Kitchen cabinetry was cooking on Day 2 of the Biesse Tech Tour to Italy, with 23 North American woodworkers getting a closeup look at the high-speed processes in place at Aran Cucine and Lube.

Aran Cucine: Located in Teramo. Italy, Aran is among the largest kitchen cabinet producers in Italy and one of the top exporters of cabinetry.  The large volume producer’s "flexible squaring" edgebanding line is what drew particular notice on the Tech Tour.

Installed approximately six months ago, the Biesse Stream MDS CNC edgebander has 2 pre-milling stations and can edgeband and square all four sides of the panel.  The 15-meters-long Stream MDS cell is equipped with the AirForce System and integrated with the Winner W1 flow management system.

Aran is a large volume producer, but of small batches, so different size parts are continuously run through the machines. Formerly owned by Masco,  Aran produces more than 20,000 semi-finished parts every day at its seven plants, which total in size to 55,000-square-meters covered surface (180,446 square feet), according to its website. The company has approximately 350 employees and is FSC and ISO 14001 certified. In addition to cabinetry, Aran also manufactures office furniture, wardrobes and bedroom furniture.
 

Biesse Tech Tour Furniture Manufacturing in Italy: Talking Chips & More Kicking off the plant tours on Monday were visits to furniture manufacturers Lago and Caccaro.

Lube: located in Treia (MC) Italy, which is southwest of Ancona, Lube is a large volume cabinetry producer of large batch sizes: it has one primary product line, which it offers in 346 different laminate colors and textures. Lube produces 150-200 kitchens a day, with each kitchen comprised of 12-15 cabinets.

A lean manufacturer, components are cut, edgebanded and drilled one day and assembled the next. The company has highly automated production lines for cutting, edgebanding, and drilling. Here’s what one line alone looks like:

After cutting on the angular Selco saw, the panels go from an RBO material handling system to a Stream two-sided edgebander with softforming capabilities, which then feeds into a Selco WNCR saw. The strips travel on the RBO to another Biesse Stream edgebander, to another RBO conveyor, to Biesse Techno Logics for drilling and dowel insertion and then to the RBO Winner stacking system.  

Similar panel processing lines are located throughout the shop, as well as other automated processes and robotic equipment. According to its website, the factory is 100,000 square meters, of which 75,000 is covered, and has over 450 employees, including 350 in the production area.

Taking place Oct. 11-17 and sponsored by Biesse America, this technology tour of Italian woodworking manufacturers provides a firsthand look at the innovative technology and designs in use by six wood products firms, as well as a look at new technology offered by Biesse. Twenty-three North American wood industry professionals from cabinet, furniture and store fixture companies attended the week-long Biesse Tech Tour event to Italy.