... who on the 2nd of December 1919, registered Società Anonima Cooperativa Meccanici Imola (SACMI) at the office of the local notary. The idea was to run one or more repair workshops as commercial ventures. At the same time, each employee’s salary was, as far as possible, to be in direct proportion with the work done by the employee.
Making machines and complete factories, SACMI is now an international group of 80 companies and 3,500 employees. Customers include the ceramic, packaging, food preparation and plastic moulding industries. With a market share of 50 percent, SACMI is the world leader in machines for the ceramic industry. The group also has a number of other leading brands such as Carle & Montanari (manufacturer of machines for making and wrapping chocolate).
SACMI is still a cooperative where, presently, 330 of the employees (at different levels of the company) are shareholders. A share can only be acquired through many years of assiduous work in the company. Furthermore, in line with the principle “to each according to his work”, membership in the cooperative ceases immediately on the cessation of employment. Nevertheless, as SACMI has a well developed bonus system, employees who have not yet qualified for a share do not lose all stake in any profits.
The main facility has a workforce of a little over 1,000 and is still in Imola, just outside Bologna. Operations, led by Giacomo Rondinini, here are split into two main groups – large machines (e.g. 7500-tonne presses for the ceramic industry) and precision machines for packaging industry.
Sergio Sasdelli: “We have absolute faith in the Macro system.”
One of Imola’s departments is the climate-controlled toolshop where 55 people work a three-shift system. Besides producing complete tools, they also make prototypes and carry out testing for the whole of the SACMI group.
Though it is comparatively new, the collaboration between SACMI and System 3R is now in its second decade. Giacomo Rondinini relates: “In the early 1990’s, we started developing ever more complex machinery and, for example, now supply compression moulding machines with up to 64 stations. The increasing complexity placed higher demands in respect of repetition accuracy and stability in the manufacture of the constituent tools.”
“To ensure the desired precision, the pallet system we then used required the constant taking of measurements between the various steps in the process chain. This methodology was extremely time-consuming and resulted in poor productivity. Thus, we began looking for a pallet system that could carry workpieces throughout the entire process with no intermediate taking of measurements and aligning – a true reference system. We found System 3R’s Macro system.”
A different setup – the electrodes on the machine table and the workpiece on the machine spindle.
Showing that it was possible to produce parts with a repeat accuracy of within 0.001 mm, the first test runs decided the matter. Since then, the entirety of SACMI’s impressive array of machines has been equipped with the Macro system – die-sinking EDM machines from Charmilles, Makino and Sodick, milling machines from Yasda, Röders and Chiron and a number of grinding machines.
SACMI’s machines for the compression moulding of capsules are being manufactured in an ever increasing number, currently 120 a year. The reason is the expanding numbers of complete production lines being delivered to customers worldwide.
An unbroken flow of thousands of copper electrodes streams through the Imola toolshop every year.
In such facilities, compression moulding is a considerably better option than injection moulding. Shaped, cut clean and equipped with sealing, a compression moulded capsule leaves its machine on a conveyor belt that takes it to the next station in the production line. The advantages of compression moulding over injection moulding include improved quality, superior finishes and better control of the workflow.
A further significant advantage of compression moulding is the large energy saving in the process itself – moulding takes place at a lower temperature than in injection. Compression moulding thus is a much more environment-friendly process.
The toolshop’s die-sinking EDM machines are busy as bees – 100,000 burn hours a year is a truly impressive figure. It was decided that the machines should be set up in an unorthodox manner. Six Macro chucks on each machine table, the electrodes mounted in the chucks and the workpiece on the machine spindle!
Giacomo Rondinini: “Precision, stability and increased productivity. Macro gave us what we wanted.”
Toolshop manager Sergio Sasdelli: “We go through 3,000 to 4,000 copper electrodes a year. This requires an unbroken flow of newly produced electrodes with no time-consuming breaks for constant control measurements. Of course, this demands enormous faith in the reference system that carries each electrode through the manufacture and EDM processes. At SACMI, we have absolute faith in Macro!”
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