On 1st and 2nd October, a hundred people a day visited our showroom in Reschigliano, Campodarsego. Five machines in live demonstration, the debut of the Woodpecker Compact and plenty of customers: some had come to decide on their next investment, others simply to catch up.
Every time a machine started up, a crowd would gather around it. This happened in front of the Just 3500, as well as in front of the Performance 2 and the Compact – the big new release at this event.
That’s the image we’re taking home from our Open House: two days spent watching the machines at work, with customers who’d travelled from various countries.
Five machines, in rotation
The demonstrations covered the entire range: the Woodpecker Just 3500, the Woodpecker Mirai 4500, the Woodpecker Performance 2, the Kairos 620 – our machining centre for X-Lam beams and panels – and the new Woodpecker Compact, making its public debut.
The Compact was the most eagerly awaited machine, and the interest was evident. It packs advanced technology into a compact footprint. Within a compact and robust structure, it incorporates an automatic loading and unloading system designed to take up minimal space, whilst maintaining the precision of the finishes and the flexibility of the machining operations.
The clamping unit consists of two carriages with a total of 16 clamps. It operates with a 19 kW T2 vertical electrospindle with a C-axis, and the tool magazine has 64 positions.
Claudio Bugna, a partner at FAB Serramenti in Bersone, Trentino, has a 13-year-old Woodpecker 25 in his workshop that “still works very well”.
The company operates mainly in the Val Rendena and Madonna di Campiglio areas, and he was particularly impressed by the Mirai 4500 – which is more similar to his existing machine – and the Performance 2: “These are the best suited to our company; they produce the right windows for us these days.”
The Mirai is fitted with two motors that can work simultaneously on the same workpiece: a 19 kW main electric spindle and a second 15 kW 5-axis motor.
The Performance has enormous potential: you can configure it yourself according to your needs, and it is certainly a machine that allows you to work non-stop, especially when equipped with magazines.
Matteo Mancin, from Falegnameria Mancin in Pieve del Cairo, in the province of Pavia, also says that their Woodpecker Just 3500 is ten years old and they want to understand what has changed in all this time and which machine could replace it. “If we’re talking about fireworks, it’s definitely the Performance 2,” he says.
“However, our assessment is to put everything we’ve seen into perspective for our own situation, where the ideal machine would be the Just 3500 or the Mirai. That’s the issue we need to resolve.”
The day, he says, served precisely this purpose: “Coming to an event like this gives us a 360-degree view of what the range of available machines might look like.”
Francesc Carreté, owner of Carreté Finestres, was visiting us for the second time. He, too, already owns a Saomad machine, and is looking at the Performance 2 with a specific aim in mind: to automate as much as possible and keep the machine running for longer hours.
That’s why he’s interested in the Everest storage system for loading and the Picking system for multi-level unloading. “I’m pleased to see that Saomad continues to evolve technically, as it always has.”
Visiting from Switzerland were Benno Setz of Setz Fensterbau, Peter Nussbaumer of Nussbaumer Fensterbau AG and Thomas Vetsch of Vetsch Fenster AG. One of them works with a Mirai, another with a model predating the Performance range. What points emerged from their comments?
The Performance range’s dust extraction system, the smart warehouse and the robustness of machines designed to operate almost 24 hours a day, unlike other, lighter models available on the market.
“It requires a greater investment to purchase the machine, but we have greater peace of mind, because Saomad has always chosen to use components of the very highest quality.”
Meeting in person
Not everyone had come for a quote. Some customers just popped in for a visit, to see in person the people they usually speak to on the phone.
Matteo Mancin put it better than we ever could: “I met people I’d never seen face-to-face before, only on the phone. Coming here and seeing a technician or a sales representative on the other side, who smiles at you and comes over to greet you – beyond the working relationship – feels good.”
Also present were our suppliers, including toolmakers and software companies, and many conversations continued during the catering, over a good glass of wine and a plate of rice.
Our owner, Dario Camporese, said he was very pleased with the turnout. Over the two days, negotiations got underway and a number of sales were finalised.
For him, however, the most important outcome was something else: the involvement of customers and suppliers, all together in the same showroom and standing in front of the same machines.
Let’s talk about your project
Non sei riuscito a venire all’Open House, o vuoi riprendere il discorso iniziato in showroom? Raccontaci come lavora oggi il tuo reparto e cosa vorresti migliorare: insieme valuteremo la soluzione più adatta alla tua produzione.
Were you unable to attend the Open House, or would you like to pick up where we left off in the showroom? Tell us how your department operates today and what you’d like to improve: together we’ll assess the solution best suited to your production.
