The mission pursued by Faro Industriale has always been designing radial, axial and slewing bearings, up to diameters that can reach 6,000 mm, and manufacturing them with the utmost quality level. A highly customized production exported by almost 80% worldwide, confirming competences, know-how and an organization able to satisfy the most different market requirements on a global scale. To understand even better the distinguishing elements and the operational strategies the company can implement, we met the President and managing director Marino Bertoli and asked him some questions.
In what sectors do your customers operate?
«The customers that we supply are active in the most various sectors: from iron and steel industry to railway, from the historical field of fin machines for carton to tubular rope-making machines and wire processing, from handling to the diversified machine tool sector. The latter field is highly satisfactory for us as we are protagonists side by side of outstanding manufacturers, through the design and implementation of axial and radial bearings, with or without cage for rotary tables, supplied in P5 or higher precision class. The almost 40 years of activity have allowed our staff to gain experiences in various industrial sectors, permitting to acquire all-round technological competence and skills so much needed in the design and implementation of advanced engineering products».
How much do investments in technological innovation matter inside your company?
«Succeeding in being competitive in an increasingly global market means managing to join a skilled staff, who currently in Faro counts around fifty employees, with a forefront diversified machine fleet, a feather in the cap for our processes. From this point of view, precisely aiming at a constant improvement, through investments planned for the 2019-2020 biennium, interesting integrations have been accomplished. First of all, last year we completed the implementation of a new metrological laboratory, hosting two new measuring machines for the quality control. The two new grinding machines integrated into manufacturing lines will allow further improving our machining precisions».
Does the introduction of these new technologies mark for Faro Industriale an important step towards Industry 4.0, too?
«Undoubtedly, the introduction of two new 3D measuring machines for the quality control and of the two new grinding machines accelerates the shift towards the process digitalization. An important step that will lead to the connection of the various machining phases and to the fulfilment of the implementation of a new managerial software that will allow further increasing the efficiency of the product development cycle. Efficiency enhancement that will result in higher competitiveness and in the optimization of overall management times of job orders. A change of pace facilitated by our organization that, for some years now, has achieved an excellent consolidation according to the principles of the Lean Production, and of the 5S methodology».
Quality and productivity synergy
Pursuing unceasing improvement, Faro Industriale has accomplished the investments planned for the 2019-2020 biennium, started last year with the implementation of a new metrological laboratory taking up 100 square metres and hosting in its inside two new 3D measuring machines. The laboratory houses in fact two Zeiss CMM, a Prismo Ultra and an Accura 2000, which have allowed increasing the dimensional control capacity, reaching a diameter of 2,100 mm, and perfecting the shape control of very heavy bearings up to a diameter of 1,000 mm. Besides the new CMM, to guarantee the most accurate controls in the order of microns, Faro avails itself of about 1,200 dedicated measuring instruments and equipment, constantly calibrated with the aid of a certified calibration bench.
Concerning the productive part, the company has recently introduced in the department two new grinding machines bought from Nova, which so allow further improving machining precisions. It is a new Novamatic PGE external grinding machine and a new Novamatic 4GP internal grinding machine.
The first, suitable for satisfying very high requirements of manufacturing volumes and quality, is a machine that allows the piece centring with pad system, which permits fast loading/unloading of workpieces, guaranteeing precision and repeatability of ring machining with diameter from 150 to 450 mm and 220 mm grinding wheel band. The second is instead studied for interiors of medium-big size components (the ones in which Faro has increasingly specialized), i.e. for rings with diameter included between 50 and 300 mm and 150-mm. wheel band. The new Novamatic 4GP internal grinding machine, besides using the pad centring device, as guarantee of very short changeover times, has also been equipped with an automated piece loading/unloading robotized system.
(by Gianandrea Mazzola)
