Ferrè, stylish sanding and furnishing

The company from Valtellino, specialising in the production of custom-designed, top quality living spaces and furnishings, chose an SCM "dmc eurosystem" to optimise its sanding processes on both raw and painted surfaces

There are companies that are skilled in combining craftsmanship and innovation. Businesses, that are often family run, that over time, one generation after another, have managed to make the most of better opportunities offered by the market and, as a result, transform themselves by "redirecting" their production towards new horizons.

Arredamenti Ferrè is one of these businesses. Founded in 1960 in Sondrio as a small artisan carpentry workshop, mainly specialising in the production of doors and windows, this company from Valtellino grew over the years and, after a change of generation, chose to expand its production by focusing on the creation of custom-designed, top-quality furniture.

"It all began thanks to our father Renzo who, after some apprenticeship experience as a furniture maker in local companies, decided to open his own business as a window maker" explain Sergio and Gabriela Ferrè.
With a strong passion for the world of woodworking and increasingly sure of the path he had taken, Renzo decided, after just a few years, to move to a bigger workshop, in nearby Rogolo, to produce customised doors and windows and furnishings. Again, the business continued to grow, and this workshop soon proved to be too small as well. So, a few years later came the move to the current-day plant in Cosio Valtellino, and it was here that, together with his sons, Renzo was further able to expand his business and transform it into what it is today: a company capable of making its mark thanks to the uniqueness and quality of its products.

A growth that, as Sergio and Gabriela Ferrè state, came about almost naturally, in conjunction with customers’ tastes and market trends. The search for a unique product that looks great is the main factor that mostly guided the Ferrè family over the years.

There is no lack of demand from abroad and from luxury tourist destinations like Saint Moritz and Montecarlo, for homes, shops or offices because, for a company that knows how to stand out from the crowd, it is natural that word of mouth spreads between private individual and designers.
Customers' tastes have changed dramatically over the years, as Gabriela Ferrè says: "Some of the most popular trends at the moment are definitely a combination of wood with other materials (especially glass and metal) and fabrics. While exposed wood is a constant feature of furnishings in mountain lodges and taverns, we see a strong tendency towards lacquered furniture in other tourist areas, such as Montecarlo".
 

Developing technology

Increased productivity and improvement in machining quality were the key demands that convinced Sergio Ferrè to modernise his machinery.
His carpentry workshop includes equipment that can meet any kind of wood working requirement, from beam saw to edgebanding, from the numeric control machining centre to pressing and sanding. And it was precisely in the area of sanding that Ferrè realised there was a need for change. "Our sanding centre, after twenty years of service, needed to be replaced because it no longer allowed us to achieve a product in line with new market challenges".

The "dmc eurosystem" selected by Ferrè is a genuine finishing centre thanks to the amount and quality of the operating units (Calibrating Roller, Sanding Roller, Planetary Unit, Superfinishing Unit and two brushing units specifically for machining structured surfaces). The Planetary unit, in particular, has different types of tools so it can satisfy all the finishing requests made by the market. Not only can perfectly clean, sanded surfaces that are smooth to the touch can be achieved, but the grains in the case of structured surfaces can also be brought out.
Another popular advantage of "dmc eurosystem" is its productivity: the machine is equipped to create finishings in a single pass, thus optimising machining times.
 

Also highlighted how easy and intuitive it is to use thanks to the Maestro prosand software, the control panel and digital display that detects the amount of work in real time allowing for a rapid, precise reading of the value. The operator's work is made easier, faster and more efficient. Other advantages include the option of saving machining programs, thus assisting with process repeatability and saving valuable time at the set-up stages.

With the SCM sanding centre, Arredamenti Ferrè has begun to transform its production processes from an “Industry 4.0” perspective, a decisive factor on the path of continuous growth that the company has been following in its many years in business.

"We chose this SCM technological solution on trust and today we can say that our expectations have been fully met" says Sergio Ferrè.
 

Ferré