Logistics manager Lorenzo Barbieri knows that a warehouse without millimetre-thick dust deposits is more than just a cosmetic bonus. That's why he was looking for the right solution to not only remove dust from his logistics, but to prevent it from entering. He found it with ProfilGate.

"In the biomedical sector, the aesthetic aspect is very important", Lorenzo Barbieri explains. "Whoever inspects the warehouse now, sees cleanliness and boxes not covered with dust. We have raised our standard of presentation and appearance." 

The head of logistics at Medica Group of Italy is pleased with his new ProfilGate cleaning field. "It isn't possible to quantify the costs and time saved, but the advantages are undoubted: warehouse workers no longer have to systematically clean the boxes before shipping them", logistics specialist Barbieri tells us.

Barbieri and the dust in the halls of the Mirandola plant have history. The Mirandola is a central transhipment point for the entire Medica Group with seven subsidiaries. It’s located in the middle of the so-called "Biomedical Valley," a conurbation of the Italian biomedical industry. Ever since Barbieri took up his post as logistics manager in 2018, the particles in the air of his warehouses have been on his mind. "Dust has always been a historical problem. Understandable, having traffic of trucks, forklifts, pallet trucks for hours and hours every day." He was looking for solutions.

"Initially, cleaning equipment was purchased, such as scrubbing machines and floor washers. But we were working on the symptoms and not on the actual cause," the logistics specialist explains. "It was not necessary to remove the dirt that had already entered, but to try to prevent or limit the ingress of dirt" With this new insight, Barbieri set out to find equipment that could accomplish that. He did a lot of searching on the Internet, he said, and saw many offers. "They didn't convince me. They didn't seem decisive."

Barbieri found what he was looking for with the Italian ProfilGate distributor Collini Sistemi. He said he watched videos on the cleaning field from Solingen, read articles and then contacted Collini.  He then took care of analysing the case to answer the question: Can ProfilGate solve the dust problem at the Medica Group? His supervisor was also quickly convinced and, after a few days, approved the order to purchase ProfilGate.

Barbieri was convinced by ProfilGate's mode of operation. The cleaning field, which is embedded in the floor, consists of a stainless-steel tray, a steel grate, and brush strips. The system works purely mechanically, requires no electricity and no manual operation that would cost time. Shoe soles, tires and rollers that enter the grate are scrubbed dry down to the tread. In the process, ProfilGate removes not only dust, but also coarser dirt, such as chips, pebbles, and sand. The dirt removed from the soles and tires then ends up in the tray, where it can be easily removed by hand brush or vacuum cleaner. 

After Medica purchases ProfilGate, the only thing missing was the professional installation of the cleaning field. To do this, the tray is embedded into the floor so that it is flush with the floor. "It was not a complex job, but we found no people who already have done this installation," Barbieri says of initial challenges. But he praises his dealer's commitment: with Collini Sistemi's support and advice, it was possible to eliminate all the problems the craftsmen encountered during the course of the job. The warehouse's structure also made it possible, he says, to divert traffic through the "back door" during the installation work on the entrance and exit. Today, Barbieri is very satisfied with ProfilGate in his logistics: "We have certainly significantly reduced the dirt introduced into the warehouse. Dirt that then turned into dust that was deposited on the boxes and pallets."