Although Prima’s brands of 2D and 3D laser profiling machines have long been sold in the UK, as have punch and combination presses from its subsidiary Finn Power, its UK operation in Coventry (024 7664 5588) had recently come to suffer from poor sales and, particularly during the occasions when a laser profiler was installed for demonstration purposes, cramped facilities.
Carlo Del Carretto, general manager, Prima Power UK, recalls: “[The period] 2013-4 was really poor, in terms of order acquisition. Myself and the top management were concerned that something radical had to be done.”
After looking for larger premises in Coventry without success, the company was eventually able to knock through into the adjacent industrial unit at Phoenix Park in Bayton Road, after it was vacated by the previous owner. In May, an Open House event officially launched this remodelled and expanded 600 m2 facility, whose new showroom boasts a 6 kW 2d Platino 2.0 Fiber laser profiler and a Punch Genius machine with Compact Express automation system. In fact, the event was so successful that both units were sold; they will be replaced by a Laser Genius 2d laser profiler and E5X punching machine.
Prima's Punch Genius on display in the UK
The centre is now staffed by John Laud, a full-time applications engineer, hired in March and formerly of a Prima Power customer that was familiar with both its laser and punching technology. It’s a key role in the UK roster of 18, Del Carretto points out, spanning not only punch and laser electromechanical operations, but also the CAM software sold with the machines. Fortunately, the recent hire has hit the ground running, Del Carretto adds.
Alongside the demo showroom and demo engineer, Prima Power UK has also taken on Daniel McGinty as general manager, sales, UK & Ireland; a December 2015 hire that saw him lured away from a competitor. He says that his mission is to develop market share over the next few years.
McGinty points out that the UK used to be a very strong market for Prima Power, and remains so for some of its biggest competitors. But Prima Power’s global market strength – it has installed 12,000 machines worldwide -- is not now replicated in the UK: “For us it is nowhere near,” he says. “That’s why they took me on.”
Today’s Prima Industrie, as the Italy-based holding company is known, grew out of engineering company Prima Progetti, formed in the late 1970s. Since then, it has expanded rapidly across the globe and now generates €364 million in annual revenues, employing 1,600. At the time of its Borsa Italiana stock market flotation in 1999, the company had production and subsidiaries in seven countries (the UK was one of those); it now has 25. A small demonstration of this reach is last year’s inauguration of its 100% wholly-owned subsidiary in Suzhou, China, following many years of joint-venture operations there.
In addition to expanding geographically, Prima has grown through acquisitions. The most notable was that of punch press and systems maker Finn Power in 2008, after which ‘Power’ was added to ‘Prima’ to form the current name. The Finn Power factory in Kauhava remains in production and also now serves as the group’s northern Europe demo centre. There is also a showroom located at the German subsidiary.
Other strategic acquisitions -- including 2D laser profiling machine manufacturer Laser-Work from Agie Group in the early 1990s, US-based laser source manufacturer Convergent in 2000, US laser drilling machine maker Laserdyne a year later, Matre, Linde’s laser machines division, in 2005, and Italian CNC control manufacturer Osai in 2007 – have developed a group that has capabilities in many of the key technologies required for modern sheet metal processing machines.
For example, Convergent recently launched its own fibre laser source, the 3 kW Laser CF3000, specifically for metalcutting. This development makes Prima Industrie the only machine manufacturer that also manufactures its own fibre laser, it claims, an important advantage in reducing costs in a competitive market. Higher power 4 kW and 6 kW versions are planned to be released next year.
TURIN TECHNOLOGY CENTRE
Perhaps the best place to appreciate the breadth and depth of Prima Power is at its new headquarters and technology centre outside of Turin, Italy. This €8.5 million building consists of 2,500 m2 of offices over several storeys, and the same floor area again devoted to a €6.5 million showroom featuring 11 machines, including punches, combination punches, 2D and 3D laser profilers, pressbrakes and panel benders, and one automated production line consisting of a punch/shear machine, panel bender and sheet storage unit, all controlled by Prima software. Big enough to host four customer delegations concurrently, the building’s temperature is controlled by 50 m deep geothermal wells, while roof-held solar panels power the office lighting and equipment (not machines). The 100 staff based there only took up residence in April.
The technology centre’s function is to demonstrate all of the group’s wide-ranging technology and systems at a single venue – and that includes for UK customers, too. At a May press visit, Claudio Banchi, executive vice president, sales, for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia and South America, said: “We have built the plant not only for handling the complex reality of the group, but to serve our customers better. More and more, we are not selling machines, we are selling applications. More and more, our customers are demanding to come and see their parts manufactured by our machines and our lines.”
Now that two machines are on show in the UK, with a dozen more set up a short flight away, Prima Power is making that proposition easier than ever to act on.
In addition to its vertically-acting servo-electric ram, the Prima Ep1336 pressbrake also features a horizontally-acting press for 180° bends (beaded edge). Below: the precision achieved means parts can be slotted together
This article was published in the July 2016 issue of Machinery magazine.
