Officine Smac continues to grow in 2024

Tailor-made plant design and increasingly digitalised machinery have strengthened Smac’s position in ceramic tile and clay brick decoration.

Officine Smac of Fiorano Modenese closed 2024 on a positive note, once again achieving growth and replicating the strong sales performance of the previous year.

The company, which specialises in systems, equipment and automation for glazing ceramic tiles, bricks, roof tiles and other materials, has successfully navigated the downturn in the global ceramic market due to its ability to design and build fully customised plants. As a result, Smac has completed several commercially important and technically complex projects, demonstrating the know-how it has developed over more than 55 years. In the ceramic tile sector, the most dynamic markets for Smac last year were Italy, Turkey and Southeast Asia.

Over the course of the year, the company further strengthened its longstanding presence in the brick and roof tile sector, both in Europe and in non-European markets. Sales were driven in particular by technologies for glazing and decorating antique-effect bricks, an increasingly popular product in Europe that is now also gaining traction in a number of Far Eastern markets where Smac has identified and met growing demand.

In 2024, under the leadership of Fulvio Masini, the company also saw an increase in sales in non-ceramic manufacturing sectors, including wood, plastic and metal.

The company also focused strongly on research and development last year, culminating in the presentation of several innovations at Tecna 2024. One of these is a plotter designed to decorate skirting board edges using water-based inks suitable for application onto the finished product. Another is a solution for digitally printing logos on washbasins and WCs either before or after firing, using ceramic inks or UV inks respectively.