Over 2500 visitors, including customers and distributors from all five continents, were welcomed at the event which took place from January 25th-27th at the SCM Rimini headquarters. It was the first such event to be dedicated to the new woodworking industry trends in the digital age – visitors were most curious to see SCM’s Digital Hub and all the latest developments in production technology.
Industry professionals arrived at the SCM headquarters in Rimini from all over Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America. From January 25th-27th more than ,500 visitors attended the SCM Digital Days, the Italian giant’s 2018 open house. Record numbers that confirm once again the Group’s world leadership position among providers of secondary woodworking solutions.
The event focused on new production technologies that are based on digital developments and Industry 4.0 concepts, which companies in our industry have been adopting in recent years.
Most popular with visitors were; the SCM Technology Centre, where more than fifty operating solutions were on display, and the Digital Hub, the event’s true and proper command centre, offering live demonstration of the latest developments in digital, smart, connected and integrated production processes.
Hundreds of industry professionals flocked to the Hub to experience for themselves the immersive augmented reality wearing the SCM-designed smart glasses, which allows company service technicians to offer remote and interactive assistance to customers.
A thousand visitors attended demonstrations of SCM software applications (in Italian, English and German). And a preview of an IoT (Internet of Things) network was a major success during this three-day event among representatives of companies that seek to adopt the Factory 4.0 principles.
Work simple. Work digital
The ‘Work Simple. Work Digital’ slogan was the event’s catchphrase, its underlying concept and the common thread in the entire display of a series of technological and digital innovations, which had been developed in order to make daily work of industry professionals simpler and easier, all based on a high level of expertise and know-how.
Indeed, the vision that has inspired and driven SCM has always been focused on tying technical development to the practical needs of its end users through a systemic study and intent listening to their real situations and needs. And today, large factories as well as small workshops seek to employ optimised custom integrated production lines, that is, to meet the individual requirements of each task without sacrificing the advantages of industrial production.
All these concepts make up the driving force behind SCM’s technological innovations, its development of digital instruments which make every production phase ever more customisable.
The Maestro Digital Systems are an SCM project that is a prime example of this intent. It embraces all the latest woodworking tools and digital developments.
“The Digital Days were an opportunity to experience live and first-hand the true benefits offered by the Maestro Digital Systems,” says Luigi De Vito, SCM Wood Division and Group sales and marketing director.
“It is an ambitious project. A sign of the times, certainly, but also of a corporate commitment and spirit, that is of SCM, which has always been at the service of each and every woodworking operator and followed the real needs of the target market. Change is underway.
“And SCM is dictating its pace, having presented to thousands of visitors who attended this event machines and applications that had been designed to employ all the latest technological trends and anticipate future ones, sharing the new arguments that drive the current evolution of our industry and turn them into common assets.”
In the Digital Hub, the stand set up at the centre of the SCM Technology Centre, visitors could attend live demonstrations of the new Maestro Digital Systems platform and instruments: Eye-M, the Maestro eye on the world, is the next-generation multifunction and multi-touch operator panel, with a 21.5in screen, which introduces the mobile-device feel and approach to the industrial production environment; Maestro Smartech, the innovative remote assistance and maintenance system which employs augmented reality glasses so you can have an SCM technician at your side while experimenting with the future wearable technology; Maestro Suite, the powerful software collection with applications for any type of machining and production processes; Maestro Xplore, a simulation system for integrated cells and lines based on the use of the Oculus 3D virtual reality viewer, a breakthrough in the quest to fully know every detail so as to be able to optimise a production programme; Maestro Datalink, the highly innovative IoT (Internet of Things) tools platform which enables the collection of machine data for later analysis.
These systems are guided by the Smart Factory concept, aiming to monitor and improve production processes in order to provide a reliable predictive maintenance, which predicts when extraordinary maintenance is required and thus minimises production idle times.
Latest innovations at The SCM Arena
The digital evolution of production systems requires new skills and the ability to follow day by day the ever-evolving industrial culture. One has to be prepared, in short, to face the new frontiers. Plenty of industrial insights were offered during the packed programme of meetings at the SCM Arena during the Digital Days: Tech Talks that focused on trends, strategies and success stories and headed by SCM experts and special guests from leading companies.
Among these, the IFT Rosenheim Institute, regarded as one of the highest technical and scientific authorities on the subject of windows, doors and façades, which led discussions centred on the Smart Home and on the future smartphone-controlled windows; Lignum Consulting, a consulting firm at the forefront of the wood and furniture industries, which described the new Industry 4.0 and the Connected Factory technological frontiers; representing SCM, Christian Terfruechte explained production methods and technology in the digital age, whereas Albin Siegert described the new challenges faced by machine producers of taller and taller wood high-rise buildings.
The most advanced machinery for customised and integrated production
On display at the SCM Technology Center were new solutions for every type of industrial production processes – from furniture and boat building to windows and doors and to wood construction – and the most reliable woodworking machinery to offer them.
A fit companion for all the various types of production processes, with their specific requirements, is the powerful Maestro Suite, a complete software collection shown at the Digital Days in its latest version with its hugely improved performance, open systems that allow all types of connection and full control over machine operations, while making operators’ work easy and intuitive. Examples include the new Optimiser for beam saws, which cuts calculation times by 80% and machining waste by 40-50%. Highly successful was also the Maestro Watch supervising system which operates independently lines of integrated cells.
SCM engineering
On display at an exclusive stand during the Digital Days were SCM systems of cells, equipment and production lines for the flexible production industry.
They were shown here with the innovative 3D virtual reality exploration system, Maestro Xplore. Practically, all customers who took part in the event at the SCM Rimini headquarters could see System 1, a high-productivity integrated line for manufacturing windows and door, processing up to seven workpieces a minute.
On this front, SCM, known for its commitment to research and development of advanced solutions, has been selected as partner by a high-tech highly demanding market in such a country as Sweden.
Machining and drilling centres
Attracting great interest during the event was the all-new SCM drilling-milling solution: the new Morbidelli M220 machining centre with a dual drilling head for simultaneous drilling of several panels, offering a considerable reduction in cycle times.
Another major attraction was ‘Five Ways to Make a Cabinet’, the best of the Morbidelli line in a live demonstration, covering the various methods for building a box. Among the models shown were those based on the All-in-One technology, such as the new Morbidelli P200 machining centre, standing out for its innovative edgebanding unit, which processes panels up to 800mm thick, and for its exclusive HE-POD suction cups, which allow the use of larger worktables thanks to alternate lifting of panels.
Solid-wood machining centres and technology
On display were also high-tech SCM solutions for the finest machining of noble solid wood, with a multitude of applications for the production of windows and doors, stairs, chairs, design objects and solid-wood furniture components.
Another attention grabber was the Balestrini line, including the Balestrini Power, a collection of highly precise, productive and flexible five-axis machining centres, equipped to meet the increasingly more demanding and diverse requirements of the woodworking industry, and the Balestrini PICO OM, the CNC tenoning, mortising, end-milling and drilling machine. Software applications play an important role also in this machine, with the Smart Pro Suite, a fast, intuitive and flexible system that allows operators to programme and manage processes also remotely.
Other machines on display included: the Accord 25 FX machining centre, for processing linear and arched window frames, with the automated MATIC worktable managed by SCM CNC Maestro software suite; the flexible Accord WD machining cell for processing up to 16 window components without requiring the presence of operators; the Accord 40 FXM machining centre with the five-axis PRISMA spindle, optimal for both heavy-duty milling and high rotation speed profiling.
Visitors were also struck by the high productivity – some 30 windows per shift – of the solid combination of the Superset NT automated moulding machine and the Windor NT1 angular machining centre, which proves how the combination of the new MOBILE PC electronic controller and traditional manufacturing processes can provide quality, precision, simplicity and great reliability.
Edgebanding
Also on view at the Digital Days were the latest expressions of SCM’s vision for the modern edge-banding: machines that are fast, error-free and meet the highest quality standards. Specifically, the new 21.5” multi-touch machine controller offering a 3D preview of the processed panel, the new Generation “E” spindles designed to provide a solid balance between light machining and the new edge hardness standards; and the new AirFusion device, which helps the hot-air/zero glue line application to increase productivity by +10% and to cut ignition and start-up times by 50%. Great interest was raised by the brand new Stefani KD edgebander, an excellent solution for both small carpentry shops and industrial giants that seek machines for continuous machining of numerous, also diverse, panels. Representatives of small carpentry shops could experience and feel first-hand the enormous potential of Olimpic K 360 HP, a CNC edgebander with an automated set-up for machining type change. The entire Olimpic range was on display at the SCM event with its new upgraded models.
Sawing
High quality and high processing speed characterised the automated Gabbiani G2 115 single-blade beam saw, with the new Maestro Cut software controller that optimises storage management and material handling.
Greeted with enthusiasm was the Gabbiani G2 which, when integrated with the Flexstore EL storage system, is a peerless precision champ thanks its prismatic slide guides. Also on display was the new HI-TRONIC carriage, which allows you to reach high speeds for increased productivity.
Sanding
Among the numerous DMC woodworking models, SCM chose to put on display various configurations for every type of processing and type of required finishing: the compact and versatile DMC Eurosystem sander, ideal for producers of hollow-core doors and MDF veneered kitchen cabinet doors; the DMC System T4 for the furniture industry where intensive operation capacity and excellent finishing are required; the DMC System T5 sander, a complete solution for performing creative finishing effects and for personalising products, based on the use of industry-exclusive technology for creating such effects as gouged, saw-cut and structured; finally, the DMC System T4 brushing machine, equipped with the Finesand orbital pad, the ideal solution for superfinishing crossed-grained wooden parts and composite materials.
Assembly
Among its assembly machines, SCM chose to show the Action P, the electromechanical machine, based on manual loading and unloading, for quick and precise furniture assembly (also with 45° clamping), using brushless motors. The integrated rack and pinion system allows efficient squaring of the assembled product. This solution is designed for small carpentry shops producing up to 60 furniture items per day.
Woodworking machines
For the modern carpenter SCM offers a range of advanced machines, such as the new Minimax SI X circular saw with a tilting blade (+/-46°) and with a programmable and motor-driven movement.
Noteworthy were the latest Minimax edgebanders: The Minimax ME 28T, the most moderately-priced edgebander on the market to come with a rectifier, a device considered standard only in higher-end machines; Minimax ME 40, which can house all the various finishing tools in order to achieve the highest rated productivity among machines for the sector of small carpentry shops.
On view at the renovated Scm Technology Center was also the VF 250 dust extractor, part of the new VF range of compact and slim extractors that may be placed at any kind of workplace. A large space was dedicated to the classic Invincibile line of machines, the products of decades-long experience, technological research and Italian genius.
Woodworking machining centres / squaring machines and tenoners
Using its innovative multimedia system, SCM demonstrated a virtual version of the Group’s machines and technology: from Oikos and Area machining centres to the Celaschi squaring-tenoning machines. Noteworthy were also the Superfici machines, especially the advanced solutions for painting panels, furniture products and windows and doors.
SCM Group is a technological world leader in processing a wide variety of materials: wood, plastic, glass, stone, metal, and industrial components. The Group companies, operating throughout the world, are reliable partners of leading companies in various market sectors, including the furniture, construction, automotive, aerospace, ship-building and plastic processing industries.
