Exhibited technologies to include the innovative RobotClean finishing solution that further extends 4.0 automation prospects for production lines. President Paolo Mongardi stated: “This is a major opportunity to meet our customers face to face and discuss new, ambitious projects that align with the latest market trends”

The innovations being presented by the SACMI Whiteware B.U. at Tecna 2022 (27-30 September, Rimini Expo Center) will focus on automation, sustainability-driving process digitalization, and workplace safety. For example, SACMI will be showcasing RobotClean, an exclusive technology for the robotic finishing of sanitaryware items that’s already proved popular on the Italian market. This solution focuses on worker health and safety. It also takes the industry closer to ‘lights out manufacturing’. SACMI RobotClean, in fact, makes all sanitaryware white finishing tasks safe permanently – tasks that, even today, are still mostly performed manually – by preventing exposure to dangerous substances such as crystalline silica dust. The solution features special abrasive tools that faithfully reproduce the tasks workers usually perform by hand. Moreover, dedicated software lets you program finishing recipes offline by simulating the work and movements performed by the robot, thus optimizing performance. This also means more accurate, perfectly repeatable finishing quality, thus completing the 4.0 approach to factory management. Expectations for the Rimini fair are running high. As the President of SACMI, Paolo Mongardi, points out, it represents the “resumption of face-to-face dialogue and discussion with our customers. Throughout the pandemic we invested considerable resources to keep partnerships running smoothly. Now, that distinctive partnership-based approach sees us working together on the issues of sustainability and the circular economy”. On the plant side, the SACMI Whiteware B.U. is pressing ahead with its ‘zero waste’ logic. This aims to convert waste from cost to opportunity by recycling and re-using scrap, raw materials, water and energy. These topics were, in fact, the focus of the ‘We ARE Bright’ event, organised by SACMI to highlight the sanitaryware industry’s new global ‘green deal’, and the ‘We ARE Sanitaryware’ approach, which renews the partnership principle that has always been a cornerstone of the Group’s global strategy. As part of that process, SACMI has also published an updated edition of the Ceramic Sanitaryware Book, to be presented at Tecna 2022 and, of course, offered to visiting customers. The book focuses on the industry’s hottest topics of recent years: automation, digitalization, the drive towards fewer manual tasks – and, therefore, a smaller environmental and social footprint – and the energy sources and fuels of the future. “We can lead innovation in this sector by starting with SACMI’s everyday experiences alongside customers all over the world” points out Paolo Mongardi. “We can do so by renewing our mission as the industry’s leading know-how and technology provider and presenting ourselves as key partners in the shared quest for excellence, new ideas and development opportunities”. The year 2021 saw us achieve outstanding results, with the world’s leading players rewarding the quality of SACMI sanitaryware technology. That trend was observed among both the main international groups and the various independent manufacturers at the high end of the market. The industry continues to be “extremely dynamic, and ready to react quickly to external stresses”. Such ‘stresses’ obviously include transport costs, procurement issues, energy prices and the accompanying tendency to shorten value chains. “This means our customers are now even more interested in projects and investments concerning sustainability and automation, both of which are key aspects of SACMI’s products and services for this sector”.