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COMAU, THE ITALIAN ROBOT
Rome - (Adnkronos Multimedia) - For the public at large, the image of Italian industry and goods in the world is often linked to just a few traditional industries such as the food industry and fashion.
Perhaps lesser known are some examples of excellence in Italian industry in strategic sectors with high levels of technology, such as in the field of automation, digitally controlled machine tools and small mechanical components. It happens, for example, that a large part of consumers in Europe and the world are not aware of the fact that many cars, such as Ford, Opel, General Motors, Mercedes, Chrysler, Renault, Nissan, are built mostly with the use of Italian-made machinery, manufacturing systems and robots. But not just this. These consumers often do not know that the design and production of that machinery originates from a firm which has been active for decades, and forms an integral part of one of the most famous 'Made in Italy' brands throughout the world: Fiat
This firm is Comau (www.comau.it), a firm belonging to the Fiat Group, today a leader at international level in the implementation of production systems for the automobile industry. Sales of more than 2.3 billion euro, achieved thanks to the collaboration of 18 thousand employees, a productive and trading presence worldwide, an export quota of more than 80% of total sales (35 percent for Europe, 46 percent for the rest of the world). This is the Italian success story of the robot built in Grugliasco, near Turin. It all began in the Seventies, when Comau (Machine Tools Consortium) gathered into just one group the technical expertise and industrial capacities emerging from the development of machine tools and specialised apparatus used in the automobile industry.
This was the huge step forward from which Comau developed as an engineering firm carrying out production systems, above all to respond to the demand for automation by the Fiat Auto factories, and very soon taking over leadership positions thanks to innovative solutions in processing (Robogate) and of the product itself (the family of Robot Smart) and to the continual evolution of its technological applications.
At the end of the Seventies, "Robogate", a robotised system which revolutionised the assembly and soldering processes of many different types of automobile met with world success and significant supplies were delivered to the United States (General Motors and Chrysler). Thus began the internationalisation process for Comau , which was consolidated in 1984 with the establishment of a manufacturing industry in the USA.
Comau became a pioneer in the sector of flexible automation, with a growing presence in the field of robotised working and assembly lines, and during the Eighties it completed its range of expertise in productive systems, setting up a joint venture dealing with the development of computerised solutions for factories. This ingenious process was thus established as a primary activity of Comau, together with its engineering processes. During the Nineties Comau rounded off its offer for automated productive processes with its entry into systems for the spray-painting of bodywork (together with GEICO SpA) and extended its presence at world level through the setting up of companies in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Poland, Brazil, Argentina and India. In 1999, two important companies in the sector joined the Comau Group: the French company Renault Automation (assembly work in mechanics and bodywork) and PICO, the American leader in bodywork construction. Further progress took place at the end of the Nineties with the creation of Comau Services, having its mission to provide assistance and maintenance services for its productive systems to the automobile industry worldwide. Lastly in China in the year 2000, a manufacturing company was established in Shanghai.
Comau SpA
Via Rivalta, 30
10095 Grugliasco, TO (Italy)
Tel. +39-011-00-49111
Telefax +39-011-789356
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