Sacmi grows in Spain with higher sales and new customers

The Sacmi Group closed 2016 with further growth in sales in the Spanish ceramic market, with all types of machines in its range contributing to the upturn.

A total of 9 high energy efficiency EKO kilns were installed in Spain during the year, along with 11 hydraulic presses (largely presses for large sizes) and 7 horizontal and vertical multilayer dryers. The Group also sold 7 modular mills in the two-year period 2015-2016 and 4 spray dryers, including the latest-generation ATM 250 model specially designed for the needs of the Spanish market. The first ATM 250 mill along with two MMC 180 modular mills was installed in the Cenusa-Stylnul Group’s facility.

Continua+ technology for the production of large ceramic panels is also becoming increasingly well-established in Spain. Following the start-up of the first line at Inalco in 2014, a second line was installed at Baldocer in late 2016, while a third will be installed during 2017 at the factory of Living Ceramics, a new customer for Sacmi. In all, around thirty Continua+ lines have been installed worldwide.

One of the Group’s biggest successes in the Spanish market in 2016 was the new partnership with Spain’s largest tile manufacturer Pamesa Group, which following the acquisition of Tau Ceramica in May 2016 commissioned Sacmi to upgrade the Taulell brand plant. This major order included an ATM 250, PH 6500, PH 7500 and PH 10000 presses for the production of large sizes, three 33.9 metre ECP 307 dryers and three EKO kilns of various lengths with an entrance width of 3500 mm. Sacmi-NuovaFima brand equipment supplied also includes solutions for handling and storage, including LGV vehicles for handling fired and unfired, packaged and palletised products.

Further major orders secured during the year included modernisation of the Colorker lines with the start-up of a new EKO kiln and two five-channel horizontal dryers (length 28.2 m), and orders from longstanding customers such as Porcelanosa, Argenta, Ceramica Saloni and Peronda. Porcelanosa in particular commissioned Sacmi to renovate all the handling equipment at the Monker facility, while Ceramica Saloni commissioned a new complete plant consisting of presses, dryer, kiln, squaring/chamfering plant, sorting and handling line and end-of-line equipment.

Claudio Marani, General Manager of Sacmi Group, commented: "The results achieved are doubly significant. On the one hand, Sacmi has continued to perform strongly amongst longstanding customers and with the machines for which it has traditionally maintained a leadership role such as presses, kilns and dryers. On the other, it has gained the confidence of both new customers and longstanding partners in the handling solutions segment, allowing it to strengthen its role as an all-round supplier in this market. It has entered market areas previously dominated by competitors and laid the foundations to repeat these extraordinary results in terms of quantity and quality of sales in 2017."