Capgemini enables a global business and technology transformation journey at F.I.L.A Group

Capgemini has successfully helped F.I.L.A. Group (Fabbrica Italiana Lapis ed Affini), one of the world’s leading suppliers of art materials and related products, to design and implement a new unified operating model with the capacity to integrate its multiple businesses around the world. The new solution defines shared digital processes and a common logistics infrastructure for all the Group’s brands and products across 20 companies in over 150 countries. The combined enterprise system is based on SAP S/4HANA^®, an intelligent business software suite.

With almost a century of history, F.I.L.A – founded in 1920 in Florence (Italy) and managed since 1956 by the Milanese Candela family – has established itself as a world leader in the industry of creative and artistic expression, with manufacturing plants, dozens of brands and thousands of products distributed in every continent. The company has experienced a rapid and continuous growth over time with the development of famous brands, such as Giotto, Tratto, Das, Didò, Pongo and Daler-Rowney, and Canson, as well as specific products for various sectors, from schools to fine arts.

In order to unify and optimize the company’s core processes and also strengthen customer relations, F.I.L.A wanted to address the complexity of its vast, disparate global organization. It decided to implement a structured business and technology transformation program named “DNA” (Drawing New Attitude), based on a common operating model to be deployed to all Group companies, using new technology solutions with a future-ready design that could handle both the business and manufacturing challenges of a sector in constant evolution.

A series of local companies is transformed into a single global entity

With the aim to create a unique model that combines control requirements with operational flexibility, F.I.L.A. Group and Capgemini worked together to develop a new enterprise platform based on a SAP S/4HANA solution, which was implemented initially in 20 companies and then extended to the entire Group. Within the framework of this extensive transformation project, Capgemini designed a solution to optimize the distribution model and reshape intercompany coordination, transforming a series of local companies into a single, global entity. A common operating model for all companies was defined, that included monitoring and controlling processes for investments and common current expenditure, along with a unique model of accounting-financial and operational-commercial reporting, that would enable F.I.L.A. to effectively manage an increasingly complex supply chain.

The choice of the SAP S/4HANA solution allowed the implementation of a centralized management of the multiple business models within a single system and enabled the integration of innovative cloud-based solutions.

“With its established international expertise and best practices in digital operations, Capgemini was ideally suited to accompany F.I.L.A. in its business and technology transformation journey. Thanks to our Drawing New Attitude project, we have been able to equip ourselves with a common governance model, unifying both procedures and the management of company processes in our various plants,” said Emanuele Messina, Chief Information Officer, F.I.L.A Group. “Furthermore, this led to the definition of a single control and profitability analysis model that delivered better visibility of the value chain, a key factor in supporting the creation of an international distribution hub.”

 “Combining our deep knowledge in manufacturing and SAP S/4HANA, Capgemini was able to contribute to F.I.L.A.’s transformation journey by addressing the complexity of their business and translating their desired approach into architectural future-ready solutions. Designed to optimize their distribution model and reshape their processes F.I.L.A.’s new unified platform and approach has transformed a set of disparate local companies into a single, global entity,” said Eraldo Federici, Manufacturing and CPR Director, Capgemini Business Unit in Italy.