A complete restyling of the elliptical sprayer “EliSpray” and “Smartcoater PRO”, a new roller machine for shaped surfaces, are the two innovations that demonstrate how even during the difficult times of the pandemic it is possible to continue to innovate …
Roberto Bolognini
The words of Roberto Bolognini, Sales Manager of Cefla Finishing summarize very well the message of one of the most famous brands in the world for the quality of its finishing solutions. “For us, innovating is a duty, because we always want to be one step ahead. And perhaps this is the distinctive feature of our group, innovating in many areas and in very different processes to always be the first!”, the manager tells us without hesitation. “The size of the company helps us and our shoulders are broad enough to be able to go into the development of products in the various types of applications, thanks also to our “Cefla Lab“, today more than ever the beating heart of our work, which allows us to experiment , to combine, to confront and demonstrate what we are doing, what we can propose with the most effective digital communication technologies“.
Thus began our interview, obviously online, to take stock of how Cefla is experiencing this season: “Smart working is proving to be absolutely effective for a reality like ours that relies on people who work in Pesaro, Imola, in Udine, Valvasone and Bergamo, without counting branches and representations abroad. Efficiency is high and we are considering with great attention how this mode could prove to be successful even when the emergency is over, becoming an absolutely necessary tool to complement in-person contacts.
We have equipped ourselves to continue to be effective in such a dramatic and absolutely “demanding” situation even for businesses, continuing to improve our products. I am thinking of the complete restyling of our “Elispray“, the elliptical sprayer for very high productivity on which we are noticing a lot of interest from large industrial groups, rather than the new roller solutions that today allow us to apply the fund with excellent results even on shaped surfaces, solutions that we were able to define thanks also to the help of Roberto Sorbini, business line manager of all our roller technologies“.
Roberto Sorbini
THE “SOFT ROLL”
“In recent months we have redefined our roller machine platform, the subject of a very important design and engineering process”, Roberto Sorbini intervenes. “Today with this method of application it is possible to obtain unthinkable results, such as the possibility of applying the base coat even on shaped surfaces thanks to particularly soft rollers. With our “Soft roll” mounted on the new “Smartcoater Pro” we can avoid the spray application of solvent-based products and achieve optimal results with much lower quantities. In this way we not only reduce emissions and paint consumption, but we need more limited spaces and surfaces ready to be finished with a sprayer, achieving a very high quality finish.
A process that allows us to intervene on surfaces and edges, so that after sanding and spraying we have our doors or our finished panels, perfectly homogeneous and with harder, more resistant surfaces, because the UV product we use for the application a roller determines a higher surface resistance than that obtainable with polyurethane products or water.
An innovative cycle, which we started testing only a few months ago but which is already operational by several customers, with very important results in terms of quality and productivity “.
“Keep in mind – continues Sorbini – that we apply an average of 20 grams per square meter of UV product, against the approximately 250 needed to obtain the same quality with spray applications. Although an acrylic product has a higher cost than a polyurethane we can still say that in the end, in real terms, the saving is a good 35-40 percent.
A solution that, we are sure, will make a lot of talk about itself among door and cabinet manufacturers, also because we are talking about something that no one had ever thought of, made possible by the redesign of the entire range of our roller machines, which today they are able to exert a greater thrust on the surface to be treated, thus making certain applications possible… “.
“ELISPRAY”
A “re-design” process which, as Roberto Bolognini told us, also involved “Elispray”, “… an elliptical sprayer that was already in our catalog – specifies the Sales Manager of Cefla Finishing – but that for some years had been “clouded” by the advent of oscillating machines, machines that are easier to manage, until the demand for extremely productive solutions returned, a trend that convinced us to review the project to make it a very performing machine, completely new and with several choices of cutting-edge technologies“.
Cristian Giovannini
CRISTIAN GIOVANNINI
“Even on the sprayers we did not stand still – says Product Manager Cristian Giovannini – and with the new” Elispray “we went to look at that part of the demand for which high productivity is essential, machines with speeds from 8 to 18-20 meters per minute, therefore well beyond the possibilities of normal sprayers.
Needless to say to his readers that speed is linked to various factors, but with the new “Elispray” it is possible to reach extreme productivity without running into the problems that other solutions encounter at certain speeds. Let me explain: with some of our sprayers we have gone well beyond the threshold of 10 meters per minute, but it is inevitable that there will be significant drops in their performance, because as speed increases, consumption also increases and the quality of the result decreases.
By redesigning the “Elispray” we have defined a series of interventions that have allowed us to reach high speeds without any deterioration in quality, thanks to the different way in which the paint is deposited on the surface of the piece, guaranteeing an almost constant performance“.
How did you do it?
“It is easy to say: in an oscillating sprayer the axes move back and forth and each time they reach the end of their stroke they must slow down, stop and accelerate again in the opposite direction, a sequence that imposes a higher axis speed to make up for lost time. The elliptical path in the “Elispray”, on the other hand, is continuous, without accelerations and direction reversals, so the speed of the guns can be much lower for the same production. This allows to increase the efficiency of the machine, because the paint dispensed by a gun moving at a lower speed is not disturbed by the movement of the head. Added to this is the choice of putting a greater number of guns in the carousel, so as to be able to give much closer and well overlapping “brush strokes”, even going so far as to overcome the possible problem of a temporarily clogged nozzle.
Not only that: we can work with twelve guns for each single power supply circuit, and two distinct circuits, giving the machine an excellent configurability which also makes it rather flexible; while as regards overspray filtration, you can opt for the dry or water system“.
Rullo morbido
THE SCENERY
“Flexibility is the watchword that applies to all our customers, regardless of their needs or size“, Roberto Bolognini intervenes. “Having a very complete range of products, we can give everyone the ideal solution, the line they need, even in a difficult period like the current one, a phase of uncertainty that began before the pandemic, last June, with a gradual slowdown in orders from all markets. Things went better for the demand of the “big customers”, more inclined to plan investments from year to year according to consolidated production logics and which are less affected by current events, however strong and dramatic.
The “Covid-19” has weighed and is undoubtedly weighing more on small and medium-sized businesses, more subject to uncertainties and cautions, a situation that in fact tells us why we have pushed above all towards a certain scenario of innovation with the “Elispray”.
We must not, however, make a bundle of every herb because in certain markets, such as North America, we have seen the stop of large corporations, while smaller companies have continued to invest. In Europe it is exactly the opposite and it is the “big names”, giants of distribution on a planetary scale that are not marking time.
In China we are experiencing an intermediate situation, with large companies and groups that maintain a high demand that is certainly eroded, in the medium-low range, by the increasingly significant national production of machines and systems for painting and more.
How will it go? Where will we meet? Difficult to say: the new accentuation of the contagion is redefining once again modalities, parameters, habits, possibilities. Never as today will we continue to question ourselves about what this market needs, ready to change course whenever necessary, knowing that we have the skills and tools to make our solutions always “attractive”.“
