Rotating cylinders and pressure vessels designed and made combining several decades of experience and skill of craft whit the help of modern technology and constant innovation. This is the strategy of L’Artigiana, a company that defines itself as a “Atelier Mécanique”
A small family run enterprise, established in the Sixties, still a reference for design and making of rotating cylinders, simple vessels and pressure vessels for various applications in many different fields.
We are talking about L’Artigiana, a company based in San Giorgio su Legnano (Milan area), that since 1960 offered its range to the Italian and international textile machine Industry, without misunderstanding its philosophy: quality, reliability, capacity and earnestness, as well as a great care of clients. Over the years, the company became a reliable partner, more than just a supplier: it was a good recipe even in difficult times for its clients.
A dozen employees operate on an approximately 10,000 sq.m. space, of which 2,500 sq.m. are covered, facility with six bridge cranes of up to 25 ton capacity and 12 m height. This setting let them make even rather big cylinders and vessels, designed and made on demand, thanks to a customized approach and to their small size that allows them to satisfy the customer.
L’Artigiana was established by Rodolfo Quaglia with two partners, who later left the company. Today – almost fifty years later – Quaglia’s three sons, Romana, Floriana and Nicola still manage it.
Flexiblity and certifications
A small flexible company is able to create a product that meets all the customer’s needs, developing it jointly or independently thanks to expert and professional co-workers.
After the design phase, the supply of materials follows; therefore the product is built, assembled, welded and mechanically worked by qualified operators with certified procedures.
Machinable dimensions reach up to 3 m in diameter and more than 7.2 m in length. Intermediate and final monitoring and testing are part of the process. Final testing is carried out at the workshop, before delivery.
The manufacturing area includes a cutting, assembly and welding department with cutting, shearing, calendering, bending, chamfering and welding equipment, and a mechanical processing department with lathes, drills and cutters.
Based on customer demand and production context, L’Artigiana is able to design and manufacture a product in compliance with the main standards, such as: Pressure Equipment Directive PED 2014/68 / EU with CE mark; “SELO” license for pressure equipment (Safety Quality License Office); ASME “U” stamp according to ASME VIII Div. 1 (pending). Its process and product quality system was certified twenty years ago.
Fabrication
As mentioned, L’Artigiana produces rotating cylinders and pressure vessels. Depending on use and function, the cylinders are single shell or double shell with or without spirals, for heating or drying process with saturated steam or diathermic oil, for cooling with forced water in closed or open circuit; with many functions also depending on the type of surface finish. Furthermore, the company makes rollers and cylinders on specify project. The range of pressure vessels also includes tanks (also with fast closing), heat exchangers and body filters.
«From the beginning we focused on what was supposed to be our “core” range», Nicola Quaglia – Director of the engineering and sales division – explains. «In fact, we are based next to the Olona Valley, cradle of the Italian Textile and textile machinery Industry, specialized in textile finishing techniques. In the following years we then expanded our offer to cover different fields in which our products were requested. Rotating cylinders and/or vessels, with their different characteristics and special functions, are a basic element in various manufacturing sectors: from preparation and finishing in the textile machinery sector to production, processing, coating and printing on plastic materials and flexible packaging, or for laminated products and plants for the paper Industry. All production processes where a product must be wrapped on one or both sides instead of moving in line».
L’Artigiana is a very flexible company, open to meeting the needs of other different industrial sectors, unrelated to the textile machinery field. In fact, for several years it has been collaborating with an international group in the automotive sector, one of the leading car glass manufacturers. They supply products designed specifically for the production of windscreen and curved rear window plants for the various production sites around the world.
Products for the Textile Industry
«The textile finishing Industry – adds Quaglia – still needs our products: conventional machines updated with new digital technologies and technological improvements to increase performance. We mainly supply such machines and systems, usually to the international market, outside the UE, to manufacturers who appreciate our “customized” quality. We often measure ourselves with bigger industrial groups and we are able to offer a tailor-made response thanks to the expertise of our co-workers».
What are the strengths of L’Artigiana? «In addition to quality, our main strength is that we are a small and highly flexible company. The transformations of the last two decades have changed the approach to production, not only in our sector. In this context, the search for a company like ours – which has been able to overcome all the difficulties in a continuous and rapidly evolving view – is in itself a positive fact. We consider ourselves a 360 ° collaborative partner, so much more than just a supplier. To us, each supply is a tailor-made product, each time made to satisfy a specific demand. A real “Atelier Mécanique” therefore, where passion and love for our work are still expressed».
