Rimini, 28 September 2022 – Over the last thirty years, what’s changed in the
approach to the production process and ceramic products? Well, almost everything. And what’s stayed the same or, rather, become even more crucial? The answer: the need to spread an
industry-specific technical culture to create a new generation of highly trained workers who can seize the opportunities offered by the latest technologies.
With this backdrop very much in mind, then,
SACMI recently attended the international
Tecna fair to present the updated editions of its
Tiles and Sanitaryware Ceramic Technology books, which offer a unique perspective on the industry.
Moderated by
Paola Giacomini, editor of Ceramic World Review, the event took the form of a ‘round table’ with managers from ‘
SACMI's innovation hubs’, the
Tiles and Sanitary Labs that perform daily research on raw materials, products and ceramic processes.
“In recent years porcelain tiles have exploded on the market in a multitude of forms, giving rise to digital printing technologies and ever-larger sizes”, pointed out
Claudio Ricci, SACMI’s Tiles R&D Coordinator. “The book has ten chapters, each containing an up-to-date discussion on a key stage of the tile and slab manufacturing process, including the topical aspects of digitalization and process control”.
Digital control and automation. These technologies are designed to ‘sow sustainability’ at every stage, and that applies equally to the sanitaryware sector. “More than thirty years ago, SACMI was one of the first companies on the market to embrace the concept of automation with its robotic glazing solutions”, explained
Giovanni Fiegna, Whiteware Plant and Technology Coordinator. “Today, automation is pervasive and used throughout the factory. Importantly, automation doesn’t suppress the creative potential of the product, it actually
enhances it, all while creating a cleaner, healthier factory”.
The second half of the meeting illustrated the Laboratories and their services. The first, the
Tiles Laboratory, focuses on the technological characterization of raw materials, assistance and on-site training. “Our database contains thousands of recipes”, explained
Andrea Bresciani, R&D Tiles Director. “We work with the customer’s raw materials, assisting them at every stage. Of course, training is increasingly important, and the Laboratory runs both basic and specialist training courses”.
“The same goes for Sanitaryware, but with the additional aspect of digital mold modeling”, explained
Luca Gordini, SACMI’s Sanitaryware R&D Coordinator. “This technique lets you create completely new products, in terms of both aesthetics and how the product development process is managed”. Once again, what makes the difference is decades of experience in product and technology development alongside the world’s leading players: that experience has been poured into the book as part of a drive to ensure technical training builds competitiveness and frees up creative resources.
Interested customers can receive the updated editions of the books
directly from SACMI by emailing
LabCeramico@sacmi.it and/or
whiteware@sacmi.it.