Machinery, tools and equipment supplier Intermac opened its Tech Centre in Daventry, Northamptonshire, for two days in April and invited stone companies to come and see how they could increase efficiency and the quality of their processing.
Through acquisitions and strategic partnerships, Intermac not only offers its own CNC machines and waterjets, it also sells Donatoni bridge saws, Montresor edge polishers, Diamut diamond tools (distributed by Stonegate), and a range of accessories and technical solutions that stone processors can benefit from.
Intermac is part of the Biesse Group, based in Italy, and Biesse has made the decision to establish tech centres, like the one in Daventry, and use them to demonstrate their machines and equipment. This year they decided to invite companies to the tech centres rather than exhibiting at the 50 exhibitions around the world parts of the Biesse group have previously attended. This year, Biesse is exhibiting at just five exhibitions, two of which are for the stone industry. One was earlier in the year in America and the other is Marmo+Mac in Verona 27-30 September. Roberto Vienello, Intermac’s Stone Division Sales Director, said during the tech centre open days that the shows Intermac will be at next year will include a booth at the Natural Stone Show in London.
During the open days on 26 and 27 April there were live demonstrations of:
- a 5-Axis CNC showing cutouts, drainer flutes and polishing
- a 5-Axis waterjet demonstrating mitred cutouts
- a 5-Axis bridge saw performing lift and shift operations and simulations of sawing
- edge polishing including chamfers and variable thickness processing.
One of Intermac's most popular CNCs is the Master 33.3, although when Intermac added a second tier tool holder it added more than half a metre to the width of the machine, which some stone companies found made it too deep to fit into the same space as a previous model when they were replacing their 33s. However, Intermac does also offer the 33 with a single deck tool rack with a 3.9m depth and with a carousel tool rack so the machine is 3.5m deep, although they hold fewer tools.
For some, the Master One is proving popular now it has been fitted with a 15kW spindle for the stone industry. Previously it had a 9.6kW spindle.
Intermac said 20 companies had registered to attend the tech centre open days. One of them was Belgravia Stone in York, and Stone Specialist spoke to Sam Tree and Phil Widdowfield from Belgravia Stone when they visited. Belgravia has just bought a second Donatoni Jet bridge saw, has a Master 38.3 workcentre and a Primus 402 waterjet. Sam and Phil said they had come along particularly to take a close look at the Montresor edge polisher.
Sam and Phil are pictured below talking to Chris Pateman from the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF), which had been invited along to the Intermac open days to talk to visitors about the benefits of WFF membership. Sam and Phil said they were previously aware of the WFF and are considering joining the organisation.
