shared software platforms that will be accessed for planning the entire supply chain, for the benefit of speed and flexibility. In this way, our customers will be able to see the progress of work in real time and our suppliers will have the opportunity to prepare themselves adequately in view of future demand. The exchange of information has the goal of making Atam be perceived as an integral part of the customer’s organisation. This already applies to some of its suppliers, which are considered essential for the company’s production system. In addition to feeling like business partners of reference, their position allows them to always be aware of the new opportunities on which the company is working. This process of integration in the supply chain will be a key point of differentiation, that respects and protects all the players involved.
Andrea Ciceri continues: «We are aware that this level of mutual trust is difficult to achieve, but we are equally certain that our actions to date, and the frequent fluctuations of the markets, can encourage our partners to embrace our vision».
Anticipating the real needs of customers
Furthermore, at Atam, we have always put attention to the needs of our business partners at the forefront. Our focus is on “listening”, translated into practice through our ability and willingness to offer custom solutions. The unique needs of each customer, the willingness to work together on co-designs, the production of custom products, even small batches, is the approach with which ATAM has achieved outstanding results. Today, however, it is determined to take a further step forward with the aim of representing, over time, a game changer that brings progress to the entire supply chain. Strong and confident in its technical skills, the company is ready for a new challenge: implementing a predictive approach to the needs of the market, in order to be able to anticipate and thus to offer its customers cutting-edge advice, in addition to its already appreciated products and services. Its know-how, in fact, is based on a deep knowledge of the application fields in which the products operate and on its big data, which can provide vital information on the performance in the field and on the useful life of the components.
The early presence of its technicians in the preliminary stages of the design has already provided alternative and innovative solutions, that the customers themselves had not yet thought of. The constant learning, experience and enthusiasm that will be put in place will allow us to find the most suitable solutions for real needs, bearing in mind the peculiarities and critical issues of the various final applications.
In order to be able to move purposefully towards the future, Atam will therefore anticipate desires and needs in advance, before they become requests, with the aim of creating in the players involved an attitude of trust in the skills it can offer, and therefore in the solutions that its team will be able to suggest.
Sharing: from vision to practice
Last year made us experience first-hand how unforeseen situations can cause difficulties for any company and it was in this scenario that Atam put into practice what it now suggests as a recipe for the future. The supply issues experienced, made it necessary to develop a completely new machine from scratch, which could highlight the unsuitable components within the batch based on a broader spectrum of analysis. The new machine was co-designed by Atam technicians with the company that manufactured it. The manufacturer was thus able to benefit from the field skills of Atam managers and high-profile researchers from some of the major electronic component manufacturers involved in the project. The new machinery has enabled Atam to verify the components even beyond the specifications declared by the manufacturer and to define their structural and use limits; to “clean up” stocks, to recall defective coils already in the market and only allow circulation of those containing components that can pass the most rigorous conformity tests.
This work required considerable time to resolve, during which Atam believed it appropriate to inform, through its customers, the competition, even if not directly involved, offering to solve similar problems. This commitment has made it possible to protect the supply chain from possible blockages, allowing Atam to continue to supply components, allowing the end customer not to stop the production of its machinery, protecting all the parties involved, including the competition.
Atam supported affected customers by providing very detailed information; this enabled it to discuss with the end customer defects only occurring under certain conditions, very close to the maximum thresholds of the requested specifications. Further in-depth functional investigations on the power supply criteria used by the end customer have also allowed Atam to be able to suggest a better use of the coils, in terms of sequence and intensity of electrical power supply.
This episode showed the responsible and accurate spirit with which Atam operates and its willingness to support the supply chain with its know-how, creating a win-win situation that establishes a solid relationship between companies.
Ciceri concludes: «In the future, there will be no more space for manufacturers who are unable to innovate, not only in terms of product but also strategy. Differentiating excellence will be the only way to ensure business continuity».
