Nearly half a dozen woodworking professionals joined Cefla North America for a weeklong trip to Northern Italy, visiting five companies that showcase the latest advancements in finishing technology and equipment.
The trip kicked off with a visit to the 2019 Cefla Live event held at the company’s global headquarters in Imola, Italy. Later, representatives from Canyon Creek Cabinet Company, Group Delphi, Clayton Supply/Clayton Homes, and Kitchen Cubes toured the facilities of Ilcam, Mobilclan, Italdecor, Novamobile, and Fam.
Ilcam was the first tour stop. The Cormons-based manufacturer known for its state-of-the-art factory and high-speed production and automation, has been adopting lean manufacturing principles since 2012.
The cabinet door maker manufactures approximately 70,000 parts per day and 10 million doors per year in a variety of styles from traditional to contemporary. Its production processes allow Ilcam to offer just-in-time solutions where the customer order can be completed within a few days of the request and delivered worldwide.
Ilcam’s complete services include CNC machining, veneering, flat lamination, membrane pressing, profile wrapping, finishing, and edgebanding.
Ilcam, the first stop on the tour, has robotic systems througout its plant in manucturing and assembly areas. Impressive robotic systems were seen throughout the plant in both manufacturing and assembly processes. One assembly robotic line could put together a door in 30 seconds.
The finishing area also features the latest advances in technology with several lines for high-gloss, semi-gloss, and matte finishing.
The high-gloss line features Sorbini/Cefla Smart Clean double brush stations with smart conveyors sending parts into an iBotic spray robot before moving them into eight-chamber Cefla ovens. The line runs about 5.5 meters per minute and has increased productivity by 10 percent.
Another line for matte finishing of MDF doors has Cefla Roctre reciprocating sprayers, Biesse Viet sanders, two sets of Cefla Omnidry vertical ovens with the Flexpro function for variable load thicknesses.
Ilcam also has a 200-meter, U-shaped paint and stain line that runs approximately 8 meters per minute. Components are sent to the Viet sander and then on to a Cefla rotary stain machine for the first application of paint. Also, this line uses Cefla’s Smart Conveyor system with sensors that optimize panel positioning by creating charges after spraying but before the UV ovens without slowing the line down. The panels are then flipped to finish the front.
For sealing and topcoat applications, components are sanded on Quickwood sander and then sent through the Cefla Rotostain and then to Cefla’s Elispray elliptical sprayers and additional Quickwood sanders before being sent to dry in vertical ovens.
The company also has a Cefla cogeneration system that collects waste and oxidizes VOC emissions allowing greater energy efficiency.
Earlier this year Licar, a division of Ilcam, joined forces with Canada-based Olon Industries to form the joint venture OL Frontal Solutions, which operates out of Jeffersonville, Indiana and manufactures European-style cabinets.
Mobilclan can produce more than 4,500 doors per day.Located in Calderano, Mobilclan, which was founded in 1967 by Walter Bosa and Mario Pujatti, makes doors and cabinet components in solid wood, veneer, and MDF for kitchens, living rooms, and bathrooms.
The company has gone through several expansions of its main plant over the years, making significant investments in machinery and automation.
The investments in its finishing department include a Quickwood sander, Cefla Rotostain with circular rotating heads, Cefla Smart Conveyor, Cefla Sorbini dryers, and vertical ovens, the Cefla UnoSpray reciprocating spray system, and the Roctre spray machine.
Mobilclan can produce more than 4,500 doors per day. Its door production process features Weinig moulders, Faxorobot, Biesse Viet and Costa sanders, and Celaschi machines.
Italdecor, headquartered in Pramaggiore, manufactures MDF doors and panel components producing approximately 12,900 square feet of parts per every 8-hour shift. Founded in 1988, the company has grown in capacity and technology over the years and currently has three production plants.
A tour through one of the facilities highlighted Italdecor’s use of the latest finishing technology, including the Cefla Smartedge with patented inert coating technology for filling the edges of MDF and chipboard. Italdecor uses the two-sided model, which applies the acrylic basecoat by vacuum before sending it through UV drying.
A Roctre sprayer receives components from a Sorbini panel cleaner before passing those along via the Smart Conveyor into three sets of vertical dryers. Also, Italdecor recently updated another Roctre line to the latest model, and that line sends components into Cefla’s vertical ovens.
A UV line consists of a series of Cefla SmartCoater EVO by Sorbini roll coaters and UV dryers, along with the UV-R Superfocus, a unit for reducing the heating effects of lamps on heat-sensitive materials.
For high-gloss finishes, the company uses the SmartCoater with a Smart Conveyor feeding parts into a curtain coater and linear oven.
Additional machinery in the facility includes Viet Opera 7 sanders, Technolegno side edge sander, Makor edge sanders, and Costa Series S sanders.
Italdecor’s doors are available in high-gloss and matte finishes, and the company also manufactures laminated backs to match the front finish.
Pieve di Soligo-based Novamobili is a division of one of Italy’s leading furniture systems groups, Battistella Company, and it is a manufacturer of modular wardrobes and closet systems as well as furniture.
Novamobili uses eco-compatible materials and is focused on reducing the environmental impact of its products and processes. Its furniture is FSC and Eco Panel certified for sustainability. And, another example of that commitment is the company’s switch to matte water-based lacquers in 2005.
In its 646,00-square-foot manufacturing facility, Novamobili has finishing lines which include Smart Clean by Sorbini brushing machines connected to both an iBotic spraying robot and a Roctre oscillating spray system. Covered conveyors move parts on both lines to a four-chamber Cefla oven and then to a UV-R dryer.
Novamobili has finishing lines which include Smart Clean by Sorbini brushing machines connected to both an iBotic spraying robot and a Roctre oscillating spray system.Novamobili also has a manual spray booth with a water filtration system for hand spraying specialty parts.
Additional shop equipment includes Wagner color mixers, Costa sanders, and a Big Bag skimmer, a filtered water treatment tank that separates solid particles from the water, allowing the filtered water to be re-circulated.
The last tour stop was to window and door maker Fam, just outside of Venice.
Founded in the 60s Fam has been in the window and door market for over 50 years. The company started in artisan carpentry before evolving to specialize in the window and door sector producing wood, PVC, wood-aluminum, and wood-bronze fixtures. The aluminum product line was added in 2019, the company says. That evolution included its production processes by implementing high-tech solutions while still maintaining its commitment to craftsmanship.
Fam produces approximately 50 solid windows a day. And last year, the company installed a vertical hang line in its 8,000-square-meter facility for its window finishing processes.
The line consists of the overhead conveyor, iFlow (Cefla’s impregnator machine with a flow coating system for wood), iGiotto (a high-performance anthropomorphic robot, specially designed to coat large-sized objects) and Forno Di Essicazione FE 2000 hang dryer.
After visiting Ilcam, Cefla Technology Tour particpants were treated to wine samples, lunch and a tour of Le Cantine Vigne di Zamò winery.The overhead conveyor has a double chain, and by moving that chain differently, the operator can easily turn the parts around. iFlow applies four impregnation applications: 1 basecoat and two topcoats, and Fam’s iGiotto is equipped with a 2D scanner, which measures the thickness as well as the longitudinal and vertical angle of the workpiece so that the most suitable coating program can be selected. The entire hang line can hold up to 330 pounds.
Additional shop equipment includes Costa Levigatrici Series K sanding machine, Desofanin MV T300 edgebander, and Record 240 CNC.
For more information on Cefla North America or its finishing products, visit CeflaFinishing.com.
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