SACMA : Manufacturing with style
19/09/2016 Located 15km north of Milan is a stylish, modern and
market-leading manufacturing operation that contains the technology and
experience of SACMA Group – developed over 75 years to provide customers with
‘Winning Technologies’.
Established
by a young engineer by the name of Valerio Rampezzotti, the family based
company has developed by following a clear and focused corporate philosophy:
‘You and us: Together’.
“SACMA
is a company made of people that share ideas, values and aspirations,” explains
Giancarlo Rampezzotti, president at SACMA Group and son of Valerio. “Without
the commitment of our employees, and their loyalty to the company, we would not
have achieved these results and we would not be able to unconditionally
guarantee the absolute satisfaction of our customers.” This philosophy is
clearly adopted by Valeriano Rampezzotti emphasing the third generation of the
family as Vice President.
From the minimalistic reception to the highly systemised and
automated modular production area, it is clear from visiting SACMA’s Limbiate
headquarters that this is no ordinary machine building company. Instead it is
an ultra modern and streamlined operation that has taken fastener machine
building to the next level – whilst adding a certain Italian style.
For instance, the company has an ecology project that
focuses on the importance of environmental resources. It has an array of solar
panels on its factory roof that act as a solar energy system – providing a
daily energy output that helps to reduce CO2 emissions. SACMA’s commitment to
the environment is also underlined by the construction of a complete recycling
system under the factory to ensure the water is constantly cleaned and re-used.
This helps to keep the machines very clean and also helps extends the tool life.
A key factor in SACMA’s dominance within the market is that
it doesn’t just make one machine at a time; it looks to make up to ten machines
over six production lines, all focused on different sized machines and all
worked on simultaneously. To help simplify the production process SACMA uses a
modular system for all of its machines. This means the core and components of
every machine are identical - only the size of the frame is different according
to the necessary dimensions and the number of heading station.
SACMA
implemented the modular system to make sure it is able to regularly produce the
number of machines required and to make the production process as efficient as
possible. By having inter-changeability of the parts it guarantees easy
sourcing and effective production lines, as well as guaranteed quality.
Operators can also work on different machines at the same time, with individual
teams focusing on different sections - hydraulic system, electronics or
assembly.
SACMA is
able to operate the modular system thanks to it keeping 100% of parts available
in stock – including large parts and spare parts from all of its suppliers,
such as the electronic systems. Existing customers benefit from this spare part
availability, although due to the reliability of the machines only 7% of
SACMA’s sales are for spare parts, with the remaining 93% coming from new
machines.
SACMA puts this small percentage of spare parts sales down
to its very conservative and prudent approach to introducing new technology.
The company makes sure all new technology/processes are of the very highest
quality and reliability. It is not productive to make a prototype and send it
to a company for 12 – 18 months to see if it will work. That is why it is
essential the machines are reliable and produce high-quality products straight
away - something SACMA customers have come to rely on.
To guarantee consistent quality SACMA goes through a
constant process of investing in advanced, automated machining – so that it is
using the latest technology available and ensuring the most efficient
production processes. Another important factor is SACMA’s R&D department,
which is continuously looking to innovate and introduce new machinery. Recent
examples of SACMA’s R&D success include the SP670 – a six die cold former
that features hydraulic unclamping of the individual finger timing cams, which
can be adjusted automatically.
There is also the range of warm formers for a variety of
industries including aerospace. SACMA originally made warm formers 30 years ago
and from this experience it restarted the process 15 years ago. After a lot of
research by the experienced R&D team the company created a warm former with
a new induction system, which is completely integrated. This technology has
become very interesting for the automotive market – especially the tier
manufacturers of turbochargers and braking systems.
In addition to new machines, SACMA also works with customers
on customising machines to meet specific requirement. At the moment the R&D
team is working on machines with a process to re-feed parts that have already
been formed. The fastener manufacturing sector continues to develop more and
more complex and difficult to form parts. That has meant growth of multi-die
station cold formers. However, after a piece of wire has been formed over six
stations the material’s ductility and workability has decreased, but in some
cases the part is still not finished. Customers prefer to avoid the additional
time and expense of secondary operations, which is why SACMA has introduced a
system to re-feed the parts after recovery of workability by annealing, so the
former can complete production.
Developing
and supplying machines that precisely meet the demanding expectations of global
customers is the key to SACMA’s success. Customers are no longer investing to
increase capacity, but are focusing on forming complex parts that provide
stronger profitability and differentiate them from low-cost producers of volume
standard parts. This means the R&D team is very busy with new projects that
are unique and are acting as consultants with the customers to explore what is
possible. SACMA also makes sure it is still offering the solutions for its
existing customers who are using SACMA machines that are 20 – 30 years old.
SACMA reports that European machine demand is softening
compared to 2015 – especially in Germany. However, a very positive market at
the moment is the USA, where the Group sold 23 machines in 2015 – a credit to
the capabilities of SACMA technologies and the company’s highly responsive
service and lead-time. . Another positive market is Eastern Europe, including
the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland where customers are looking to increase
the quality of the products they are producing. SACMA has also invested strongly
in China and India where its customers are supplying the automotive tier 1
market and therefore need fast, reliable and accurate machines. Another
interesting markets are the Japan and Canadian markets where the Group it is
introducing the SACMA brand.
In all
these markets SACMA is finding that customers demand reliable, efficient
machines, which can consistently produce high-quality products. The cold
forming manufacturing faces a shortage of skilled operators, which means
customers need machines that are easy to set up and operate. That is why SACMA
supplies machines that include the latest electronic technology like
servomotors, linear motors to help set up and run the machines – meaning that
less experienced operators can quickly learn the machines and reliably produce
high-quality products.
Thanks
to its continuous investment; commitment to high technology manufacturing
processes; constant advances in machine technology and capability – based on
closely understanding the requirements of its customers; and the passion and
drive of its employees; SACMA is one of the leading companies within the
industry and will continue to lead the way whilst introducing new machines and
ideas that provide real solutions to customers’ wishes.
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