Whether you are a joinery manufacturer, sawmiller, timber building producer or furniture company, the Xylexpo woodworking technology exhibition in Milan had something for everyone.
This year’s show came against a background of increasing demand for machinery, with machine producers reporting healthy sales as they respond to latest customer requirements.
Show organisers will have been delighted at the buzz this year and reported a 2.1% growth in visitor numbers.
The five-day event at the Rho Fairgrounds in May attracted 17,781 people, of which 5,032 came from abroad – 28.3%. The number of Italian visitors (12,749) was up by 3.3% from the previous edition, accounting for 71.7% of total attendance.
A fourth hall was added, leading to an increased attendance of 425 exhibitors covering 34,785m2 from 27 countries. Industry 4.0 (enhanced data flow) was a big theme with Weinig, Biesse, Homag and SCM all presenting their solutions in the field.
“With these figures we can say that Xylexpo has found its place in the more and more crowded and sometimes messy landscape of industry exhibitions,” commented Dario Corbetta, director of the exhibition.
“We have made a clear choice, namely to be a stage for high technology, and this approach has increased the participation of an even more selected and qualified audience, with decision-making power and adequate expertise.”
Wood Machining
German solid woodworking technology specialist Weinig had a 1,000m2 stand jointly with Holz-Her, including 25 working machine demonstrations.
One of the memorable sights at Xylexpo was of visitors donning 3D goggles and “walking” through a high end Conturex window line. This allows customers a unique view on the intricate workings of machines without visiting the factory.
Like its other main competitors, Weinig has an Industry 4.0 solution, with W4.0 digital and Mindsphere, formulated with Siemens. Benefits include increased machine availability, cost savings, increased flexibility and time savings due to increased data flow from the machines.
The company also premiered its new Unimat 217 moulder, a four-side mouldings machine aimed at small businesses, featuring integrated memory system and 7,000rpm spindle speed.
Weinig, which recorded a 15% sales increase to €420m in 2017, has a 90% export quota, with the US market described as “good”. Other good markets are German speaking countries, France, the Benelux, Scandinavia and Russia, although the euro/ ruble rate was cited as a problem on the latter.
“For us, it’s the quality of the people at shows,” said Klaus Muller, “and the quality is good and they are international.”
He cited visitors from Turkey, Canada, Russia and India.
For Italian woodworking machinery maker SCM Group, Xylexpo was the “crowning achievement of an outstanding year”. SCM director Luigi De Vito shared that sales were now close to €700m, with the company also receiving three innovation awards at the show.
A strong upward trend was recorded in orders, negotiations and contacts involving about 500 customers at the 3,000m2 stand (half of them Italian, with a majority of Russian and French international customers), for an expected turnover of at least €30m.
Increasingly customised integrated high technology was a big focus for SCM, with “work simple, work digital” a key concept.
A main draw for visitors was Maestro Smartech, which can supply technical assistance through remote connection and direct interaction between end users and expert technicians back at the manufacturer’s headquarters, with help from “smart glasses”.
Visitors were interested in the Maestro Digital Systems platform in particular, the Internet of Things (IoT) solution of SCM Maestro Connect which, in response to Industry 4.0 requirements, creates a system for collecting and analysing data from SCM machines, able to increasingly monitor and optimise production processes.
Xylexpo visitors were also able to experience the potential of the new IoT equippable machining centres, such as Accord 42 FX, which raised considerable interest among door, window and stairs manufacturers, and Morbidelli M220, the new furniture milling and boring centre.
SCM said the technologies with the best outlook in terms of business opportunities in general are the Morbidelli boring equipment, the Olimpic and Stefani edgebanding and Gabbiani cutting machines. New product range additions included the Celaschi p40 squaring machine, the Balestrini range for solid wood machining and the new, integrated SCM range for surface treatment, which has finishing, pressing and sanding capabilities.
Fellow Italian machining giant Biesse recorded €21.6m in orders at the show, with a group orders portfolio now reaching a value of €234m, the highest in the group’s history.
The 3,000m2 Biesse stand attracted global visitors, with significant Italian presence. Biesse focused on automation and factory digitalisation, with four automated solutions present on the stand – solutions capable of increasing efficiency and continuity in production, simplifying daily tasks.
The implementation of the SOPHIA service platform, presented at Xylexpo as a solution for the digitalised factory was also a big draw.
“Two years ago we were talking about Industry 4.0,” said Federico Broccoli, Biesse Wood Division director/sales – subsidiaries division director.
“Today we are talking about Industry 4.0 delivered.”
Biesse presented different integrated processes with four robots on display. These solutions included a Rover A with robot designed for automatic loading and unloading of panels, enabling the cell to work in total autonomy. This was flanked by the Stream MDS with Robot for unloading the processed panels and moving them on to the subsequent production processes.
The all-new Viet Opera R2 was also demonstrated, capable of machining two rows of panels in parallel, loaded into the machine via two fully-integrated robots.
Mr Broccoli said integrated solutions would reach about 30% of Biesse’s turnover.
“There is a big move worldwide towards the smart factory. I see more and more investors at this show talking about efficiency.”
“We are preparing Sofia to be predictive.
This artificial intelligence in the Biesse machine will predict and inform the operators about when it is the best time to do maintenance.”
Five-Axis Machining
Machining specialist Greda exhibited the new version of its Mitika V, a five-axis interpolated machining centre designed for turning, milling, shaping and sanding. The updated version has new operating units for more diverse machining.
Greda also had a world premiere of Venus, designed for turning, milling, cutting and drilling on solid wood elements. It said the innovation had a mobile carriage system for rotating and clamping the pieces by means of a tip and counter-tip which can work up to four pieces at the same time.
Greda MD Marianna Daschini said manufacturing had progressively opened up to information technology, driving the optimisation of processes to reduce downtime and allocate resources effectively while maintaining the opportunity for creativity and originality.
German machinery giant Homag had a new logo, new look and a modern machine design, with machines now also able to be networked easily and quickly using the Tapio digital ecosystem.
Product names have been simplified, with each machine clearly stating its function. For example, edge banding machines are under EDGETEQ, while the saw technology range now all carry the name SAWTEQ.
On the digital front, Homag has been working hard on new features and apps on the Tapio digital platform.
The first results of this presented was intelliDivide – a new, cloud-based optimisation software featuring significantly higher computing capacities that can swiftly provide the user with several alternative optimisation results.
Operators can choose options, including a result based purely on reducing waste, a result based on the shortest machine run time or on the simplest handling, adapted to the relevant requirements.
Homag also did live demonstrations of a fully autonomous workshop.
It consisted of two fully automated cells, linked by a small autonomously working helper: an automated guided vehicle (TRANSBOT) which takes care of organising part logistics between the cells. The autonomous cell is able to take full advantage of its flexibility in trade as well as in the industry, and opens up new options for production.
Three different cells covered high-tech edging with integrated workpiece handling; robot management for the vertical CNC processing machine; and flexible interlinking thanks to driverless transport vehicles.
Turning a Gloss Into a Matt Finish
Finishing technology specialist Giardina Group, which has strong business with UK kitchen producers, was showing its robot for the first time. Robots are typically used to build very big capacity lines for windows and doors. “But now we see the trend is customised production,” it said.
A smaller Yaskawa robot is more cost effective than larger robots for small and medium-sized door and window makers, but with its software billed as providing a key difference in quality, it is able to spray the inside edge of products.
“The comment and feedback have been good,” said Giardina’s Michela Bonacasa. “We have had lots of enquiries.”
Also at Xylexpo was new machine drying technology using nitrogen. The Excimer’s use of nitrogen in the drying process means you can use a gloss paint on a panel to get a matt finish without changing to a matt paint, saving time in production.
The company ran out of time to get the technology entered into the Xylexpo Innovation Awards.
Another finishing specialist Makor has a 50th anniversary this year, which it will celebrate in September with the opening of a new test lab at its Tuscany facility.
New technology included a new UV putty line in its profile finish line, designed to give a high repair efficiency at minimum cost. The equipment repairs defects to ensure good finishing results.
Its coating flooring technology has also been updated for engineered or solid wood floors and a new system has been launched for edge sealing of MDF.
It has around 10 high-speed lines in the UK for finishing of skirtings, architraves and flooring, at the likes of W Howard, David Smith and Essexford Joinery.
Cross-Cutting
Popular cross-cutting specialist Salvador introduced the Supercut 100, entry-level fast optimising saw, and the Classic 50 model.
It also demonstrated the Superpush 200 in the “window version”, dedicated to window manufacturers, accompanied by Supercut 500 in the “Ultrafast” version “All in one” “Superangle 600”, with a drilling unit.
Company director Christian Salvador said the company has to keep increasing manufacturing capacity to keep pace with orders. “I think the show is better than two years ago and the quality of visitors is better.”
Meanwhile, fellow Italian cross-cutting machinery maker Stromab had a new large capacity machine, already in use at Donaldson Timber Engineering (DTE).
The TR-601-MXA has effectively no weight limit it can automatically push in crosscutting operations. It has a 750kg capacity and can deal with 14m lengths and 300mm wide x 200mm high sections. The rack and pinion system instead of a belt is key to this. DTE is using the machine to cut I-joists but the machine can also cut glulam beams.
Tooling Innovations
Tooling manufacturer Leitz highlighted its ClimaTrend Style slim, high-performance window system, which is designed to make savings in material, tool and set-up time. The slim and straight frame face widths of below 100mm allow up to 14% larger glass surfaces.
“We have a lot of knowledge in the field of window production,” said Guenther Kamml, Leitz MD.
He also highlighted the trend towards less mass production and customised production.
Leitz also promoted its ProfilCutQ Premium profile tool system, which can cut up to 120m per second. Its Katana circular sawblades are also being expanded into further dimensions for CNC machining centres, while it also presented a noise optimised copyshaping cutterhead of the HeliCut multi-functional programme, featuring up to 6dB(A) noise reduction compared to similar tools.
Leuco also presented sound-reducing technology, with its LEUCO nn-System DP Flex saw blades with a noise level of around 70 dB(A) when idling.
New from Leuco was its LEUCO p-System shank-type cutter, designed to give chip-free milling grooves for fittings, hinges, assembly plates and rear cabinet panelling. Thanks to the high shear angle of 70O, the LEUCO p-System does not simply trim the fibres, but peels them off with minimal cutting pressure.
XIA 2018 Awards
The Xia 2018 Awards – Xylexpo’s own awards event for innovations – saw Paolino Bacci win the primary operation and solid wood processing first prize for its Master MAX, combining productivity and flexibility for the production of complex parts.
First prize in the panel processing category was VITAP for its K2 2.0 ultra compact machine for operations on six faces of a panel, including shaped milling thanks to an innovative floating pressure bar.
Top prize in the coating/finishing category was New Finishing Srl for its GHOST-C system that can coat frames, doors and windows through a self-teaching process.
And SCM Group won the tools section for its combined end cutting and rounding unit for edgebanding machines.
