Lots of news announced for the 2018 edition of Biesse “Inside”, from 17 to 24 October at the Pesaro campus: starting from duration…Seven days for customers and partners to show the progress made by the Pesaro-based group in digital transformation and production process automation.
“To meet the increasing demand of participation, we have decided to extend the duration of the event, offering everyone the opportunity to visit the Biesse world and the growth opportunities it provides”, said Federico Broccoli, Biesse Wood Division Director/Sales – Subsidiaries Division Director. “We promote, spread and support awareness among customers, to help them realize that they are inside innovation itself, not only as users, but as key actors. We have to ride the current revolution of manufacturing processes and no industry is immune to transformation. All entrepreneurs need to face the inevitable necessity to reconsider their production model. That’s why we want to provide our customers with winning technological assets”.
Visitors will find a five-thousand-square-meter showroom with the most innovative woodworking technologies by Biesse, integrated with and supported by software and services for factory automation and digitalization. More than 30 machines for wood processing, four automated lines for different processes and production batches, software and digital services fully integrated to meet all industry needs. Among the new solutions on display, the “RayForce System” technology for the application of edges on shaped panels using a bonding layer that reacts to infrared lamps. Once again, the big starts of the event will be robotic systems for panel handling, machines controlled by software to handle all operations, capable of working within preset time frames with consistent quality standards.
Biesse will obviously cast their spotlights onto “Sophia”, the service platform for streamlined and optimized work management; launched one year ago, it has aroused much interest and satisfaction, winning several prizes all over the world for its innovative concept. It is worth reminding that, in the past eight months, Biesse has sold more than 1,100 machines – including machining centers, edgebanding machines and panel saws – equipped with “Sophia”.
“We have realized that, to give the best to our customers, we had to evolve sooner and better than everyone else, reorganizing our processes and projects, investing in research and development and in human resources growth plans”, said Stefano Calestani, Service Innovation Director at Biesse. “Another major step were the investments we have made in training and Service careers. On October 18, during the event, we will inaugurate the Biesse Academy for Service, a new Training Center for the entire Biesse Service network that includes the engineers of headquarters, subsidiaries and resellers, as well as customer operators. The first mission of the Academy is to enhance our “junior” roles, young people who have recently joined the company in the Service sector and need to acquire enough skills to start executing service operations independently. We are focused on value creation, supporting the development of skills for future generations with methods that are different from the past“, Calestani continued. “The Academy is a milestone for the growth of talents employed by Biesse, with the goal of improving in-house assets and worldwide Services”.
Biesse have also dedicated part of their resources to the development of a project to host customers at the campus, including a wide range of high-end services, from technical and sales support to the possibility of discovering the technologies and operations deployed by Biesse to support manufacturers. “Our customers are the real protagonists of our business and we will be happy to turn their Campus visit into a total and unique experience”, said Raphaël Prati, Corporate Marketing & Communications Director at Biesse Group; adding: “Biesse Inside 2018 promises to be one of the most important editions in history, reaffirming the innovative approach of our company, aimed at the continuous growth of our customers and ourselves”.
BIESSE ACADEMY
The creation of “Biesse Academy” is definitely one of the flowers in the buttonhole of the next “Biesse Inside”. Located few kilometers from the headquarters, the Services Center in Piazzale De Simoni incorporates classrooms, laboratories and most of all Biesse machines available to the group engineers for training activities, including theory and practice. There will be seven classrooms with a total area of 260 square meters, a 70-square-meter laboratory for practice, 1,400 square meters for training machines (“Rover Edge”, “Akron”, “Stream A”, “Sektor”, “Winstore” will be the first installations, to be followed by “Rover Plast”, “Opera5” and “Eko 2,1” in 2019); another 700 square meters will be taken by Biesse System to install some lines and for pre-installation training. The team currently includes nine people, but it will be expanded rapidly to meet increasing training demand: so far, some 200 courses have already been scheduled, with approximately 900 participants. What’s the origin of this project? In recent years Biesse has been growing fast. The “symptoms” of this success are clearly visible, including the employment of new resources in Italy and in the subsidiaries, and the increase of incoming orders, revenues and market share, confirming the strength of a group that – according to Pesaro officials, “…is the first industry player in Italy and the second worldwide by revenues, with growth rates significantly higher than their competitors”. Biesse’s focus on customer satisfaction, on the search for excellence in service through the digital platform “Sophia” and on the development of their network is the result of investments in strategic assets, including Sales Intelligence, Services, Distribuzione, Marketing and Comunicazione, and most of all, human resources. Biesse has expanded its staff massively, with a current workforce of 4,100 employees globally and constant investments in training and skills development. As mentioned, the first goal for the Academy is to enhance Junior roles, young people who have recently joined Biesse Service and will receive ad-hoc training. They will deal with mechanical, pneumatic, electrotechnical engineering and automation, and then attend courses about wood and its machining operations, ending up with lessons on the installation and ordinary maintenance of Biesse machinery.
“We are committed to creating skills for future generations with a method that introduces a break with the past”, said Stefano Calestani. “Learning by doing was the traditional approach to attract people to our industry, but it often means that they are trained in different ways, not consistent with the organization. As of today, training in the new center will follow a guided track based on standard methods and consistent materials, from documentation to manuals. The big difference is the approach – Calestani adds – and we will define different profiles and specific classes for everyone. It’s a new training process that will start from the basic level, with a group of fresh graduates who will be “able” within six months”.
TALKING ABOUT INNOVATION
Let’s go back to “RayForce System”, which Biesse calls “the new frontier of shaped edgebanding”. The basic concept is clear: today, interior decorations require elegance and perfection, so edges must be flawless. A quality panel requires a perfectly matching edge in terms of color, decoration and finishing. Biesse has developed a brand new technology for the application of edges on shaped panels that, leveraging the properties of infrared rays that activates a functional layer applied to the edges, offers the best finishing quality, minimum power consumption and great ease of use. The elimination of the “glue line” ensures continuity between the edge and the surface, with a visual result of excellent and consistent quality. Production costs are much lower than standard glue-based technologies; furthermore, the system requires no maintenance, is clean and eliminates the waiting time for glue heating, besides minimizing the influence of environmental conditions. “RayForceSystem” requires a much smaller investment compared to laser technology and is much easier and safer to use. Unlike laser systems, its flexibility also allows to use traditional techniques with Eva or Pur glues, changing the setup quickly and easily. This new technology adds to the edgebanding capabilities of the “AirForce System” by Biesse for the application of straight edges, covering the entire spectrum of requirements in this type of processes.
To register: https://bit.ly/2CP1ytz.
