Here is how a historical Venetian company has succeeded, in the lapse
of few years, in upgrading and becoming a reference industrial reality
in the sector of mould construction and moulding
Vittorio Pesce
One of the moulds made by MSM Stampi
It is headquartered at Pastrengo (VR), among hills full of vineyards and a stone’s throw from Garda Lake, MSM Stampi S.r.l., company specialized in moulding and construction of plastic injection moulds and metal shearing moulds. The enterprise, which can boast over 40 years of expertise and currently avails itself of 32 employees’ contribution, offers a complete customized service that allows supporting customers in any phase of the production project: from the co-design of the finished component to the design and manufacturing of relative tools and finally the real production phase, including assembling and packaging.
We have tried going into detail of the company’s activities, dialoguing with Diego Scala and Marco Maltauro, the present owners of the enterprise and sons of the founders Osvaldo Scala and Silvano Maltauro. «Our reality – Diego Scala starts explaining – operates in several product sectors, especially in electrical and electromechanical components because our parents, when they founded MSM Stampi, had already significant expertise in such ambit behind them. This explains why, since the beginning, we have completed plastic injection moulds with sheet metal shearing tools. Still today the manufacturing of moulds for the production of plastic and metal electric and electronic components represents our core business, but we currently operate successfully also in other fields, for instance hydraulics and thermo-hydraulics, consumer products, medical equipment and so on». Most of MSM moulds address the plastic sector, however also those intended for metal hold great importance because they assure the implementation of products featuring different materials and thicknesses. The company, in particular, manufactures progressive sheet metal dies and sheet metal moulds, intended for the fine shearing and bending of small-size components. «Moreover, we are specialized – Marco Maltauro adds – in the development of MIM, that is to say Metal Injection Moulding, process that assures on one hand the versatility of the plastic injection moulding and on the other hand the strength and integrity of metal parts, especially in complex-shape and small-size components, made of materials such as stainless steel, copper and brass». The production of small metal parts allows the Venetian company to implement also co-moulded plastic-metal parts.
Moulding division
MSM Stampi toolshop
All-round technology
Speaking of the toolshop, Pastrengo factory is provided with different high-level technologies and machines. Marco Maltauro: «Our very broad variegated machine fleet enables us to make moulds of whatever complexity and precision, covering all sizes up to a maximum of 1,200 x 800 mm. We
rely on 17 machines that include CNC machining centres by brands such as DMG, Makino and Hwacheon, in addition to wire EDM machinery by Charmilles and Fanuc, and plunge EDM plants by Charmilles and Ona, all of them equipped with CAM stations». Each manufacturing phase is monitored and supervised according to an integrated connected logic, as provided for by Industry 4.0 national protocol. A forefront technical office operates downstream the toolshop, equipped with 3 VISI CAD 3D software stations directly interfaced with the workshop. «In this way – Diego Scala further reports – we can take care of customers since the early design phases, defining component materials and geometries according to its engineering and the relative mould to be implemented; if necessary, we can carry out mould filling simulations to optimize its performances at best».
Specialists in raw materials
The knowledge of both plastic and metal materials is very important as it enables MSM Stampi engineers to optimize the moulding cycle.
Marco Maltauro: «We have always paid utmost attention to the novelties that concern raw materials because we know the market changes quickly and users’ demands are more and more challenging». The company treats materials like ABS, PA6, PA6.6, PA6 + GF, PA12, PC, PC/ABS, PE, PMMA, POM, PP, PPS, PPSU, TPU, TPE, PPA and SEBS. «Besides – Maltauro adds – we have studied for years the moulding process of bioplastics and of biodegradable plastic». The Venetian company engineers, through research and development projects, experiment and test innovative materials such as PLA or others: lignin-, cellulose or thresher-based. Know-how and research obviously concern also the field of metal materials and, in particular, of aluminium, brass, copper, titanium and steel alloys.
An engineer of the technical office
Moulding: a firepower
Concerning the moulding phase, MSM Stampi is equipped with an advanced department that can assure utmost precision and control of the manufacturing process. Here operate 18 injection and mechanical presses from 10 to 350 tons, by brands like Megatech, Demag, Sumitomo and Zhafir, for an overall capacity of about 15 million units yearly, which can produce plastic or metal components, overmoulded or co-moulded, with weight included between 0.15 and 350 grams.
From left: Marco Maltauro and Diego Scala, owners of MSM Stampi at Pastrengo (VR)
Diego Scala: «Downstream moulding, we also offer a service of writing, logo and image implementation, as well as of assembling, through ultrasound welding; finally, we assure the mechanical and electronic testing of components, so providing customers with the most complete production cycle».
Nowadays, the moulding activity is more growing than all others and, potentially, it still has the biggest growth margins. «Currently –Marco Maltauro adds – 90% of our moulding activity involves plastic while the remaining part concerns the production of metal parts that are generally a completion. Many customers positively judge that the same tooling manufacturer can perform the mass-production as they prefer, due to reliability and speed reasons, that a single subject manages the whole job order».
Diego Scala ends: «Today our company is different from the reality of thirty years ago. Nowadays, due to a transformation activity, which started some years ago and has involved all employees, we can state we are an acknowledged engineering reality, in expansion phase and very successful also on foreign markets; most of all, it tries satisfying the changeable market requirements, never stopping investing in technology to provide its customers with more and more services of ever-rising quality».
