Getting the most from scrap Vezzani

GETTING THE MOST FROM SCRAP

Italy-based Vezzani SpA is a leader in high-productivity stationary inclined shears engineering and manufacturing for the metal scrap industry. Barbara Rossi talks to Gabriele Merlo, business development director, to find out more.

Vezzani SpA was established in 1962 and today runs three production sites in the Alessandria area of north-western Italy. “Although we are primarily an engineering company, we also manufacture our products in-house. Thanks to our vertical organisation, we take care of the whole process from initial engineering to final product, without resorting to outsourcing or delocalisation. This, alongside the fact that we employ highly skilled staff, really makes a difference in terms of product quality and durability, as we are often told,” Mr Merlo explained.

The company offers turn-key solutions for the scrap industry, as well as individual products. Its core business is in the area of high-capacity and high-productivity solutions and stationary inclined shears, but its range also includes other options. In fact, in addition to its flagship PC-AC stationary inclined shears, which can reach a productivity of 150 tonnes per hour, it also offers mobile inclined shears (the VS series). A spin-off of the original PC-AC series, this product line offers smaller

semi-mobile and mobile inclined shears which, while offering the same types of benefits as their progenitor, do not require the same level of investments and are easier to move. With regard to shears, Vezzani is also still able to offer horizontal varieties (PC & PCM series) to customers who might require these solutions.

Alongside shears, Vezzani offers different kinds of presses, press connected devices (for instance weighing systems), scrap cleaning systems, conveyors and cranes. Its automated presses are also used in scrap recycling processes, either integrated into production lines – for instance for production scrap recycling in the automotive sector – or employed in metal scrap processing in general. Customisation plays a very important role in Vezzani’s offer, as all products and solutions are tailored to the client’s specific needs.

Highly productive

“In recent years our clients have mainly demanded turn-key solutions. We have also witnessed a strong growth in the demand for our high productivity stationary inclined shears, not just from our traditional client segments but also from the naval demolition industry and processers of various types of scrap materials. This is owing mainly to the advantages that our high-productivity stationary inclined shears offer in comparison to traditional horizontal models. In fact, our machines can deal with oversized materials, thus reducing the cost of the usual collateral activities, such as torching. As our stationary inclined shears employ fewer moving parts than traditional models, maintenance costs are lower. In addition to this, one has to consider that as our solutions are fully automated, they also offer savings in terms of labour costs. Last but not least, they offer a much higher productivity. Overall, our stationary inclined shears offer significant savings in comparison to equivalent models as their running costs are only one third of those of traditional horizontal models.

“In the past two years we have installed about 12 systems featuring more than 1600 tonnes of shearing force and a 150-tonne per hour productivity rate. Our systems are quite large and durable, with a long working life (25–35 years) so we deal with large projects rather than large numbers.”

Innovation is very important for the ISO 9001 certified company. R&D is carried out internally by a dedicated department, which works on two different levels: improving existing products and developing new solutions (within the boundaries of the range currently on offer). The company continuously tries to improve the energy efficiency of it products. Every three to four years Vezzani invests in new production machinery, so as to remain at the cutting-edge in technological terms.

Client base

Its clients are mainly medium to very large steel plants, foundries and metal scrap processers. As mentioned, demand from ship demolition specialists has been increasing in recent years. Geographically, Vezzani supplies countries all over the world, covering all continents (including Australia). “Geographical demand varies from year to year, according to market trends and the measures taken by different governments to sustain the metal industry. As we know this has not been in the best shape in recent years, owing to oversupply and a lowering of raw material costs. Despite all of this we have been doing quite well, maintaining – and even slightly increasing – our turnover. This is down to the fact that we serve mid-high range clients who tend to continue to invest even when market trends are not optimal in order to increase their competitiveness.”

As well as offering its clients reliable highquality products featuring many benefits (Vezzani has more than one thousand machines currently in operation in more than 50 countries, some of which have been in use for more than 40 years) the company provides a 24/7 direct customer service network. It also offers training for its clients staff during installation.

In the short-term Vezzani expects to see growing demand from the American continent (North, Central and South) and the Middle East. Long-term forecasts are not really possible for the reasons previously explained. Although there are no acquisitions in the pipeline, the company could be interested in them, should the right opportunity arise. n