Precision and constant accuracy during processing. Ability to offer an all-round service to its clients, from design to the finished product. Very high quality standards. These are the guidelines that enable the Italian company Solzi Ingranaggi, specializing in high miniaturized gears and gearmotors, to decisively deal with the market also thanks to its well-tried and “geared” structure.
Design and manufacture of gears and low powered gearmotors. This is what Solzi Ingranaggi family business from Carnate (near Monza, Italy) has been working on for many years; family business because it was taken on by Ugo Solzi in 1976, after previous management by his father and his grandfather who had founded it almost 100 years ago. Family business also because today it is managed by Ugo Solzi together with his daughter Simona and his son-in-law Massimo Milani, all partners and working in the company from Brianza which in recent years has effectively consolidated its position by turning from an artisan company to a business with 1.2 million Euros turnover and 7 employees who, thanks to an appropriate automation level and numerical control machines, are extremely efficient and well experienced in their tasks: spur helical gears, helical, conical gears, worm gears, toothed pulleys and reducers. Let’s take a closer look at this company that occupies the niche of gears and small-sized gearmotors that are increasingly required in times of miniaturization of all sorts of product in various sectors, from home automation to medicals, ranging in different sectors in the field of automation with great professionalism and competence.
The company and its philosophy
«Initially – tells Ugo Solzi – our core business consisted in performing exclusively third-party gears. Since many of these gears were used in various drives and gear motors, we soon decided to include also these products in our range.
In particular, low-powered gearmotors, both in direct and alternating current, because they were suitable to the type of gears we produce». Solzi Ingranaggi mainly works for a clientele consisting of small and medium-sized companies, most of all in industrial and home automation sectors and not only for Italian companies.
On the occasion of the headquarters’ transfer to the current one, a few years ago, during which the operational spaces have tripled and there has been considerable investment in new equipment, Solzi Ingranaggi has started the path of internationalization. «At the moment- says Simona Solzi – we export approximately 20% turnover, but it’s a figure that is slowly increasing because the sales on markets characterized by larger programming and commercial sensitivity represent a major way out for domestic market crisis. At this time we are following with attention and strength mainly German and North European markets, but we are working to increase the export share in other countries, from the Mediterranean basin to the countries of Eastern Europe, at this very moment we are particularly focused on a targeted action on French territory.»
Quality and service
Wherever production is located, one of the main features of Solzi Ingranaggi is the service level offered to customers. “One of our main strengths, says Ugo Solzi-is to offer a complete and flexible service, which is fundamental to our business and that makes us be a point of reference on the market. We have the ability to understand the needs of the customers and be their partners dealing with the design, prototyping, production up to the state of the art packaging of what we produce according to strict quality criteria, as evidenced by UNI EN ISO 9001: 2008 certification which is integrated within the organization. For several years we have also been implementing a series of activities that allow control and traceability of products in real time. The staff is autonomous in carrying out verification operations and the material is monitored at every stage from its entrance in the company up to packing for shipment to customers”.
Products
As we have already mentioned, the Italian company deals with gears and gearmotors. Let’s see in more detail the main production possibilities starting from spur or helical gears characterized by milling from module 0.15 to module 3 in any kind of material with any heat or surface treatment. Solzi Ingranaggi can produce synchronized gear teeth on the same piece of different modules, conical gears or with special profiles. Lots can be small or big. Concerning worm gears Solzi Ingranaggi also mills from module 0.2 to module 4 and produces also pulleys for belt drive in various profiles and materials.
Finally let’s take a look at reducers: epicyclical, customizable, supplied with standard motor or on customer’s needs with torques from 0.5 to 8 Nm, or with drop gearboxes, available with DC or AC motor with torques varying between 1.5 and 20 Nm.
Among the products that can better show our activity-concludes Ugo Solzi-it is worth to mention a 22 mm diameter planetary reducer that has multiple uses, from handling of double-glazed blinds shutters to medical applications. It has been produced to fulfill a specific request by one of our customers, and we have then authorized its marketing. Another interesting product that we developed in-house is a transducer consisting of a potentiometer and a mechanical reduction that is used within the axis positioning control of electromechanical devices.
Machinery fleet
One of our flagships – says Massimo Milani – is our machinery fleet which is composed mainly of gear milling machines. But not any kind of gear milling machines, because one of the historical activities of this company was to build micro gears for counters and small automatisms. Systems that needed precision components comparable to those used in the watch-making sector; for this reason in this area we use machinery of Swiss origin. Some of these are mechanical machines, others are computer numerically controlled and fully automated during loading and unloading operations”. Not all machines are automated because our kind of processing completes production and many processing phases are carried out manually by the operators whose sensitivity ensures higher product qualities. ”
«We have recently invested in a numerical control lathe – continues Massimo Milani – not only to produce our semi-finished gears in-house, but also to empower our prototyping service in which we strongly believed in and which had considerable appreciation from our customers. In ten days we are able to supply a series of samples on which it is possible to test before starting the final production.
