The concept of the result even before the solution: this is the operational philosophy pursued by Gruppo Comestero Sistemi, through competences, investments and a properly structured organization, which today can benefit from a larger and better equipped technical and R&D laboratory.
by Gianandrea Mazzola
160 workers, 4 companies, 3 manufacturing sites and a commercial network developed in over 30 Countries in the world make Gruppo Comestero Sistemi an international reference reality in the co-design, production and sale of the best electromechanical components and in the development of innovative technical solutions for industry. Parent company of this holding joined by NSF (with headquarters in the United Kingdom), PentaGroup and Phidrive, is Comestero Sistemi, established in 1976, and soon evolved from the distribution of electrical and electromechanical components to the production of systems for connection, EMI/RFI filtering and ventilation. «The Group’s target – the marketing and sales manager, Matteo Laboccetta, states – has always been redefining the conventional relationship between customer and supplier in the market of technologies for industry, to become a partner even more than an exclusive provider. A precise strategic mission that has allowed the Group to reach and to consolidate a reference role on the market, besides providing competences in more than 40 product sectors. Among them, also those linked and connected with the household appliance industry. «A sector –Laboccetta comments – that in recent years, together with the Horeca segment, has shown a constant growth, to the extent of representing for Comestero over 40% of its turnover». A positive outcome, fruit of the constant widening of solutions, consisting of components and services, that the company managed to integrate in its commercial and manufacturing proposal. Activities allowed by a suitably structured organization along the whole chain provided for by the product development cycle, today benefitting also from a technical and R&D laboratory, with spaces recently enlarged and renovated by the headquarters at Vimercate (MB) of the parent company Comestero Sistemi.
Innovation and R&D drive the competitiveness
«Investing in R&D activities –Laboccetta adds– has always represented for our Group a priority, which not only enables constant innovation but also allows succeeding in being ahead of market requirements enhancing our expertise, quality and competitiveness, ours and of our customers». In the 200 m² of the new laboratory, merge not only the technical part by Comestero Sistemi but also by PhiDrive (company of the Group relying on patents for piezoelectric-based motors and specialized in the design and development of highly innovative products) and by PentaGroup (that works at the customization and assembling of electric and electromechanical components). «An open space – explains Stefano Seghezzi, production division of Comestero Sistemi – where already existing tools and equipment have been redistributed, in addition to the integration of new analysis technologies. Among already present ones, stands out the machine for tests concerning fire risks, Glow-Wire-Test, fundamental for the white good world, used for both the qualification of new materials and for the control of components’ conformity. Still in plastic ambit, we are equipped with a machine to carry out tests for the determination of resistance indexes of solid insulating materials to surface currents, the Tracking Index Test».
They are also joined by 3D printers, of which one with stereolithography technology for precision and aesthetical applications. «The other –Seghezzi specifies– recently purchased, prints with FDM technology, fused deposition modelling, and allows implementing components made of certified thermoplastic materials such as PLA, ABS ASA, FDM TPU 92A. Sturdy, durable and dimensionally stable components that enable the required repeatability and stability, besides complying with the most severe certification standards and overcoming the most challenging tests».
Technological tools that permit the company to supply an excellence service in the 3D rapid prototyping and, due to its team made up by 8 people, specialized engineers and technicians, to offer support for the design and identification of materials, besides FEM analyses that are structural fluid-dynamic (CFD) and magnetic, and product optimizations (OpthoPHI).
Moreover, in the upgraded laboratory, Comestero Sistemi makes available also some dedicated zones for mechanical assembling and to facilitate projects where the electromechanical and electronic part is at stake, as well as the development of programming logics.
Competences and innovation in synergy
Therefore, Comestero Sistemi can currently boast an even better structured in-house laboratory, able to carry out all main tests in design, prototyping and production ambit.
«A very important choice –Laboccetta highlights – that results for customers in higher reliability, safety and concrete time saving. The competences gained, with the support of instruments, equipment as well as of analysis systems for the calculation of the behaviour of a product, can make the difference in a technological scenario increasingly oriented to innovation».
An added value that for customers becomes concrete in the possibility of obtaining crucial indications about the performances and the reliability of a technical solution, identifying its highlights and criticalities even before the prototype is shaped.
«Besides the new laboratory –Laboccetta ends– we have recently set up also a new division dedicated to the e-commerce and a new sale channel, Comestero.Shop. It too a further growth step for the customer service».
