Karen McIntyre03.05.21
Simec Group has always been a world-known reference point for the production of embossing rolls, thanks to the wide range of solutions offered to customers and the ability to process rolls weighing up to 25 tons and engraved tables up to 7000 mm.
Simec Group can perform machining both with traditional type engravings and with chemical or combined processes, depending on the type of pattern requested by the customer, thus working rollers with different types of materials which can then be treated with processes such as gas nitriding or quenching. Thanks to the engraving technologies owned by the company, thermal-treated or pre-treated rollers can be worked on after the engraving process. It is also possible to work alongside customers from the engraving research stage up to the creation of pilot rollers and on to the final processing of the production roll.
Nonwovens Industry spoke to Marco Paratico, sales manager embossing at Simec about his company’s role in the nonwovens and how its services have continued to evolve more than 50 years after entering the market.
Can you start by telling me a little bit more about Simec and your services to the nonwovens industry?
We have been operating in embossing rollers sector since 1967, mainly serving the non-woven, tissue, technical film and aluminum markets. Over the last few years we have invested €5million in this segment, acquiring almost all the technologies available in order to offer every possible solution to our customers and their R&D departments: any type of engraving, reverse engineering of products and rolls, development of patterns of all kinds, design vibrations simulation, prototypes and pilot rolls.
Our factories are equipped with the most advanced machinery, allowing us to carry out traditional mechanical engravings with tools made in-house, live cut engravings, direct laser engravings and combined laser-corrosion engravings, achieving incomparable precision of geometry, without dimensional limits; we engrave rolls up to 7000 mm of engraved table, 1000 mm of diameter and 25 tons, both on soft and pre-hardened material.
Years ago, we took the road towards a production that includes most of the phases, maintaining the control of those that cannot be internalized for obvious reasons of competence: for 60 years we have been producing and engraving cylinders for over 35 industries. For some applications, we have achieved complete autonomy by producing in-house even the machinery used in our factories.
How has your business and your relationship with your customers evolved in recent years?
Simec's goal has always been to become a reference point for the most important end-users and OEMs in the NW sector, being a technological partner rather than simply a product provider.
We not only offer all our customers high quality rollers on an ongoing basis, we also support them in the development of new products with innovative designs that follow or anticipate market trends.
Our model has proved successful and led us to be recognized as strategic and consolidated partners of the biggest players in the sector.
How do you see technology playing a part in your future relationships with customers?
Know-how, cutting-edge technology and processes digitization, especially in new product design and manufacturing, is the key to success in any present and future relations with all our customers.
Then communications. The cancellation of trade fairs and events around the world has led to a discontinuity in supplier-customer communications, depriving existing relationships of a fundamental element: proximity. Collaborating remotely on technically advanced projects or defining the pattern that best serves a given purpose is not easy. As far as we are concerned, we launched two years ago our MyEMBOSS, a real "personal styler" of cylinders. It is a software entirely designed in-house which enable a four-handed cylinder design, browsing through a sample book of over 750 patterns. Its output can also be selected as a starting point to give life to new ideas and new ornamental models. Advice, design, just-in-time quotations: all in just a few clicks and from your own desk.
Where do you see the most growth coming from the future?
The market for disposable hygiene products (diapers) and nonwovens for personal care is undergoing a substantial change that concerns above all the aesthetic/visual aspect of the product. This market requires customization according to the geographical area of distribution of each product.
Moreover, OEMs tend to supply machines more and more engineered to manufacture tailor-made products: the flexibility and versatility that Simec offers through its range of engraved rollers play an important role in the achievement of these goals.
Can you talk a little bit about how your geographical presence is changing? What are the big growth markets for Simec
Our presence in the EMEA region remains strong, we are pushing to develop the African and South American region.
The super-premium quality and high technological level of our rollers is also attracting companies with a strong presence in South-East Asia.
How will this shape your investment strategy?
Reinvesting our turnover in R&D is a must. The main purpose is to offer our customers a range of increasingly high-performance cylinders. We will develop local presence in the various countries through our agents but we will maintain our 100% Made in Italy label.
How is your experience able to benefit your customers in the nonwovens industry?
Our industrial capabilities and in-depth experience in the non-woven sector allow us to support all-round our customers, from the idea development to the production of cylinders.
Thanks to the know-how of our technicians and our state-of-the-art laboratory, we can transform a picture or a google image into a pattern or make a three-dimensional analysis of a given sample to define its pattern and the different engraving depths: in both cases we proceed with a two-dimensional design and a 3D rendering of the engraving with the related vibration simulation. Once the optimal parameters have been identified, the most suitable engraving technique is selected and a prototype roller can be produced to be eventually tested on the customer's pilot line. If the product corresponds to the customer's requirements, the next step is series production.
How have you enhanced your business and your services to your customers in recent months?
Despite the excellent quality of our products and our technologically advanced solutions, we manage to maintain a very competitive price, which attracts buyers from all over the world. The quality/price ratio remains high thanks to our cost-cutting measures: automation, digitization and lean factories.
It has always been essential for us to re-invest our profits in the R&D of new technologies and innovative solutions. We have recently expanded our numerical control machinery and acquired a robot to automate the construction of roller bodies and journals: it works in a continuous cycle while minimizing error margins, thus we increase the components production capacity by 40% and reduce order processing times.
This is a significant enhancement of our Embossing department; our technicians and specialised operators will be able to concentrate all their efforts and attention on the design and creation of innovative patterns and engravings to maximize the expected results.
Specifically, can you discuss your offerings to the baby diaper market and why Simec has become a valued partner in this market?
Hygiene industry players are tending more and more to skim suppliers and to select companies that can offer as many solutions as possible to their needs.
That’s why Simec Group could be the best partner possible: we have invested in state-of-the-art engraving technology and we specialized in the production of rollers necessary to manufacture a diaper:
TNT for topsheet and backsheetproduced with embossing rollers with traditional patterns or with patterns developed together with the customer to meet the technical requirements of the product but also the aesthetic ones which are very important to differentiate on the market. Moreover, thanks to our know-how and the versatility of our engraving technology, we can produce engraved rolls with ornamental patterns requested by the customer or new ideas proposed by our R&D department.
Plastic filmproduced with micro-embossed rollers that we manufacture according to customer's drawing, engraved with traditional patterns or with those developed by us for this specific product: innovative engravings that create a product with better opacity characteristics and with a softness touch sensation much higher than the standard.
Printing on plastic filmthanks to our anilox rollers which transfer the ink on the surface to obtain designs of various sizes and shapes.
We do not limit ourselves only to emboss a diaper raw material, but we also take care of assembling them together by manufacturing rollers for ultrasonic welding of the different layers for the production of several types of diapers.
Do you offer any services to customers after the point of sale?
Simec Group wants to be a consultant at any stage of the operating life of a cylinder, from the development of the idea to the moment when the need for a rebuild arises. This largely includes the configuration and production or re-engraving of the roller, but also the analysis of any problems presumably related to engraving during its working life.
Our in-depth knowledge of the relevant industrial sector and of the operating mechanisms of the systems, as well as a consolidated relationship with the OEMs, allow us to analyze a problem from any perspective and to examine all the variables, always acting as a partner rather than a supplier.
Simec Group can perform machining both with traditional type engravings and with chemical or combined processes, depending on the type of pattern requested by the customer, thus working rollers with different types of materials which can then be treated with processes such as gas nitriding or quenching. Thanks to the engraving technologies owned by the company, thermal-treated or pre-treated rollers can be worked on after the engraving process. It is also possible to work alongside customers from the engraving research stage up to the creation of pilot rollers and on to the final processing of the production roll.
Nonwovens Industry spoke to Marco Paratico, sales manager embossing at Simec about his company’s role in the nonwovens and how its services have continued to evolve more than 50 years after entering the market.
Can you start by telling me a little bit more about Simec and your services to the nonwovens industry?
We have been operating in embossing rollers sector since 1967, mainly serving the non-woven, tissue, technical film and aluminum markets. Over the last few years we have invested €5million in this segment, acquiring almost all the technologies available in order to offer every possible solution to our customers and their R&D departments: any type of engraving, reverse engineering of products and rolls, development of patterns of all kinds, design vibrations simulation, prototypes and pilot rolls.
Our factories are equipped with the most advanced machinery, allowing us to carry out traditional mechanical engravings with tools made in-house, live cut engravings, direct laser engravings and combined laser-corrosion engravings, achieving incomparable precision of geometry, without dimensional limits; we engrave rolls up to 7000 mm of engraved table, 1000 mm of diameter and 25 tons, both on soft and pre-hardened material.
Years ago, we took the road towards a production that includes most of the phases, maintaining the control of those that cannot be internalized for obvious reasons of competence: for 60 years we have been producing and engraving cylinders for over 35 industries. For some applications, we have achieved complete autonomy by producing in-house even the machinery used in our factories.
How has your business and your relationship with your customers evolved in recent years?
Simec's goal has always been to become a reference point for the most important end-users and OEMs in the NW sector, being a technological partner rather than simply a product provider.
We not only offer all our customers high quality rollers on an ongoing basis, we also support them in the development of new products with innovative designs that follow or anticipate market trends.
Our model has proved successful and led us to be recognized as strategic and consolidated partners of the biggest players in the sector.
How do you see technology playing a part in your future relationships with customers?
Know-how, cutting-edge technology and processes digitization, especially in new product design and manufacturing, is the key to success in any present and future relations with all our customers.
Then communications. The cancellation of trade fairs and events around the world has led to a discontinuity in supplier-customer communications, depriving existing relationships of a fundamental element: proximity. Collaborating remotely on technically advanced projects or defining the pattern that best serves a given purpose is not easy. As far as we are concerned, we launched two years ago our MyEMBOSS, a real "personal styler" of cylinders. It is a software entirely designed in-house which enable a four-handed cylinder design, browsing through a sample book of over 750 patterns. Its output can also be selected as a starting point to give life to new ideas and new ornamental models. Advice, design, just-in-time quotations: all in just a few clicks and from your own desk.
Where do you see the most growth coming from the future?
The market for disposable hygiene products (diapers) and nonwovens for personal care is undergoing a substantial change that concerns above all the aesthetic/visual aspect of the product. This market requires customization according to the geographical area of distribution of each product.
Moreover, OEMs tend to supply machines more and more engineered to manufacture tailor-made products: the flexibility and versatility that Simec offers through its range of engraved rollers play an important role in the achievement of these goals.
Can you talk a little bit about how your geographical presence is changing? What are the big growth markets for Simec
Our presence in the EMEA region remains strong, we are pushing to develop the African and South American region.
The super-premium quality and high technological level of our rollers is also attracting companies with a strong presence in South-East Asia.
How will this shape your investment strategy?
Reinvesting our turnover in R&D is a must. The main purpose is to offer our customers a range of increasingly high-performance cylinders. We will develop local presence in the various countries through our agents but we will maintain our 100% Made in Italy label.
How is your experience able to benefit your customers in the nonwovens industry?
Our industrial capabilities and in-depth experience in the non-woven sector allow us to support all-round our customers, from the idea development to the production of cylinders.
Thanks to the know-how of our technicians and our state-of-the-art laboratory, we can transform a picture or a google image into a pattern or make a three-dimensional analysis of a given sample to define its pattern and the different engraving depths: in both cases we proceed with a two-dimensional design and a 3D rendering of the engraving with the related vibration simulation. Once the optimal parameters have been identified, the most suitable engraving technique is selected and a prototype roller can be produced to be eventually tested on the customer's pilot line. If the product corresponds to the customer's requirements, the next step is series production.
How have you enhanced your business and your services to your customers in recent months?
Despite the excellent quality of our products and our technologically advanced solutions, we manage to maintain a very competitive price, which attracts buyers from all over the world. The quality/price ratio remains high thanks to our cost-cutting measures: automation, digitization and lean factories.
It has always been essential for us to re-invest our profits in the R&D of new technologies and innovative solutions. We have recently expanded our numerical control machinery and acquired a robot to automate the construction of roller bodies and journals: it works in a continuous cycle while minimizing error margins, thus we increase the components production capacity by 40% and reduce order processing times.
This is a significant enhancement of our Embossing department; our technicians and specialised operators will be able to concentrate all their efforts and attention on the design and creation of innovative patterns and engravings to maximize the expected results.
Specifically, can you discuss your offerings to the baby diaper market and why Simec has become a valued partner in this market?
Hygiene industry players are tending more and more to skim suppliers and to select companies that can offer as many solutions as possible to their needs.
That’s why Simec Group could be the best partner possible: we have invested in state-of-the-art engraving technology and we specialized in the production of rollers necessary to manufacture a diaper:
TNT for topsheet and backsheetproduced with embossing rollers with traditional patterns or with patterns developed together with the customer to meet the technical requirements of the product but also the aesthetic ones which are very important to differentiate on the market. Moreover, thanks to our know-how and the versatility of our engraving technology, we can produce engraved rolls with ornamental patterns requested by the customer or new ideas proposed by our R&D department.
Plastic filmproduced with micro-embossed rollers that we manufacture according to customer's drawing, engraved with traditional patterns or with those developed by us for this specific product: innovative engravings that create a product with better opacity characteristics and with a softness touch sensation much higher than the standard.
Printing on plastic filmthanks to our anilox rollers which transfer the ink on the surface to obtain designs of various sizes and shapes.
We do not limit ourselves only to emboss a diaper raw material, but we also take care of assembling them together by manufacturing rollers for ultrasonic welding of the different layers for the production of several types of diapers.
Do you offer any services to customers after the point of sale?
Simec Group wants to be a consultant at any stage of the operating life of a cylinder, from the development of the idea to the moment when the need for a rebuild arises. This largely includes the configuration and production or re-engraving of the roller, but also the analysis of any problems presumably related to engraving during its working life.
Our in-depth knowledge of the relevant industrial sector and of the operating mechanisms of the systems, as well as a consolidated relationship with the OEMs, allow us to analyze a problem from any perspective and to examine all the variables, always acting as a partner rather than a supplier.