Visitors will have a great opportunity to see an array of solutions that offer outstanding versatility, quality, user-friendliness, high levels of automation and low consumption in sectors as diverse as Powder Metal, Technical Ceramics, Refractories, Tableware and Electric Mobility: a broad range of industries in which the SACMI network of companies delivers sound technological leadership.
SACMI will be a key player at Ceramitec 2024 (Munich Trade Fair, 9-12 April), where it will be showcasing benchmark technologies for the Powder Metal, Hard Metal, Refractories, Technical Ceramics, Tableware and Industrial Kilns sectors. In 2024, the SACMI product range - acknowledged as the technological standard-setter in several areas - will see the addition of several new innovations that reflect the latest market trends.
We ARE Tableware
The SACMI network of companies – SAMA, RIEDHAMMER, GAIOTTO, SACMI IMOLA –develops all-round tableware manufacturing solutions that focus on automation, sustainability and efficiency.
Visitors to Ceramitec will have the opportunity to visit the nearby SAMA headquarters to see the pilot plant and Research Centre, state-of-the-art facilities where customers can carry out all their pre-industrialization product development tests. Here, SAMA will present its latest innovations, such as the PCW010, the new pressure-casting machine model that transforms traditional handle casting into a cutting-edge industrial handle-making process. Offering versatility, modular design and ultra-high-quality finished handles, this solution involves fewer workers than conventional casting and lowers environmental impact thanks to a reduction in plaster mold production.
Visitors can also see a PHO in action with an OFM fettling machine, for finishing non-round articles. To complete the range of forming technologies on show, our PCM100-NH25 casting plant will be producing complete cups with handles.
Industrial kilns for lithium batteries, recycling, sanitaryware… and more
SACMI-RIEDHAMMER is an industrial kiln manufacturer and a leading German engineering firm with 100 years of success behind it. It is globally renowned for complete tableware firing solutions that can handle biscuitware, glazed or single-fire products, reduction kilns for porcelain yet also stoneware, terracotta, vitreous china or items requiring a special in-kiln atmosphere (e.g. bone china).
RIEDHAMMER takes a modular approach to kiln design. Kilns are configured and personalized to match the customer’s specific requirements by, for example, developing fixed- or modulated-air combustion regulating systems, patented burners, sensors for measuring oxygen content and the atmosphere inside the kiln. All latest-generation kilns feature advanced emissions reduction and energy-saving packages that employ both direct and indirect solutions. Research into new alternative fuels such as hydrogen from renewable sources is at an advanced stage, with a range of kilns ready to make use of future infrastructural developments.
Moving on from tableware to the automotive sector, RIEDHAMMER leads the way in the heat treatment of materials used in lithium-ion batteries. Crucial to e-mobility, this sector has grown enormously in recent years, expanding RIEDHAMMER’s global customer pool: new projects will soon be launched in Europe and the USA, and technological leadership on Asian markets is strengthening.
On the sustainability front, RIEDHAMMER is developing a comprehensive proposal for the return-recycling of spent batteries from which valuable raw materials can be retrieved and put to use. This is a major step towards a circular economy and will – given the exponential global growth in demand for this type of battery – be essential.
Powder Metal: new challenges, new opportunities.
The changes in the Powder Metal market over the last few years - mainly related to vehicle electrification, which has required new technologies and therefore new components - have given SACMI the opportunity to get back in the game, resulting in the development of new solutions that let customers cope with new production challenges.
More specifically, SACMI’s Advanced Technologies Business Unit has focused on multiple solutions, all of which will be presented at Ceramitec 2024.
The Helical Gear system seen at the last edition of the fair has already been improved: in fact, it can now produce gears with angles of up to 45°. Moreover, SACMI has developed the Die Wall Lubrication system, a device that allows attainment of high-density parts (up to 7.71 g/cm3) by compacting zero-lubricant powders. And there’s more: the above-mentioned SACMI solutions were recently merged, so it’s now possible to obtain high-density helical gears too.
Visitors to the booth will be able to see - and obtain information on - a rich display of parts produced with these innovative SACMI technologies.
However, the real highlight presented by the network of companies will be a preview of the latest energy-saving press which, thanks to the adoption of closed-loop hydraulic systems, can reduce energy consumption by up to 50% during the pressing cycle. This outstanding result is achieved while maintaining the efficiency and speed of standard SACMI presses. In a nutshell, a solution that’s as innovative as it is flexible, since it’s applicable to the entire Powder Metal press range and existing presses installed on customers’ premises, letting them reduce operating costs significantly.
LAEIS, the perfect partner for complex product geometries.
LAEIS’ long-standing expertise in pressing complex contours is evident in several recent projects. This particularly applies to kiln furniture, available in a wide variety of shapes, which is used to prepare raw materials for battery production. LAEIS provides the technology to produce homogeneous cassettes automatically, even under vacuum. That said, pressing products made from multiple materials (compounds) or products with unusual contours is also a key strength of LAEIS press technology.
LAEIS presses are constantly being upgraded to meet market requirements. For example, the new Alpha 1500 has a filling height of 160 mm and is used for technical ceramics, salt and clay products.
Numerous suggestions and improvements from our customers have resulted in an extensive control update for the new HPF presses. In parallel, presses are being readied to meet the fast-changing demands of I4.0, web access, recipe management, production documentation and much more. Newly designed software will make it easier to provide special applications.
LAEIS I4.0 IOT data logging software now has a broader functions range. It provides customers in operations management, production and maintenance with valuable data for the documentation and analysis of both product and machine. Resource consumption can be controlled in relation to time and product. LAEIS Service is provided with vital data to aid the maintenance process, especially as regards efficiency enhancement and remote diagnostics.