Italian excellence and global vision. These are the distinguishing traits of DMG Meccanica that designs and manufactures machines for the production of stators of electrical motors and alternators. Thanks to the high know-how of the technical personnel, the company can offer customized solutions, working in partnership with customers.
by Elena Corti
With a history lasting for over twenty years, Dmg Meccanica can boast broad competence in the development of machinery for the production of stators. The Company, established in 1992, since the beginning has availed itself of personnel who had already gained experience in the sector and it has progressively grown, up to including a 30-people staff. It started then the production of equipment for the manufacturing of stators of electrical motors and alternators, and in 2006 it inaugurated a new shed taking up about 1,000 square metres, which is the company’s current productive site. More recently, it has also developed specialized products for the sector of high-efficiency motors and alternators, the most advanced line among the three proposed by Dmg Meccanica. “Our products – explains Lorenzo Veglia, sales manager of the company – are mainly intended for the automotive industry, as far as the production of alternators and motors is concerned: over the last few years we have focused, in particular, on the solutions for the implementation of stators for electrical-drive or hybrid vehicles. Regarding instead the other fields to which we address our machines, we can supply the home appliance market and we have customers that produce pumps and compressors. Besides, we supply also companies that produce lift winches”.
Dmg Meccanica, which has an average turnover ranging from 6 to 8 million Euros per year, can offer both stand-alone machines and products integrated with customers’ automated lines and essentially produces upon job order. “One of our prerogatives – states Veglia – is that, starting from an initial project, we succeed in designing each machine according to customers’ requirements, both concerning the technical product specifications and the requested automation level”. This possibility of customizing machinery, defined “tailor automation” by the sales manager, is one of the company’s strong points, together with the technical knowledge about specific products and equipment and the capability of operating on global markets, with an export percentage that reaches 95% of the production. “We mainly export to China (which represents 60% of our turnover) – states Veglia – and to European markets, like Germany, Austria, Hungary, France and Poland. Moreover, we are trying to enter the North American market. In the past we already had experiences in Mexico and now we would like to “see the lie of the land” again, both concerning the automotive industry and the equipment intended for hybrid motors”. Abroad, Dmg Meccanica has set up a sale and service office in Beijing. “In a context in which lots of companies delocalize their productions to China – affirms Veglia – it is important to be present in the Country with a suitable structure, supporting customers both with sale and after sale service activities”. Moreover, just to be closer to its customers, the company is planning to strengthen its presence in the Popular Republic, enlarging the already present local structure. The design, the development and the manufacturing of machines will anyway remain in Italy. “This is a fact that characterizes us – says the sales manager -, it is our feather in the cap and an added value that we propose to customers. We have underlined it also introducing the Italian flag into our logo”. However, how can we remain competitive in a context in which we increasingly turn to the delocalization to low labour cost Countries? Veglia has no doubts. “The high quality of our machines, which is acknowledged by the market, allows us to face the competition and to grow”. Talking about the Italian market, we have asked the sales manager whether the first signs of recovery, which macro-indicators seem to reveal, are really perceivable. “In this time – he explains – our sensation is there is a production recovery but that investments are – as it were – lame. In my opinion, the recovery, due to a shrinkage of production volumes, does not result in investments in the productive capacity of the Italian market, yet, because the latter is not saturated again, yet. I think that it is necessary to wait for some time.
Concerning us, we are confident and we would like to increase the production for Italy: we have noticed some more demands in comparison with one year ago but at present they haven’t given birth to real investments, yet”.
Focusing the attention on the household appliance sector, the company, which has realized also productions for companies operating in the segment of white goods and pumps, is going to enhance its presence in the field of household appliances, exploiting its capability of manufacturing machines for high-efficiency stators. “The interest in consumptions and in the drive efficiency – comments Veglia – is becoming more and more important and our company is specialized in this type of products”. Speaking instead of processes, Dmg bets on their effectiveness to grant high qualitative level solutions. “As mentioned before – explains the sales manager – the machine design phase (both hardware and software and mechanical) is in-house carried out. Concerning instead the base parts of products, we turn to Italian companies that we consider our technical partners. We assemble then the various components in our workshop and we manufacture the specific machine equipment in our productive structure, too. The latter aspect is one of our prerogatives that we deem extremely important: most of the product quality derives in fact from the design and manufacturing of this equipment”. The high qualitative level of products and processes is confirmed by various aspects of the corporate management as well as by the achievement of the ISO 9001: 2008 certification. “While in the past processes were granted by experience – affirms Veglia – now they are certified by a method and by having systematized a whole range of procedures that allow us to have excellence standards in products and to go on improving them in the future”.
A constant partnership activity with customers
The tailored automation by Dmg Meccanica starts from the standard machinery bases and becomes concrete through a deep customization achieved by listening to customers’ needs. “The partnership work- states Veglia – starts with the sending of drafts or products designs by customers. These designs are analysed by our technical office, which proposes both optimizations to enhance the production reliability in automated machines and indications about how to develop the product implementation potentialities. We can for instance obtain better performances from the same motor if the latter is produced by our machines equipped with specific devices”. Dmg Meccanica has received customized solution demands also in the household appliance ambit. “For a company of the appliance industry – adds Veglia – we carried out the engineering and the implementation of machinery for the production of stators for the dryer motor”. Dmg Meccanica constantly works to develop new products in the name of innovation. “Every two years on average – explains the sales manager – we launch new machines characterized by a substantial technical, mechanical and electronic improvement”. The company includes an area with personnel dedicated to the experimentation of new equipment. “It is an area – comments Veglia – that allows us to test the most advanced solutions that we propose then to our customers”. The Turin Company aims at technology innovation, which it protects also with patents. “The patented solution that we are more promoting than all others – permits to wind up motors with numerous wires in parallel, thus allowing very high slot saturations. It is an international patent, deposited in Italy, Europe and China”.
Lean organization and high service level
The organization of Dmg Meccanica is inspired by the theory of the Lean Organization, which allows making the business management more streamlined. “We are oriented towards the Lean – explains Veglia – because, in comparison with our turnover, we use a reduced number of people and we have highly streamlined all the processes that concern bureaucratic activities. Among all employees who work at Dmg, 95% of them rely on technical know-how and are committed to the production and development of machines. This means that a very high percentage of our staff works at creating product added value”. The importance assigned to human resources is witnessed also by the training activities dedicated to the personnel, with activities oriented for instance to the upgrading about software and mechanics.
Another fundamental aspect of Dmg activity is service. “We can grant the spare parts for all the machines that we produce and for all equipment – states Veglia. In particular, we provide customers with all designs concerning the latter, so that they can choose whether to buy the spare parts from us or from another supplier. It is anyway a source of great satisfaction the fact that almost all continue to demand spare parts to Dmg”. Another plus of the company is the logistics management. “We succeed in shipping quickly the requested components – comments the sales manager. We have such experience on markets that we have by now optimized a logistic process that allows us to have safe and fast shipments worldwide”.
