Came, a company based in Vicenza (Italy) and leader in the electric motor component, winding and die-casting industry, is preparing to celebrate its first forty years of business.
Lino Chilese, who, together with his sons Cristian and Matteo, has led the company as its president since it was established in 1977, has created a growing business, the economic results of which have led it to become a sizeable industry: five plants with a total area of 26,000 square metres, all located in the province of Vicenza. These plants include the Wiring (in Crespadoro), Automatic winding (in Molino di Altissimo), Finishing and Casing (in San Pietro Mussolino), and Die-Casting (in Chiampo) departments. Overall, there are 250 employees. Some joined the company following the acquisition of Cemel, another business based in Vicenza, which became part of Came in 2014.
Reaching such a size led Came to expand its manufacturing to offer a comprehensive service that covers all the components for electric motors: die-castings, wound stators, rotors with shafts, encased stators with the related machining, shields, machined flanges, application of terminal blocks, threading and a variety of assemblies. Among its customers, Came currently counts some of the world’s leading groups in the pump, traction motor, electric motor and gear motor industries. «Eighty percent of our turnover», explains Cristian Chilese, Managing Director of Came, «is generated in Italy. The remaining twenty percent of the turnover comes from foreign sales. For several years», continues Matteo Chilese, Managing Director of Came, «the company has specialized and has always invested in its important ability to respond to all customer requirements, from large contracts to special short production runs. We make a very wide range of windings: our production capacity can even reach 30,000 windings a day.» Customer-centric service, experience and product quality has allowed Came to stand out for the flexibility and speed that it brings into play when it comes to meeting specific needs. That is not all. Die-casting has also played a major role in the company’s success. In fact, Came is the only Italian company to manufacture windings, die-castings and assemblies for these products. Customers benefit from being able to deal with a single supplier.
Came guarantees development and technical assistance on all the components and, above all, the ability to offer design and technical advice in the fields of aluminium die-casting, both for developing dies and for third-party casting. «Contrary to the market trend, we are also investing in research, development and innovation of materials», explains Cristian Chilese, «to provide our customers with effective help and always be ready to propose new savings and product enhancements. We also aim to increase third-party die-casting sales, where we want not only to cast material to our own drawings, but also to follow the designs and specifications of our customers, taking care of the support and technical development.» The challenge of achieving ever-greater energy efficiency is leading many manufacturers to evaluate the use of permanent magnet synchronous motors, so-called brushless direct current motors. Recently, Came has made technological investments in precisely this sector. It has also begun to focus on windings for traction motors and on the automotive industry, to become a reference point also in the car and electric bicycle markets. New strategic goals require new supporting infrastructures. To this end, Came has just completed transferring the operational part and some offices to the new site in San Pietro Mussolino. «We are also expanding the Molino di Altissimo site”, concludes Lino Chilese, “where we will add a new 7000 square metre plant by mid-2017. This also confirms the fact that we believe in our territory and that we should invest in it.»