Article published in XYLON 03/2023

The return to normality, after the health emergency, marked a particularly significant moment for the company in Niviano di Rivergaro, in the province of Piacenza.

“Being definitively out of the Covid emergency tunnel has certainly not radically changed things,” says Filippo Schegginetti, executive director and head of marketing and communications for the company. “We have worked a lot and very well in these last two years, driven by truly exceptional demand, which, moreover, has affected our entire sector. These have been years in which we have worked intensively on many fronts: on the machines, on operational logic, on the continuous improvement of customer relations, and – I would like to highlight – we have invested and are investing heavily in a significant expansion of our production facilities, which have been ‘put to the test’ by strong demand but also by the need to build increasingly larger plants…”

A positive trend that has now lasted for a couple of decades for this company, which has been able to capture and interpret the demand for “technological quality” in the window and door industry. A demand to which the company from Piacenza responds in an integrated manner: on the one hand, the flexible production work centers signed by Working Process, ranging from “entry-level” solutions (if they can even be called that) to the most high-performance ones; on the other hand, high-capacity production lines offered under the Cml brand, systems designed and built according to the specific needs of the client. This approach does not necessarily indicate a preference for large machines, which require space, process organization, and significant investments. It is no coincidence that just in recent weeks, one of the company’s latest efforts was presented for the first time, the new “Logos life evo 2355”.

“We are talking about our ‘little one’ that has grown up,” Schegginetti explains. “From our constant analysis of the various markets we target, it became clear that there was a strong desire to have a ‘Working Process,’ meaning a flexible production work center for high-quality windows and doors, of compact dimensions, that could bring together in a smaller space all the ‘pluses’—power, versatility, units, and even the options of higher-end machines with five operating heads.”

“It was not an easy challenge,” continues Schegginetti, “but we succeeded by leveraging all the experience and expertise of our technicians. We managed to further improve and optimize the preloading system, ensuring a continuous supply of elements ready to be loaded and processed; we equipped our ‘T5’ operating heads with ‘C Torque’ axes, which allow us to achieve a higher level of precision in both drilling and milling.”

“We also upgraded the tool magazine, which we expanded and organized into three rows of tools, a solution that allows the three operating heads on the ‘Logos life evo 2355’ to complete a tool change in less than fifteen seconds.”

“Even in this ‘size’ of work center, the tool cleaning system is now standard, which—combined with new software that manages tool performance and cutting edge effectiveness—ensures that the tool is always in optimal working condition.”

“Not only that: a new machine supervisor has been installed, providing a range of vital information for the proper management of all stages of modern wooden window and door production.”

“ANTONIO”

Not just machines: innovation at Working Process has also touched the “services” side, which is increasingly crucial to a company’s success. “We can say with satisfaction that our ‘Antonio,’ the online platform of Working Process, has reached an important stage of maturity. Thanks to ‘Antonio’—for example—customers have access to spaces for interaction and learning about the use of Working Process machines even before they are installed in their factories, as it condenses all the ‘know-how and how-to’ of our service and maintenance technicians,” Schegginetti continues.

“We have organized it into four specific macro-sections: the virtual tour is a real journey inside the work center, structured so that the future operator develops an initial understanding of the technology they will soon be working with. The virtual training, on the other hand—through a series of videos, interactive graphics, and animations—shows the operator this new reality step by step, from the simplest operations (like how to turn on the electrical cabinet, for example…) to loading the pieces and performing the necessary operations to produce any type of window or door. It’s a very interesting service, also useful for training new operators, which complements the instruction provided by our senior technicians during the startup and support phases at the companies.”

“The troubleshooting section of ‘Antonio’ is where the future operator has to resolve situations that might occur during the use of the work center. The last of the four areas is virtual maintenance, which shows how and when regular maintenance should be carried out, so that the machine is always kept in the best possible working condition.”

Not just innovation but also organization. During the latest edition of Ligna, the new organization and the new people who will oversee the German-speaking markets were introduced. “Expertise, reliability, clear structures, and proximity to the market are the pillars of successful products and organizations,” says Filippo Schegginetti. “Working Process has built a solid reputation in the solid wood processing market with its CNC work centers. The new organization, Working Process Central Europe, will allow us to bring our expertise in close contact with customers throughout the ‘DACH’ area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), thanks to individuals like Oliver Rihl and Michael Hemmerich, who are well-known in this region and to whom we entrust relationships with both existing and new customers, from the initial project ideas to the final acceptance of new systems, always in close contact with our technical office and all functions of our headquarters. In this way, we can ensure a high level of customer focus, short reaction times, and high-quality project management.”

Edited by Luca Rossetti

Article published in XYLON 03/2023