Interviews with machine tool manufacturers and related technologies

Machine tools and production systems are at the heart of the BI-MU exhibition. The testimonies, collected here, of some of the exhibitors who have already joined the event, give the measure of the great variety of the offer that will be exposed in the pavilions of the exhibition representing all the segments that make up this world.

Interviews with the manufacturers

Giuseppe Bucci, Export Sales Department, ROSA

“…since 1964, we have been designing and manufacturing grinding machines for flat surfaces and profiles. As real machine manufacturers in all respects, we offer our customers our extensive experience, constant reliability and high expertise. In times of uncertainty, being able to count on a renowned and reliable supplier who carries out all the production processes in-house and autonomously, is a fundamental point of reference. This awareness is a great edge for us. A competitive advantage that will accompany us in our exhibition at 33.BI-MU. After all, as usual and in particular in periods of uncertainty, trade fairs are essential for our promotion and we are sure that the next edition of BI-MU will offer us many benefits. We are ready to meet the visitors of the trade show and exchange views with them in person again. At our stand, they will have the opportunity to see first-hand our grinding machines and discover our latest technological trends. Presently, despite the high-tension context, we keep on experiencing a dynamic demand both in the Italian and in foreign markets. For this reason, we are very optimistic about our participation in the exhibition, feeling confident that the month of October will be the ideal period for customers to finalise already matured projects and plan new investments for 2023. At our stand, the spotlight will be on our medium-small and standard machines – with a particular focus on a linear-motor application to a longitudinal table motion created by Rosa already in 2003 for creep-feed grinding operations or for longitudinal-axis interpolation. In the limelight, there will also be our customisation solutions for large-sized machines, for which customers more and more often require to integrate new devices and functions…”

Paolo Casazza, Managing Director, HURCO ITALIA

“…as Italian branch of Hurco Companies – the American multinational Group, which designs and manufactures machining centres, lathes, numerical controls and application software for the mechanical industry worldwide – we deal with promotion, sales and customer assistance all over Italy. All our machines are entirely designed and manufactured by our company, from their mechanical structures to CNC. Our specific know-how enables us to offer specialist technical services and a highly qualified assistance. In addition, thanks to our Hurco proprietary CNC – characterised by an incomparable facility, speed and versatility of use by the control panel beside the machine – we propose programming solutions easily accessible and usable by all operators, particularly favourable for all those enterprises that carry out high-mix single-piece or small-batch manufacturing. In this way, we simplify our customers’ recruitment of machine operators, who do not necessarily have to be highly qualified. After our record-breaking order collection at the end of 2021, we are sure that, despite the difficulties of the sector related to the increased costs of energy, raw materials and components and consequent, delayed deliveries to customers, even in 2022, we will achieve good results. We are confident that we will establish many new contacts at 33.BI-MU. Thanks to the improvement of the public health situation, we expect a large attendance of visitors, as well of exhibiting companies. The trade show will be an unmissable event and a valuable opportunity to have a finger on the pulse of the market. At our stand, we will present a new function of our numerical control, which allows to programme three-dimensional surfaces directly from the control panel beside the machine. We will also show new machine-tending systems, offering affordable, compact and fast solutions that can be easily installed…”

Christian Colombo, Ceo, FICEP

“…presently, we are collecting a large number of requests – the highest ever registered – for the forging and metalwork structural construction sectors. Hoping that this moment will continue and will not be interrupted by exceptional events, we have great expectations for our participation in 33.BI-MU, where we will give high visibility to these two sectors, with specific emphasis on our forging department. At the exhibition, we will show many solutions for various areas of application and we will highlight all the capability of our robotised production lines. Therefore, we hope that the extensive activity in the market and the strong dynamic demand experienced over the first months of the year will accompany us throughout 2022. In addition, also thanks to the confirmed incentives 4.0, the positive trend should go on even after 2022. The trade show will take place in a moment of big relaunch for the market and the Italian manufacturers attending 33.BI-MU will be able to take advantage of this. We also are confident about the future: we are experiencing a lot of “effervescence” in Europe, in North America, in some countries of Central and Southern America, in the Middle East, in Africa, in India and in the Far East countries. With such a receptive demand and the investments we are making, we should obtain a 30% increase in our production capacity in short/mid-term. We want to think positively and thus, always unless there are unexpected, international events, we expect that FICEP will achieve positive results not only in 2022, but also in the years to come…”

Andrea Gennuso, Division Manager Machine tools division, GROB

“…a multinational, German corporation managed by the fourth generation of the Grob family, the company has always manufactured 5-axis machining centres and has five factories. Over the last few years, in order to be always innovative and to expand our product offering into new sectors of reference, we have integrated our proposal with new products, such as 4-axis machining centres and, more recently, with additive-manufacturing solutions. Our evolution will be well highlighted by the products we will display at 33.BI-MU. Indeed, at our stand, we will feature our G350, a machining centre offering extreme flexibility and multiple levels of automation, which make it ideal for various uses – from high-volume production to small-series machining. We will also present an innovative liquid-metal 3D-printing machine, with a maximum printing volume of 300x300x300 mm3. Now, the market is again in full swing and we observe a great desire for novelty among the operators of the sector. That is why we have decided to exhibit at BI-MU and we are confident that we will have interesting results. The trade show will certainly offer plenty of proposals and innovations: therefore, it will be able to attract a wide audience. Our goal is to obtain many new contacts and improve our visibility even abroad, thanks to the international appeal of BI-MU. At the exhibition, we will show ourselves as a solid but flexible enterprise, capable of becoming a point of reference and a guide for our customers. After all, the sector is currently characterised by a lively demand, but also by many uncertainties regarding the future. This makes the participation in 33.BI-MU even more valuable: all of us, the attending operators, will have the opportunity to receive clear feedback on the trend of the sector’s market and a preview concerning the main investment trends of next year…”

Andreas Kuehl, General Manager, SCHUNK INTEC ITALIA

“…a company driven by strong innovation and pioneering spirit, Schunk stands out in the sector of clamping equipment thanks to its ideas and solutions that have become a point of reference worldwide. Our goal is to maximise efficiency and productivity of our customers’ machine tools through intelligent, flexible, modular, high-performance technological innovations. BI-MU is an important occasion for us. As a meeting place for the operators and professionals of the sector, the exhibition offers the opportunity to show the Italian market our products of excellence. Our expectations regarding the next edition can only be positive – considering the constant growth trend of the market started in 2021 and the improvement of the public health situation – and we are sure that the event will maintain its quality standard. Our stand display will principally be focused on clamping technology and gripping systems, with particular attention to machine-tool tending and automation, offering a presentation of our highlights dedicated to a more sustainable, flexible and interconnected production – in line with the new requirements of the market. Besides our new products that we cannot yet reveal, we will present our latest technologies launched on the market, such as iTENDO2, the intelligent toolholder, capable of detecting possible process malfunctions through its sensor; ROTA THW3, low-maintenance self-centring, watertight chucks with quick-change jaw system and TANDEM3, the new generation of automatic clamping force blocks, with sophisticated technical features and sensors that are specifically studied for automation, making it ideal for machine-tending with machining centres…”

Davide Lavazza, Sales Manager, PIETRO CARNAGHI

“…established in 1922, this year the company celebrates its hundred years of activity in the machine tool sector. This achievement makes us very proud and proves our soundness and strong entrepreneurial resolution. Always managed in a forward-thinking way and with an eye to the future, our company keeps affirming its innovative spirit and is today a point of reference in the sector. Our significant experience is our strength, which allows us to offer our customers specific solutions – for many fields of application – as well as constant support, not only as simple suppliers, but also as real partners. We have high expectations regarding our participation in 33.BI-MU! Indeed, the exhibition will be a perfect occasion to assert our presence in the market and show our complete technological product offering. Moreover, this is year the market is extremely effervescent and dynamic, both in Italy and abroad. Therefore, we are sure that we will meet visitors ready to invest. We are observing a lot of activity in the energy sector – in particular, in the sector of clean energy, mainly driven by investments in the field of wind energy, which also has a positive impact on the forging segment. We should also mention the sector of oil and gas, which had remained stationary for some years. We feel confident that the enthusiasm we have been registering for many months will continue for the whole year 2022. The month of October will thus be the ideal period for 33.BI-MU to take place. Considering this framework, we hope that the exhibition will contribute to extending the positive trend experienced in the sector since 2021…”

Marco Rocco, Application Engineer – Mitsubishi Materials, MMC ITALIA

“…As the Italian branch of the Japanese Group Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, our company offers promotional, commercial and technical-assistance services throughout Italy. Our product portfolio, which includes a wide range of turning, milling and drilling tools, is highly innovative and boasts a high quality standard. We develop maximum-efficiency solutions, with customised proposals for our customers. In particular, thanks to our Technical and MTB-OPS Departments, we offer services concerning the management of product application – such as preliminary testing and direct assistance – as well as specific consulting services to assist customers in all their decision-making steps – such as in-depth studies on production cycles and creation of turnkey packages for all requirements. Our production site in Japan launches new products on the market twice a year, in April and in October respectively. For this reason, the date positioning of 33.BI-MU will make the exhibition an ideal occasion to present all our innovative proposals of our Autumn Package 2022. In particular, we will exhibit products for the Automotive and Aerospace Industries and the Medical and the Oil and Gas sectors. We are sure that, after the years marked by the pandemic, 33.BI-MU will have a large attendance and will offer us the opportunity to meet numerous operators of the sector– final customers, as well as distributors – interested in discovering our product offering. We cannot miss this appointment with 33.BI-MU: our participation in the trade show will strengthen our presence and visibility in the Italian market. Indeed, we expect to meet our well-established customers in person, but also to create new contacts. Therefore, we think that the exhibition will be an unmissable showcase to highlight our constant growth…”

Alessandro Verduci, Sales Manager, BRETON

“…Breton has been working in the market for almost 60 years, specialising in the design and production of high-speed vertical machining centres. Thanks to a remarkable and constant growth, today the company is able to operate worldwide through its numerous offices in the major foreign markets, which are dedicated to commercial services and to an active, efficient technical assistance. By a continuous search for ever-new solutions and thanks to considerable investments, we work with determination to be always technologically a step ahead, thus offering our customers highly innovative products. Considering the wide local proposal of trade fairs focused on mechanics, again we chose to participate in BI-MU – a fixture for us – because it represents the Italian exhibition of reference for the sector and it is the only one capable of proposing a comprehensive and accurate overview of the market trend. This trade show has always been visited by a highly qualified public, including many of our customers. In addition, the event is also chosen by our main competitors to present their novelties. At 33.BI-MU, we will show all our renewed range of products, with specific attention to our innovative range of 3D-printers and our new monoblock machining centre, Hawx, the key product spotlighted at our stand: intuitive to operate and capable of meeting all customers’ needs, thanks to its easy installation, transport and maintenance. We are optimistic about our participation in the exhibition, because, although the problems due to the current socio-political context are causing a certain slowdown in the investments of operators in our sector, we expect an improvement in this scenario in the next months, hopefully to the benefit of the trade show in October…”