At SACMI, digitalization and sustainability are driving across-the-board progress, from individual technological proposals to the SACMI plant engineering logic that is the company’s hallmark. The result? Record-breaking performance on the Tiles market in 2021. The goals? Uncompromising quality, outstanding productivity and versatility, a smaller carbon footprint and lower process costs.

“Tecna 2022 is where we can get back to meeting customers face to face and discuss new, ever-more ambitious projects”, says the President of SACMI, Paolo Mongardi, as he sums up what it means for the company to take part in the 27th edition of this Rimini-based international fair. This edition will be all about the opportunities offered by digitalization and sustainability. These two vital drivers of SACMI’s ambitious technological and plant engineering vision are producing practical proposals, unprecedented even compared to current best practices. The backdrop is one of a ‘highly reactive’ market that presents new challenges: nevertheless, 2021 saw SACMI adapt effectively to achieve record revenues (with a 99% increase in machine sales alone). The first aspect of digitalization – set to play a pivotal role at the Rimini Fair – is process control. From body preparation to forming, from decoration to firing, SACMI will showcase ground-breaking solutions that focus on the ‘feedback on process’ concept; this refers to the ability to make effective use of system-fed data to automatically correct any production drifts, minimize waste and maximize 1st class product percentages. The global standard-setting technology for slab and tile forming, Continua+ will take center-stage at Tecna 2022, with new features that target even higher productivity, versatility and quality. For example, advanced automation and controls allow for the creation of new, better products – with extraordinary effects, such as natural stone-like veining and coordinated item matching – that offer perfect repeatability and cost-effective versatile lot management. This is all in keeping with the company’s hallmark plant engineering logic, which has long made SACMI a stand-out on international markets.
“Our ceramic plants are designed to work systematically and synergistically by following a shared process-governing digital architecture. First and foremost, this means”, points out the President, Paolo Mongardi, “optimizing flows to benefit the productivity of the entire plant”. In short, uncompromising quality, with the highest speeds on the market and optimized OPEX. A ‘full digital’ approach focuses on people and their capacity to play a pivotal role in the process. Meanwhile, the machines – which have features that range from user-friendly settings to automatic feedback – become part of an intelligent ecosystem that ensures results are repeatable and less dependent on incidental factors (e.g. human error, variability of raw materials and manufacturing conditions). The second key driver behind SACMI’s attendance at the 27th edition of Tecna is sustainability. This begins with the most important challenge, decarbonization, which will mean a revolutionary approach to how factory energy balances are managed. Alongside next-gen modulated air-gas, digital and hydrogen kilns – with new H burners, already on the market – SACMI provides unmatched expertise and experience in the installation of advanced energy recovery systems that can power individual machines or entire departments, even without fuel, and, more generally, save money while cutting emissions. ‘Circular’ management of process waste is being approached with the dual tactics of technological optimization – waste must be minimal – and its full retrieval while, of course, limiting reprocessing costs. Again, the concepts of circularity, total tracking, quality and process repeatability are the constituent parts of a unified logic: to offer customers tangible, measurable benefits in terms of increased overall factory management efficiency. That approach extends to end-of-line systems. It does so to meet a growing need to proactively manage increasing lot and order complexity, thus recalibrating sorting and warehousing operations in a way that targets greater flexibility and efficiency on a pull-logic basis. “What we’re showcasing at Tecna 2022”, concludes Paolo Mongardi, “is a highly ambitious package of technological and plant engineering proposals that embraces the challenge of the green transition. Thanks to our experience and know-how, we’re able to walk our customers through this challenge step by step, ensuring they take a path that’s immediately practicable and profitable”. In fact, that very plant engineering logic is set to form the basis of the ‘experiential’ visit to the SACMI stand. Visitors will, in fact, have the opportunity be able to ‘walk’ around a cutting-edge plant, select points of interest and go into individual value proposals in detail with a team of SACMI specialists.nThis revolutionary approach to the industry also involves assistance and training, both virtual and in-the-field. Here too, Tecna 2022 offers a great opportunity to explore new high-added-value service packages that provide customer support at every stage, from project to product, from predictive maintenance to spare parts assistance. We look forward to seeing you at the SACMI stand, Hall B1, Rimini Fiera, 27-30 September 2022.