Insight

Recognised for its flexibility and reliability, Dimac Srl is committed to maximising uptime and improving fastener manufacturers’ production processes worldwide. Amidst a global pandemic, we spoke to Massimo Agrati, CEO at Dimac Srl, to discuss how the company develops new technologies and automation solutions.

Massimo is as ever straight to the point: “Every day the world moves towards automation in every field of manufacturing and every process. Too many manual jobs that are expensive and time-consuming are still present in the fastener manufacturing sector – in particular in the inspection, control and sorting departments. We believe that fastener manufacturers should be more proactive when it comes to automation processes and, of course, the new technologies.”

Over the last few months Dimac’s R&D team has been introducing Artificial Intelligence, deep learning, as well as robot and cobot automation onto its machines. “We are currently developing new models of inspection and sorting with high-end features and the latest state of the art technologies,” said Massimo.

This includes a new line of SPC automatic systems with SPC-LAB, SPC-ROBOT and SPC-EVO – dedicated to the automation of SPC controls, data collection and exchange with ERP systems. Dimac points out this helps avoid human error and minimises production time, as well as reduces costs. It also enables manufacturers to keep control of the quality of the production process.

“For a number of years now, a reshoring process has been in action regarding special fasteners, because they require such top quality know-how. This process may be increased and be extended to standard fasteners due to the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of 2020, we are seeing more enquiries for the supply of basic inspection and sorting machines for optical controls only with high output rates.”

Massimo reflects: “2018 was the best year ever for Dimac in terms of our turnover – overtaking €7 million – as well as in regards to developments in our industry, which we are continuing to build on. These included inspection machines with Eddycurrent testing stations for cracks and heat treatment detection on automotive fasteners.”

In 2019 the trend continued through the benefits offered by the tax policy of the Italian government, which encouraged the digitalisation and the adoption of the principles of Industry 4.0. “Dimac machines had been re-engineered to meet Industry 4.0 standards and were popular with Italian companies open to investing in renewing their production departments in change of a tax exemption,” mentioned Massimo.

In 2019 Dimac also developed the Connectivity Pack software suite, which helps connect Dimac machines with customers’ ERP systems for online remote programming, data collection and exchange. A revamping campaign was launched in the third quarter of 2019 to regenerate and upgrade the old Dimac machines produced between 2000 and 2010 and equipped with electronic components and software licences – with end of life declared by the end of June 2020.

During the first months of 2020, Dimac was concentrating on the R&D for the new machines SPC-EVO and MCV6; the upgrade of the MCV3 model; and the restyling of the ancillary equipment Sherpa and L-Box. A revamping campaign also involved MCV1 and MCV5 analogue models, produced between 2003 and 2008, which were upgraded to the latest state of the art digital technology. 2020 also saw the marketing department open new agencies in Brazil and in the Balkan countries, as well as cooperation with subcontracting sorting companies in Germany and Italy.

However, as the pandemic started to spread, Dimac approached the lockdown by reorganising the personnel tasks and preparing its employees for working at home. “During lockdown it was important we kept alive contact with our customers and of course with new customers,” explains Massimo “We therefore dedicated energies into scouting for new components, software and automation solutions applicable to our machines.”

After lockdown Dimac reopened again applying the rules of the Italian government in terms of social distancing, sanitising the workplace and protecting company stakeholders with internal procedures of temperature checks, hand washing and wearing face masks. Dimac project managers and service personnel had also been trained to perform machine tests and machines acceptance and commissioning with the customers remotely, through conference and video calls. In the middle of June, Dimac was able to have 50% – 60% of its workforce return, and between the middle of June and the first week in August, Dimac was able to commission eight machines and deliver them to major customers in the USA, Brazil, Canada and Italy.

“Our machines are ‘Made in Italy’ – the concept of which has changed over the years. For us, Made in Italy means creativity, invention capacity, know-how, development and engineering of new methods for manufacturing and application of aesthetic concepts, as well as style in the design and construction of any object. It’s also about the quality of the product,” comments Massimo.

Massimo continues: “With micrometric resolution and repeatability up to 5μm, our machines are accurate, precise and reliable. They offer the best performances in terms of inspection capacity versus output rates and are designed to be everlasting, and to work on a 24/7 basis.”

Dimac also has an international sales network, which provides service on-site with skilled personnel, as well as remote service online with augmented reality features through smartphones or tablets.

“We are continuously moving forward. By the end of 2020 we hope to open a new production plant. We want to continue our growth through internal resources and also by joint ventures and new business models,” concludes Massimo. “We’re diversifying to meet the needs of different markets – fastener distributors, subcontracting sorting, non-automotive fasteners, plastic, pharmaceutical and medical for example. We are also opening new agencies in emerging countries and we see ourselves as a global worldwide reference for inspection and sorting machines for many different markets.”

www.dimacsrl.com