Phase two is now under way for Ariane Fine Porcelain, the Indian company belonging to the Umberto Ceramics Group that is, just a few years after its start-up, already one of the most dynamic and cutting-edge protagonists in the country’s tableware sector. Following completion of the first phase of the project - which saw Sacmi play a pivotal role with the installation of a complete tableware manufacturing plant - the Group greenlighted a second investment plan that has resulted in the delivery of a brand new PCM 200 ND, a pressure casting plant capable of executing 30 production cycles per hour; this will allow the company to complete its product range, which caters to the high-end market, especially restaurant and hotel chains.
This Indian company’s decision to go with Sacmi stems from the multiple benefits of a technology that allows the manufacture of complex products, such as tableware with irregular shapes and edges, with all the assurances one expects from Sacmi-Sama Maschinenbau pressure casting solutions. Once thought of as ‘pioneering’, this Sacmi Group-developed technology has, in fact, proven to be highly competitive for the production of all tableware items, including even the most complex items with customised design and aesthetics.
The advantages of Sacmi technological solutions also include ultra-fast size changeovers and high levels of process automation. More specifically, the supplied PCM 200 ND – like all the machines in the series designed and built by Sama Maschinenbau, the Sacmi Group company specialising in this field - is characterized by compactness and outstanding automation: all casting and subsequent mould opening/article detachment phases are fully automated, thanks also to the unloading and deburring robot provided as an optional.
The special Sama-designed porous resin used to make the moulds renders the whole process efficient and flexible and allows for the installation of multi-cavity moulds according to size and type of article. It should also be pointed out that the machine can store over 30 different manufacturing programs to make a wide variety of items; these programs can be called up by the operator instantaneously, while the same PCM software allows the plant to be set up quickly during mould changeovers (able to be managed and completed by just one worker).
With no less than 35,000 square metres of manufacturing floor space and a plant that can, at full, capacity, produce 15 million pieces of tableware a year, Ariane Fine Porcelain aims to further strengthen its position in the ‘welcome' industry (hotels, restaurants, retail etc.) both in India and on international markets. The medium-term goals of parent company Umberto Ceramics are, in fact, to export at least 60% of production while, at the same time, offering a high-grade response to demand on the internal market, where most high-end products are currently imported. In terms of output, the aim is to boost production from the current 15 million to 40-45 million pieces a year by 2020, thus opening up further penetration and growth prospects for Sacmi technology in Asia.