MCM forecasts further growth in 2016

Vigolzone, Italy – This year will close as the best of the last decade for MCM Machining Centers Manufacturing SpA. According to forecasts, by the end of 2015, expected turnover for the company from Vigolzone, in the province of Piacenza, will surpass 60 million euros.

 

“This result marks a sharp increase over the last year,” said Gian Luca Giovanelli, CEO of MCM, “particularly considering the favorable economic situation we’re beginning to see, and which justifies our optimism for the future.” 

 

This year’s positive performance sees 70% of revenues coming from exports and the rest from the Italian market. Driving this growth are mainly the Italian and French markets, where there are major projects underway. Among the more important areas of application are energy, oil & gas, and aerospace, in which MCM can boast a leadership role. 

 

“The most significant sectors for MCM are increasingly those in which the customer’s production model requires concrete elements of flexibility,” explains the CEO, “combined with the usual expectations in terms of precision, productivity, and reliability of our machines.” And the forecasts see the growth trend continuing in 2016, with an expected turnover of more than 65 million euros, due in part to orders from markets in which MCM is already present with its own technical and sales branches: USA, Germany, and China.

 

Also characterizing MCM’s growth are investments, some already underway, in infrastructure, personnel, and technology. “Given the positive prospects that we see continuing in the coming years,” states Gian Luca Giovanelli, “we’re working on the one hand to consolidate all the existing positive elements, and on the other to introduce new ones of a more managerial nature in order to further increase competitiveness.”

 

The plant in Vigolzone, which currently occupies an area of 10,500m², will be expanded to include a new production area of 2,000m² and an additional 400m² of office space. And in order to make communication and the transmission of information between the branches around the world more immediate and effective and to improve service, MCM is implementing a management software and a new PDM system. 

 

But investments aren’t limited to just infrastructure and technology. The company’s development plan also calls for an employment increase of about 10%, which will expand the current staff of 240, in close collaboration with local institutions and universities, creating a program of knowledge exchange that will lead to more young people experiencing the world of manufacturing early on.

 

To underline these efforts and investments, MCM is enhancing its institutional communication, which will involve a review of all the classic marketing tools, particularly restyling the website. 

 

For EMO Milano 2015, at Stand D05 in Hall 5, MCM showcased the best of its product range. The base products of MCM’s integrated offer are its multi-process machining centers that combine turning, milling, grinding, and toothing operations in one single machine. Around the machine, the integration of the process is ensured by the use of elements of flexible automation, standard or customized. The management and optimization of the production process is completed by control and supervision software jFMX, specially developed over the course of 30 years by MCE, the software and computer architecture division of MCM.

 

Exemplifying the underlying concept of MCM’s integrated offer are the machines and solutions that the company had at EMO: a 5-axis tilting head i.Tank machining center, a 4-axis Clock Dynamic 700 machining center, and a robotized deburring island as testimony of MCM’s capacity to integrate different operations into complete solutions (machines of different sizes and performance and a special robotized application). 

 

At the Siemens stand (Hall 3, Stand E06-F03) was an MCM Clock Dynamic 5-axis Multitasking machining center equipped with a Siemens 840 Solution Line CNC system and multitasking features: milling, drilling, turning, grinding, and power skiving, all operations with high technological parameters. By realizing the entire program with Siemens CNC software – without the help of special CAD/CAM systems, done by workers who are technologically expert but without any specific training as programmers – MCM shows how, by using the right technologies and designs and working with competent partners, one can find solutions to fully achieve all the objectives of multitasking. 

 

During EMO, the company offered its clients the opportunity to see firsthand the two aerospace plants, currently installed and being tested at the Vigolzone facility.

 

The first plant is for the production of wheels and brake systems. In this case, MCM has created a flexible system intended for the turning, milling, and drilling of wheels and hydraulic and electric crowns, consisting of two i.Tank 1600 Multitasking machining centers with a horizontal axis turning spindle, installed within an FMS line, and a third machine currently being built. 

 

The second plant is for the production of discs in nickel super-alloy for aircraft engines. Again, the solution fully represents MCM’s design and technological capabilities. This is an FMS system made up of two i.Tank 1300 Multitasking machining centers for milling and turning operations on a horizontal axis, equipped with a splitter group and a series of options that significantly customize configuration and performance. The plant will incorporate another four machines by next year, and an important programmed extension in 2017.