to cool down some components of a
nuclear plant. They had to create a
whitworth type threading on pipes of
considerable dimensions (in length as
well as in diameter) and effect operations
of beveling and profile shaping of the
housing. Carrying out this type of work
with a conventional machine would mean
not only disassembling and transporting
the pipes to a workshop but also
adapting the workshop to the length of
these pipes.
Despite the demolishing of a wall in the
workshop, the setting up of the machine
and the complicated positioning of the
first pipe on the machine, the technicians
of the American company were not
able to effect the job, all due to the
constraints that the traditional machining
processes imposes. They needed an
alternative solution. They found the
solution in Sir Meccanica’s TOP 400.
Two engineers leave from Chicago to
come to Italy to effect the tests on the
machines. They return to Illinois with a
very positive response and the American
company immediately sends an order for
two TOP 400. The result is that thanks
to its big versatility, to the fact that it
is portable and above all to the CNC
controller, in 93 minutes the TOP 400 has
effected threading, beveling and profile
shaping of the pipes, directly on-site,
thus completely turning over the concept
of machining: the machine has been
applied on the piece and not vice versa.
The advantages are evident: drastic
reduction in machining time and
consequently in downtime; cost
reduction, including those for
disassembling, transportation and
reassembling of the pipes. Moreover, this
has created new opportunities for A.C.T.
and has opened the way to new sectors.
All this would not have been possible
without Sir Meccanica’s machine tools.
Before A.C.T., Sir Meccanica’s machine
tools were appreciated by another
American company, Parker, a giant in
the hydraulics sector that operates in
different contexts. Parker has resorted
to the TOP 200 in order to resolve
maintenance problems of big pipes on
big ships: the repair is effected directly
on board ship, without the elevated
costs to disassemble the system in order
to have it repaired in the workshop or
even to have it replaced. With Parker
there is a relationship of cooperation and
mutual trust. Today, following the specific
requests of Parker’s technicians, there
are 11 “customized” Top 200 used in
their branches all over the world.
The revolutionary idea of “bringing” the
machine tool where there is a piece to
be repaired, which is at the base of Sir
Meccanica’s successes, finds application
not only in the big construction site or
shipyard but also in what could seem as
a moderate job, i.e the emergency repair
of the “giants of the road”. In this sector,
we find the Canadian Bajwa for which
the most part of the emergency calls are
for repair or replacement of wheel axles
on articulated trucks and trailers. Unless
the truck is transported to the closest
workshop capable of effecting the repair,
the only possibility is to intervene on the
road with the appropriate equipment
to repair and rebuild the wheel axles
on-site. All this while taking into
consideration the importance of being
precise in order to ensure the perfect fit
of bearings, threadings and keyways.
This is why Bajwa has contacted Sir
Meccanica and has become a leader in
its sector thanks to the full CNC TOP
400 that “creates” a new axle while the
amazed truck drivers assist to the repair,
which will incredibly put them back on
the road after only a few hours.
There are not only foreign companies
among Sir Meccanica’s victories, even
though 85% of the sales are made
abroad. Criotec is a company in Turin
with very high competences in the
criogenic sector (process of generating
cold temperatures below -150°C).
Just to be more clear, Criotec has created
the thermal shields for the super magnet
cryostat CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid)
installed at point 5 of the LHC (Large
Hadron Collider) in Geneva. These
shields are cooled with liquid azote up to
77 K that form a thermal radiation shield
a the cold mass of the solenoid, cooled
to 4.2 K. Criotec needed a customized
machine tool, that would be precise
and handy and have the capacity of
repeating, millions of times, the same
movements to prepare the pipes for
the creation of the coils installed in the
atomic accelerator plants. These are
very particular pipes which are 500
meters long, with square sections of
small dimensions and for which the
material cannot be contaminated. The
TOP 200 with CNC Controller, customized
with a double tool (automatic change)
has resolved the problem.
Story of Challenge and Innovation
The story of Sir Meccanica and its
founder, Rinaldo Siracusa, is of an
emigration backwards. He was born and
formed in Piacenza. During the sixties,
he moves to Catanzaro in Calabria for
work and brings with him the culture of
mechanics, a precious heritage which
will become useful when, for personal
reasons, he decides to remain in a
region from where people were leaving
in search of a job. Instead, he creates
work, for himself and for others, just
like a good businessman. This year Sir
Meccanica celebrates its 25 years of
activity. The examples that we have
narrated are only a few among many
that this company has in its story, but
they should be enough to give an idea of
the innovation that a businessman and
its company have been able to introduce
in an old instrument such as a lathe.
A simple idea, but at the same time
revolutionary, just like the invention of
the wheel, has been sufficient to reverse
what seemed to be an unchangeable
productive process.
(Published on February 16th, 2016
on “IlSole24ore”, an important
Italian Economic-Financial
newspaper)
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T. +39 0961 769696
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Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sirmeccanica.com
Issue 19 PECM
91