Sacmi Ceramic Innovation Week

From September 22 to October 3, Sacmi welcomes customers to four symbolic venues of its innovation to present the latest technological solutions.

From September 22 to October 3, coinciding with Cersaie, Sacmi Ceramic Innovation Week returns — a special occasion to showcase the latest innovations for the ceramic sector.

The absolute protagonist is the product itself: new materials, surfaces, and formats, as well as unprecedented opportunities for functionalization that redefine their uses, opening up new possibilities for designers, architects, and creatives, as well as manufacturers and end consumers. All this is made possible by Sacmi’s cutting-edge technology.

From ceramic product engineering, with the exclusive consultancy of the Sacmi Ceramic Laboratory, to digital finishing and advanced controls from BMR and Italvision, and through to sustainability and decarbonization with Sacmi Forni & Filter, the event is renewed with a proven format, offering customers the chance to explore four symbolic hubs of Sacmi innovation and experience the new solutions first-hand.

First stop: Imola, at the Sacmi Tiles Lab

The Sacmi Ceramic Laboratory in Imola is the true engine of product innovation. Here, know-how on materials is combined with the development of new technologies, with constant attention to market trends. From the selection of raw materials to the development of innovative body mixtures, from optimizing firing cycles to designing and testing new functionalized surfaces, every proposal is the result of a constant dialogue between engineering and aesthetics, the search for new solutions and their validation in the field through daily interaction with customers worldwide.

Coordination and synchronization are the cornerstones of Sacmi’s approach — an exclusive offering made possible by proprietary technologies that cover every phase of processing, from body preparation to firing, from digital decoration to finishing. These range from technologies capable of faithfully replicating natural materials such as marble, stone, wood - with perfect coordination of decorations in the mass and surface - to the development of new “smart” products, such as the opportunity to integrate sensors and smart functionalities into the ceramic surface with the aim of realising “interactive” floors, walls and furnishings.

The perfect synergy between forming, decoration, firing, and finishing processes is Sacmi’s distinctive strength. During the "innovation week", customers will have the chance to see first-hand, at the showroom in Imola, some of the most innovative products made under the direction of the Sacmi Lab, from the "hyper-realistic" effects obtained with the combination of compaction on Continua+ and Deep Digital decoration (DHD+DDG), such as wood, natural stone and precious marble, to metal and textured surfaces.

At BMR in Scandiano, the spotlight is on Digital Finishing

The synergy between compaction and pre-firing decoration technologies and the endless opportunities of the digital finishing line set the Sacmi proposal apart in the panorama of global technology suppliers. Through innovative and flexible solutions such as Squadra Vision and Squadra Vision Light, BMR shows how it is possible to combine performance, energy savings, ergonomics and reduced tool consumption, as well as the extraordinary gloss effects achievable with SuperShine Plus.

Among the latest trends in the vast world of surface finishes and textures is the “WOF” World of Finishes project. This is a new finishing concept that pivots on BMR's Leviga range and opens the door to the world of digital finishing. By exploiting the synergy between tools and software, the result is the creation of unique, original and customised products that are always perfectly reproducible. The aim is once again to offer customers the opportunity to experience the new proposals first-hand and to go in-depth with the BMR team on the range of technologies available.

At the Sacmi Kiln Lab in Salvaterra, the path leads toward a zero-emissions future

Digitisation is one of the pillars of the new SACMI EasyFactory, a true enabling factor to reduce the environmental impact of the process while improving product quality. Alongside these, there are innovative solutions for managing thermal processes with a view to zero emissions, such as the new kilns and driers from SACMI Forni & Filter, already designed to fully operate on electricity produced from renewable sources, and many ready-to-use solutions to drastically increase the efficiency of machines and plants. 

Italvision: Smart Vision takes the stage in Scandiano

Avoiding any kind of waste (tools, raw materials and energy) is a must for Sacmi, which, through a new generation of line controls, evolves the concept of ceramic production in the direction of total quality, ease of management and optimisation of all stages. Among the latest solutions that customers will be able to see on the Italvision pilot line is Flawmaster+, the automatic system for checking ceramic surfaces on the sorting line or at the kiln exit, which provides feedback on the process, simplifying checks thanks to artificial intelligence. Then there is OneVision, the automatic inspection system with advanced self-learning for the classification of unfired product. An all-round proposal that starts with the compaction, with Optima+ for digital and automatic control of the freshly formed slab on Continua+ or after the drier, zeroing manual controls and maximising process efficiency.