Companies are not always (well) prepared to exhibit their product development processes. The Italian Asservimenti Presse has instead decided to open the doors of its factory and to show how they design and manufacture plants and lines for the press automation and the sheet metal working
The choice of a supplier depends on several factors that from time to time can become an important discriminant. All that to reach a decisional phase in which not only economic or technical evaluations are generally taken into account. Concerning this, we generally highly appreciate the possibility of seeing from close-up how the supplier itself carries out its activities, of which technologies it avails itself, with what human resources it operates and so on. In this context Asservimenti Presse, renowned manufacturer of plants for the press automation (decoilers, straighteners, electronic feeders) and of complete plants for the sheet metal working, has recently opened the doors of its productive unit at Massalengo (LO), offering sector players the possibility of getting in touch with the product development process directly.
«An open house – explains Ottavio Albini – meant not as presentation event but in its widest sense, that is to say as interesting opportunity to see how some of our machines are manufactured».
More in detail, during the event to which we were invited, it was possible to see four cutting-edge solutions, of which two standard and two special, with different work progress.
Utmost productivity for big thicknesses, too
The feeding lines designed by Asservimenti Presse are generally manufactured in two typologies: conventional lines, composed by 3 machines (decoiler, straightener and feeder) used for high-speed presses (100 -300 strokes/min) or for delicate materials (stainless steel, pre-painted and so on); compact lines formed by simple or double decoilers or electronic feeder-straightener units with maximum thickness of 17 mm and width from 200 to 2,000 mm, equipped with automatic strip insertion system; the latter skilfully solve the press feeding problem in very narrow spaces.
«The electronic straightener-feeders – adds Mr Albini – thanks to the hydraulic head that allows the roll cleaning and facilitates the material insertion and the strip release for the pilot centring, represent the ideal solution for big thicknesses».
Among the lines under construction and on show during the open house, it stands out a standard solution for the press automation provided with double decoiler (granting the highest rapidity in the coil change), straightener and feeder up to 400 mm for 5 mm of thickness.
It is instead conceived for big thicknesses (from 6 to 12 mm) the other line under construction, that is to say a plant intended for automating a 2,000 t hydraulic press, equipped with 12- ton decoiler, insertion system, shears, welding system as well as straightener, feeder and drawing group.
«The drawing group – underlines Mr Albini – approaches the die and, limiting scrap, avoids the criticalities that would occur with this type of thickness when the coil ends».
For high-strength and stainless steels
The third plant under construction is instead composed by a 20-t decoiler, by a straightener-feeder and it is intended for the machining of high-strength steels in automotive ambit, reason for which it has been equipped with a high number of rolls to grant process quality for coils with maximum width of 1,500 mm in thicknesses that reach 4 mm..
Particular and interesting is also the fourth plant on show, composed by decoiler, straightener and feeder, followed by a punching group and successive press.
«In this case – further explains Mr Albini – it is a highly versatile plant for shearing workshops, intended for the machining of stainless steel elements for industrial refrigerators up to 400 mm and 3 mm of thickness».
The versatility is assured by the presence of the punching group equipping the press to execute holes and/or markings outside the standards, not implementable with dies in volume manufacturing.
«In other words – continues Mr Albini – an operational group able to manage at best customers’ requirements not complying with standards, without affecting performances and productivity».
If we consider both standard and special systems, ranging from simple solutions to even very complex lines characterized by high automation, Asservimenti Presse can boast over 3,000 plants installed worldwide. A sector experience consolidated by over thirty years of activity with a development fully in-house managed.
«A clear competitive advantage – ends Mr Albini – that allows us to work in strict collaboration with our customers’ technical offices and to propose specific solutions. Reliable high added value automation solutions and not mere supplies».
Bigger and bigger size process lines, able to machine big thicknesses of high-strength materials just like those presented in these pages and on show during the open house, event lasted about ten days with the participation of a large number of customers and potential clients coming from Italy and all over the world.
The app that weighs and measures your coil
It is called Coil Weight Calculator and it is available for both Android and iOs systems. We are talking about a small but useful application developed by Asservimenti Presse to make the calculation of some data concerning the coil simple and practical. User-friendly and effective, after choosing the material type (Carbon steel, cobalt steel, 5% Nickel steel, stainless steel, aluminium and copper), it is sufficient to input the external and internal diameter, the width and the thickness of the material, the thickness, the internal and external diameter of the coil to obtain automatically its weight in kg and the length in metres of the material.
