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RESEARCH AND INNOVATION: RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Veronese company Socomac creates new made-to-measure machinery.

Research and innovation as the driving force for development: the experience of Veronese company Socomac specialising in the production of automation systems for marble and granite processing confirms that this is the way ahead to combat the crisis. An objective attained through close and continual collaboration with client companies processing marble and natural stones involving constant exchanges of experiences and technical comparisons.
"It has been a good year for us," says Ottavio Veronesi, one of the two brother-partners of Socomac, "and this, without doubt, is thanks to our ceaseless commitment in terms of research. Our company has this approach in its DNA, since as early 1956 our father registered patents for the machines he developed and all this was consolidated thanks to continual collaboration with our clients." It is therefore by no means essential to be a large engineering company in order to innovate and take pole position on the market but, rather, ensure constant attention to the needs of clients and have a structure accustomed to taking up innovative challenges. "For Marmi Lanza, for instance," Veronesi explains, "we invented an absolutely innovative three-wire cutting machine: until today, cutting thicknesses were preset, whereas our machine allows continual variation from three up to twenty centimetres, millimetre after millimetre. And changing the cutting thickness does not require handling the wires - everything is performed from the control panel. Different thicknesses can also be set. This helps optimise block cutting and thereby reduce stocks, as well as ensuring thickness flexibility that was impossible until now." The machine has already been replicated several times and its technology has helped develop an equally innovative new product. "We have always achieved a great deal of innovation, since most of our machines are made-to-measure for clients - although we often build machines that remain in the prototype stage. Yet in this case we developed another, much larger cutting machine with 70 wires." Socomac has thereby established a solid reputation as an innovative and innovating company even outside Italy itself. "We export 40-50% of our production more or less all over the world," Veronesi says, "to Spain, even though the country is currently suffering from a major recession, Mexico, Israel, Great Britain, Greece and Portugal. It is difficult to say which markets will be the most interesting in the future; we are currently seeing some ferment in North Africa. And, as regular exhibitors, we naturally expect that Marmomacc will ensure impetus on international markets."



Verona, 14 / 7 / 2010