Companies

FAIST Voices: meet ISI

Feb 24, 2026 Portugal

With sustainability in its core, ISI, a Portuguese manufacturer specialised in injected soles, aims to accelerate digitalisation and artificial intelligence use under the FAIST consortium

FAIST is a multi-partner project with more than 40 actors across manufacturing, technology and research, designed to push the footwear and leather goods sector into a more digital, efficient and competitive era. It runs from June 2022 to June 2026 with approximately 50 million euros of investment.

ISI in focus

This week, we feature ISI, a Portuguese manufacturer specialising in injected soles. The project began in 1997, and today the group employs around 130 people across multiple companies. ISI operates in an integrated manner, encompassing design, modelling, prototyping, production, finishing, and delivery, and showcases collections at renowned trade shows, such as Lineapelle and Futurmoda.

Sustainability

ISI has sustainability as a core factor for the company. Vitor Mendes, Manager at ISI, shares that injected soles have many advantages, including “a faster production cycle, which consumes less energy” and that “all the primary materials are recyclable”.

In addition, Mendes states that ISI anchors its circular strategy in recognised standards, as the firm is certified to ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) 14001, 9001 and RCS (Recycled Claim Standard).

The goal is “zero waste”, in which production scraps and defects are recovered, micronised (for instance, from streams such as discarded tennis balls) and re-incorporated into new compounds, turning residues into inputs and reducing landfill while standardising material quality for soles.

Under the FAIST

The “zero-residue sole” initiative develops new soles by reintroducing production waste into the material mix, including leftovers from uppers, micro-scraps, neolite and agglomerates. These streams are ground using methods suited to each material and then blended with other inputs to produce the final sole compound.

By achieving a high incorporation rate across a wide range of waste types, the “zero-residue sole” project reduces environmental impact and supports a circular approach, turning residues into functional components as part of a broader move towards near-zero-waste manufacturing.

FAIST is also helping ISI accelerate digitalisation, AI-enabled (Artificial Intelligence) planning and environmental performance tracking. The company is deploying tools to monitor CO₂ (Carbon Dioxide) per pair and to connect planning with shop-floor signals in real time. ISI’s main technology partner is Olifel, a software company part of the consortium.

AI-assisted scheduling and client–supplier communication layers are being introduced to quickly generate scenarios and issue alerts for deviations, while automated compounding and formulation reduce manual interventions. The expectation is a quieter, safer and more stable factory environment with faster response to customer orders.

FAIST Outcomes

Leveraging Olifel’s Visualgest web tool, qualitative gains already include improved ergonomics and more stable plant conditions. As implementation advances, ISI aims to demonstrate a nearly 90% reduction in planning cycle time, fewer errors in warehousing and picking, reduced energy consumption per pair, and lower scrap and rework.

Indicative KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) include schedule adherence (aiming to almost double current levels), throughput per line, picking accuracy, and material and energy intensity.

Visualgest by Olifel

More specifically, Visualgest (see figure below) is an integrated production-management module for the industry that turns factory data into proactive, AI-assisted schedules. It centralises workflows, allocates resources in real time, and adjusts plans dynamically as orders, capacity, or materials change.

Managers gain predictive insights and fine-grained control, reducing interruptions, improving efficiency and aligning production with available resources for smarter, more reliable operations. The tool has 5 different modules.

1) Sample Tracking. Module for managing the lifecycle of new samples from conception to production approval. A Kanban-style interface organises stages such as Prototype, Sample, Industrialisation and Production, giving sales and development teams transparent, real-time visibility of each sample in progress or already sold.

2) Macro Planning. The primary control panel for factory-wide capacity. Provides a weekly (or custom period) view of workload by production line, helping to distribute tasks, spot utilisation peaks and balance capacity across lines.

3) Workstation Planning. Drills the plan down to the operational level. Converts the macro plan into detailed orders per machine, workstation, or workstation group, clarifying priorities, sequences and allocated times for each resource.

4) Gantt Planning. A time-based view of operations showing dependencies, durations and milestones along the schedule. Supports feasibility checks of the weekly plan and rapid reprogramming when deviations occur.

5) Production Recording (Shop Floor). On-station interface (touchscreens/tablets) for real-time capture of production events. It records starts, stops, quantities and incidents, feeding performance indicators and enabling immediate corrective actions in planning.