IMT Intermato S.p.A. started in 1983 its activity of design and construction of vertical lathes for the machining of aluminum alloy wheels. Over the years, the company has constantly evolved with the introduction of the machines series for mechanical machining in general and with the entry, first in the asian market and then in the global one. Production and turnover have constantly grown as well as the production site.
Easy Engineering: A few words about IMT intermato.
IMT INTERMATO: IMT Intermato S.p.A spreads over an area of about 15.000 square meters, has a turnover of over 50 million Euros per year and employs 110 people in the various departments, as well as specialized collaborators. Mechanical, software, electrical and plant design, production, assembly and testing are all phases carried out in our headquarters in Crosio della Valle, while other companies, always on the Italian territory and of which IMT Intermato S.p.A. is the mother company, realize ancillary machining and some key components. Our products are therefore fully made in Italy.
The international presence is guaranteed by our service and spare parts points, directly managed by us (Indonesia and Germany) or through our close collaborators, especially in Shanghai, China, where we have a long-standing co-operation with highly qualified Technicians and spare parts warehouse. We are therefore able to operate quickly on the five continents, both with reference to maintenance interventions and for the supply of spare parts. Today IMT Intermato S.p.A. is a Supplier of complete turning solutions, able to assist the Customer in the definition of the technical specifications and to propose a range of tailor-made products, by ensuring at the same time high productivity with high quality standards.
E.E: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
IMT INTERMATO: Although maintaining its core business in the field of light alloy wheel machining, the production of IMT Intermato S.p.A. vertical lathes is aimed at the various production sectors: automotive, aerospace, railway, heavy mechanics, oil & gas, energetic fields with dedicate solutions for each one.
E.E: What’s the news for 2020 about new products?
IMT INTERMATO: The possibility of customizations for having a wide range of products that are well suited to the most varied needs of the various productive sectors, which in some cases require large powers and considerable removal capacity and, on the other hand, in other applications, require extreme precisions and advanced technologies. The common denominator of all the machines is the philosophy of IMT Intermato: turnkey solutions specifically designed for the Customer, which allow the achievement of high production objectives combined with high quality.
E.E: What are the ranges of traded products?
IMT INTERMATO: IMT Intermato S.p.A. proposes solutions for pieces from a few tens of millimetres of diameter up to 6 meters and more. We offer several series of machines, each of which developed for a specific sector.
The JW and RW series are destined to the machining of the light alloy wheels and they are sturdy, fast, reliable and precise machines, born from the constant development and from the over thirty years of experience of IMT Intermato. Summary of the production for this sector are our automated production cells, where the combination of high performance machines, automations developed by us and advanced process management allow us to achieve surprising results in terms of productivity, quality and flexibility.
For the automotive sector, the machines of VR series have been developed. They are vertical lathes with capacity up to around 400 mm of diameter, with possibility of self-loading configuration, for turning’s machining and possible drilling/milling operations of the various components such as bearings, wheel hubs, brakes, flywheels and clutches.
By increasing in size, we meet the VL series with the lathes model VL8, VL50 and VL60 dedicated to the machining in various application sectors of steel and other metals, with a turning capacity up to 1200 mm and configurations with turret or head.
In the same range of dimensions, we have the machines of the S and P series, totally modular and customizable, that can be designed and manufactured according to the specific requirements of our Customers, by supplying a high performance product.
In the sector of the big vertical lathes, we have developed the mono-column of NTM series and double-column of VBM series with capacity respectively up to 2 meters and up to 6 meters and more with mobile crossrail and hydrostatic movements. These machines also, can be customized with multiple configurations and accessories, such as pallet exchange systems, tools magazine, double ram, versions for milling operation, grinding operation, angular heads and so on.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
IMT INTERMATO: Actually, the marked is non in a good situation due to the Covid-19 issue. Unfortunately, many investments are postponed in all the sectors. We need to understand how the market will evolves in the next few months but we are confident in a market re-start.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
IMT INTERMATO: The trend in the market is to require solution that implement the Industry 4.0 options. The possibility to manage the data and improve the traceability became more important that in the past, with a special focus on the automotive and aerospace industry. An additional trend of the market is the increase of the requests about turn-key solution. More and more customers want to exploit the potential of the purchased plants 100% so they look for the manufacturer support to optimize the production process. For both this trends IMT Intermato S.p.A. can assist the customer in order to develop the most suitable solution and ensure the return of the investment.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
IMT INTERMATO: IMT Intermato S.p.A. develop constantly new solution and improvement of their machines in order to propose in the market advanced products. As example we have developed random automation solutions for wheels machining, special application in the the asymmetric machining for example of pistons and we have also a patent machine dedicated to the unbalance correction of aluminium wheels after the mechanical machining.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2020?
IMT INTERMATO: In this particular moment it is difficult to make a precise forecast about the market. For sure this year will be affected by a strong contraction of the business due to the Covid-19 issue. We believe that in the last part of this year, we will assist to the beginning of the market recovery that can be more consistent in the next year 2021.