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Special Report
World Machine Tool Review
After IMTS this fall, Chris Koepfer visited the Italian machine tool show and some of that country's most prominent builders. Here is his report:
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| Italy—
Ready, Set, Gone! Italy exports 60 percent of its machine tool production. Theirs is a formula for success based on supplier cooperation, pragmatic decentralization and engineered solutions. Here are examples of some key players in the fourth largest machine tool producing nation. |
It was a pretty rosy picture at the Italian Machine Tool Show (BiMU) held last fall in Milan. Like IMTS that preceded it, the Italian international show broke records for attendance and exhibitor participation.
Business is good for the Italians especially in the international marketplace. Growth is coming from exports, chiefly to a revitalized Europe and to the U.S.A. While the Italian machine tool industry has always had a foot in the U.S. market, they're learning how to better participate in this market. Pragmatic as the Italians tend to be, they understand that simply making a good machine tool is no longer sufficient to ensure doing business in the United States.
Most of the builders we talked to emphasize that application engineering and service presence are keys to the American market. Most of the builders enjoying success in the States have moved their own personnel here and most have set up relationships with good distribution channels.
An Industrial Model
With the diversity and technology displayed at their national machine tool show, it's no wonder that Italy's machine tool industry is succeeding in the global market. They have the products and the technology. They've also made significant investment in the infrastructure for product and technical support throughout the world.
Italy's machine tool industry is made up of many small companies. To make a bigger market impact than their respective size might warrant, most of the country's builders operate using what Flavio Radice, president of UCIMU (Italy's machine tool trade association), describes as an Italian industrial model.
Consider that of the 450 companies engaged in machine tool manufacture in Italy, more than 70 percent employ less than 50 people each. Compare that to Germany—ranked number two in the world for machine tool production—which has 320 companies engaged in the business with an average of 200 employees each.
The industrial model that Mr. Radice speaks of gives Italy its edge. The system has developed to take advantage of Italian industry's geographic proximity.
Most of Italy's machine tool industry is in the north, in and around Milan. Most of the suppliers to the industry are likewise located in this part of the country. Rather than make non-proprietary components such as toolchangers or electrical cabinets, the builders buy these from suppliers who specialize in them.
Serving several builders enables the suppliers to make components in economical lot quantities, which lowers unit cost to the builders. As a result, the builders have more resource to devote to application solutions within each company's market niche. Therefore, these companies can have a bigger market impact than their respective size would dictate.
| Four To Watch | |||||||||
| The U.S. manufacturing market is not new for many Italian machine tool builders. While in Italy, we were able to visit four machine tool builders, all of whom have been successful in the States. While each company is looking at different manufacturing segments, they all appreciate that application solutions are the keys that unlock each market.
Gital—On Their Own
One of Italy's larger builders, Gital, manufactures a line of multi-spindle lathes. Formerly the company was part of the German lathe maker Gildemeister and was known as Gildemeister Italiana. The brand name Gital reflects this new identity. In 1997 a small group of investors purchased Gital from the German parent, establishing the company as an independent Italian builder. Last year, Gital purchased another Italian lathe builder, Graziano. This acquisition gave Gital a line of two-axis horizontal turning centers to complement their multi-spindles. One of Gital's newest offerings is a three-spindle CNC turning machine called the GM 67. It has a 67mm through-hole and handles bar stock up to 65mm. Each spindle is individually driven so optimum turning speeds can be programmed. The machine handles 11 axes of motion including four rotary and seven linear. Live tooling and a subspindle for back turning are all available on this machine. Gital is represented in the U.S. by DMG America, Inc. They can be reached at (847) 781-0277. Mandelli—Roaring Back One of Italy's best-known machine tool brand names, Mandelli, introduced its newest machining center at the show. Called Thunder 500, the machine represents just how far this company has come in just a few short years.
Mandelli's reputation is based on building high end machining centers and flexible manufacturing cells and systems. It has successful installations around the world. After reaching a high point in the mid 1980s, the company fell on hard financial times. Today the company is reorganized, re-capitalized and growing under the leadership of managing director Andrea Mattarelli. The new machine is a horizontal configuration with 500mm pallets. This is a relatively small machine compared with other standard Mandelli machines, which can be configured with pallets over 1,000mm. The new machine is designed to cut aluminum and ferrous materials. The 31kW spindle can generate up to 14,000 rpm for cutting aluminum. Yet, at 200Nm, it has sufficient torque for steel and cast iron. The machine sits on a three-point structure that simplifies installation. It can be configured as a stand-alone two-pallet cell, or as part of a multi-pallet delivery system. Mandelli is represented in the U.S. by IMTA and can be reached at (815) 968-1500. Competing Against Yourself? As a builder of CNCs for OEM consumption, it is generally considered bad form to build machine tools and begin to compete with your own customers. High-speed control builder, Fidia, is doing just that. At the Italian machine tool show, they demonstrated several models of the company's growing Digit line of high speed machining centers. Fidia's president, Dr. Giuseppe Morfino, sees development of the machine tool line as a natural progression of CNC manufacture. Making high performance machine tools helps the company make better high performance CNCs. Fidia also manufactures a CAM package for high speed machining that ties together the control and the machine tool for high speed milling of molds and dies. In spite of the apparent conflict, Fidia does good business in its CNCs. The company has also seen increased acceptance of the Digit line of machining centers. The company has several installations up and running in the United States. Dayton Machine Tool is the domestic importer for Fidia. Dayton Machine Tool can be reached at (937) 224-8528. Mecof—Making Molds And Dies Fast
Several key trends have evolved in recent years in the mold and die industry. Among those is the need for faster spindle speeds coupled with high accuracy, high-speed axis feeds. Mecof has developed a line of milling machines that are designed to fulfill these requirements. Among their offerings are multifunctional machines for five-axis profiling, milling machines with moving table and fixed table, milling and boring machines with ram and moving column. Universal heads are available on most of these machines. Designs include bridge-types and column-types designed to handle medium to large workpieces. During the show, the company demonstrated 11 machines at an open house held at the factory in Belforte. Mecof's products were represented by three lines: Unica moving table machines for high speed milling, Agile floor-type larger work volume machines and Dynamill bridge or gantry style machines. Mecof sends 15 percent of its production to North America. In the U.S. they are represented by Dynamic Machine and can be reached at (414) 521-1100. | |||||||||
