MACHINE TOOLS IN GOOD HEALTH

In 2008 a growth of 6% to be replicated in 2009

Politics and economics are forced to admit the state of recession, but they, the machine tools, run. After two years with production and exports growing at double digit (in 2007 and 2006 the increase has exceeded 15% for both items) Year 2008 is closing with another + 5.8% bringing the Lombard production close to the 2,350 million euros (6.1 billion Euros in Italy) and exports at 1,250 million euros (3.3 billion in Italy).

Germany, China and the United States are the main trading partners for local machine tools manufacturers with a market share of 11.4%, 7.8% and 7.3% respectively. “What has pushed the U.S. orders, which will impact on the 2009 and 2010 as well, is the process of renewal that automotive industry is experiencing in the research of new , more eco-compatible and reduced consumption engine models - explains the chairman of UCIMU - This starts requests for innovation with a cascade effect going from our customers to us"

Varese technologies in Massa engine

The choice of Maranello tests on materials  by Cesare Galdabini, Cardano al Campo  40% of employees dedicated to innovation

A little bit of Varese Technology is in the Ferrari motor which led Kimi Raikkonen to win the 2007 World Championship and Felipe Massa to fight for the title this year.

Measurements, corrections and tests on materials in Maranello Laboratories are made with straightening machines and robot controlled machine tools with laser technology capable of taking measurements on the tenth of a micron.

The supplier of this technology is Cesare Galdabini of Cardano al Campo, who, in nearly 120 years of its history has radically transformed its production: "When it was founded in 1890 - explains the managing director Luigi Galdabini, 49 years old - the company built hydraulic presses. Today we continue to build presses, but with a research and high technology, with applications ranging from aerospace to automotive, from houseware to the steel industry.

Galdabini looks mostly abroad, where they sell 70% of their production that in 2008 reached a value of 32 million euros, almost up 27% compared to 2007
An increase that is due to innovation and diversification; Mr Galdabini explains "Our machines require a significant investment, either for us who have been investing an average of 7% of annual turnover to increase our development level, and for our customers having a cost ranging from 300 thousand up to one million Euros , But being able to work with very different industry fields we can face difficult periods better than others”

40 out of the 105 employees of the plant in Cardano al Campo (130 considering those in Switzerland plant) are devoted exclusively to research.

This design work has created a fully robot controlled system which can perform tensile and resilience tests (the ability to resist to various kinds of stress) working on material cooled down to -70 °C by means of liquid nitrogen.

'It is a type of machinery - clarifies the CEO - that does not exist in the market and that we have produced on the basis of customer requirements" these machines require months of work for design and implementation, such as those needed to build the aluminium molding system which can apply a force of 1,500 tons, for the aircraft or the 2,000 tons machine to straighten that handles 13 meter long bars at a temperature of 400 °C using laser measurements.

In pole position

32 million €
The turnover in 2008

Cesare Galdabini will mark at the end of the year an increase by 27% compared to the 2007 turnover

1.8 million €
The Investment in research
The company dedicates to research and development 7% of its turnover