FACE TO FACE
Product demonstrations in Ficep ’ s showroom . Christian Colombo , CEO , Ficep Group , at the Ficep Group stand at EuroBLECH 2024 .
The heart and soul of our innovative capability is our R & D department , where solutions for the future are designed and tested . Our research activity involves a dedicated staff of 50 people ( including engineers , technicians and CAD / CAM operators ) who can count on the direct support of the production department for developing prototypes .
ISMR : Please outline any recent successes or achievements for Ficep Group ?
CC : We have registered record sales now for the third year in a row . Last year , we made 20 % more sales than the year before . This year , it will also be a record year ( 15 % more sales than last year ).
We are competing in a more aggressive market , which offers lots of solutions , but our strategy has always been to provide a process for our customers . Our customers typically are steel construction builders ( transmission towers , buildings , bridges etc .). We try to supply them with every working unit to enable them to make their products . This includes shot blasting ( cleaning materials ); drilling , sawing and milling beams and secondary components ( like gratings and gusset plates ). We then allow them to coordinate the assembly of these components , providing elements such as shot blasting and painting so that products can go straight onto the truck .
Our great success is that we can now fulfil all the processes needed ( including painting , robotic welding etc .). Customers don ’ t just want cutting operations ; other machining operations ( such as drilling , marking , milling etc .) are needed , so all our machines offer extra functionality . That can mean cutting with laser , plasma or oxyfuel with drilling and milling on top , to offer flexible operations .
At the same time , I am proud to confirm that we are continuing to develop our product lifecycle management software . We are now integrating capabilities with process simulation so that customers know how much time it will take to finish a job . We are integrating more and more assets in the workshop , even manual operations , to enable traceability and match it to the scheduling . We can also integrate our machines with IoT devices to collect data on energy and gas consumption , as well as operating costs in general .
An overhead view of the Ficep stand at EuroBLECH 2024 .
We wish to fulfil all the value streams of our customers to make them as efficient , while we develop our own value streams . This applies to all operations , not just to machine delivery , but to pre-sales activities , feasibility and simulation studies , project management and follow-up after delivery with consultancy on lean management etc . to customers . It is a continuous process .
This involves a lot of investment on our side : increasing capacity and investing in new machinery and systems . We installed a large Mazak FMS ( possibly the biggest in Europe ) on our production line that works automatically
24 hours per day , seven days per week . We are very vertically integrated and tend to design and manufacture our own components . We buy in some hydraulic , electrical and pneumatic components but , in general , our own technical and service engineers can work in the same manner on every asset with no need to specialise on particular technologies .
ISMR : Where do you see areas of growth and opportunity for manufacturers ?
CC : We are living in difficult times with two wars in Ukraine and Gaza that will not finish quickly . It is difficult to predict the oil price but my feeling is that areas of continuing development will be in Europe . Europe has a very ambitious plan , the Green Deal , that dictates how a machine / product is designed from an energy-monitoring and sustainability standpoint . At this point , risks from conflict and possible oil price rises make it difficult to see whether some of these ambitious sustainability targets can be reached .
Having said that , I think that Europe should find a way to stimulate and incentivise manufacturers to tread this path . It should not just be because “ we need to be greener .” For example , Europeans have a lot of installed machines that are old . Perhaps the European Community could consider , in view of continuing competition from the Far East , offering European manufacturers the option to buy back older machines instead of giving out a grant , or even contribute to the trade-in purchase or incentivise companies to retrofit older machines so that they can be re-sold into the market . This sustainable business model could give machinery builders in Europe an incentive to be different from everyone else and compete on new terms with far Eastern manufacturers .
22 | ismr . net | ISMR December 2024 / January 2025