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Above left: Leadermac UK is dealing with enquiries from an oak frame building company and a
canal trust for its upgraded Planermac, which has width capacity from 450mm to 1300 mm wide Above right: The business end of the Weinig Powermat 1500
“This is something Leadermac specialises in; with extra high-speed tooling – HSK if requested – increased spindle speeds and extra dust collection points throughout the machine, along with a range of suitable tooling,” said general manager Martyn Cotterill.
SCM said business was little changed in 2023 over 2022, with demand for the range of machines, from entry-level SCM Profisets to six, seven and eight-head Supersets. Despite more demanding market conditions
recently, moulder suppliers say customers still clearly recognise the need for latest technology to increase competitiveness. “Customers need a rock-solid reason for making an investment in the current economic climate,” said Mr Cuthbertson. “However, when there is the solid case of productivity increase, in particular to overcome the shortage of skilled labour, purchasing decisions tend to be quick.” After Covid, Leadermac experienced a slowdown in enquiries, but they picked up in 2023, with its reputation for value for money, it maintains, being one factor. “From customer feedback, we remain price competitive across the range, but especially on the bigger high-speed machines,” said Mr Cotterill.
Mr Dalton said moulder suppliers were also responding to cost increases.
“The industry trend is a mix of [companies] absorbing costs where possible, with some necessary price adjustments to offset increased expenses,” he said. Mr Cotterill took a similar line. “Like all machine manufacturers, we’ve had to increase [prices] due to significant increases in transport and raw materials costs,” he said. “But we’ve kept these to a minimum to maintain our competitive edge.”
Weinig, said Mr Cuthbertson, had absorbed higher costs in general terms, but those for certain outsourced components, especially electrical items, had resulted in small price increases.
Gabriele de Col, managing director of SCM UK, said prices increased from 2021-2023, but were being held so far in 2024. “It’s a big commitment as all SCM products are built in Italy, while most competitors have large parts, if not all production coming from the Far East,” he said. “We’re committed to supplying authentically made in Italy machines, even if we need to make sacrifices.”
The constant through the ebbs and flows of the market, say suppliers, is product development. If anything, more challenging economic conditions heighten the need for it, both to increase market differentiation and help customers become more cost competitive.
“SCM invests 7% of turnover in R&D, and last year in moulders we focused on the development of new software functions and new HMI interfaces capable of facilitating use of the machine and simpler maintenance,” said Mr de Col. “We’ve also introduced IoT Maestro connect, allowing monitoring of operating and productivity data, reducing down time and guaranteeing performance [levels].”
SCM is also developing a new moulder “with additional features and new functionalities”.
“Our focus on developing our ‘bigger machine’ follows our development path, which has already seen the launch of a totally revised small/medium Superset nt,” said Mr de Col.
At the last Ligna exhibition in Hannover,
Weinig launched the Hydromat 4000 series, a machine targeted at the sawmilling sector
with feedspeeds from 200m/min to 400m/min. “It offers an excellent blend of strength, reliability and high performance to customers in this niche sector,” said Mr Cuthbertson, while stressing that Weinig was not just focused on top end innovation. “We’re always looking at all market sectors, from the small craftsman, to large industrial concerns,” he said. “The mid-range Powermat 1500 is constantly being refined, and the Powermat 3000 is able to accommodate virtually every possible application scenario due to a massive range of options and features.”
Leadermac has made further improvements to its Super Planermac, the highest capacity machine in its range. “It offers a max width planing capacity of 450mm, with options to 1300mm, and a thickness capacity of 200mm, with options to 350mm,” said Mr Cotterill. “We’re currently dealing with enquiries for it from oak frame building manufacturers and a canal trust.”
He added that there have been updates too to the 300m/min Super Thundermac, with associated handling technology, and improvements for “optimal production” to the smaller Smartmac and Compact machines. Mr Dalton reports developments across its moulder range, which includes Ledinek, Kuper and SCM machines. “From high-productivity models to compact machines, [it’s being] driven by demand for versatility, precision and customisation.”
Moulder software has also continued to evolve.
The new Weinig Machine Control (WMC) system, the successor to PowerCom, is now available across the company’s range of performance moulders. It is fully integrated with Weinig’s Moulder Master to provide a “seamless paper-free management and ►
www.ttjonline.com | March/April 2024 | TTJ
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