Everything started from a simple and banal yet ingenious intuition. From a workshop providing assistance to road machines, it went beyond developing innovations thanks to electric shredders to recover glass. This is the profile of Cams, a company from Castel San Pietro Terme established in 2001 and now boasting a turnover of €15 million. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviews Marco Trentini, CEO of Cams
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
“Get a good idea and stay with it Dog it, and work at it until it's done right,” It is one of the best-known quotes by Walt Disney. And, pardon the play on words, for the story we are about to tell, there is no better quote to give us an idea of how an idea can make the difference when it is grasped, worked on, improved and transformed into a business. We find ourselves in Castel San Pietro Terme, a town of a little over 20,000 inhabitants in the Bologna metropolitan area, a stone’s throw from Imola. A territory that inextricably links Emilia and Romagna and that often encloses ingenious ideas like in a precious treasure trove. This is what happened in this case as well, for a sector such as that of construction and demolition that is still anchored to tradition, but which looks at innovation. The company that we are about to describe is born at the start of the new millennium. It's 2001 and there are those who decided to deal with the recovery of inert materials. This is Cams, a company that made its way into a market niche, attracting interest and the market. As a result, it came to register a turnover of €15 million.
Company profile. The initial intuition is simple and banal, yet ingenious. Everything started from a workshop providing assistance to road machines, but it went beyond that. «We grasped the opportunity to acquire a local company that had been developing electric shredders for the recovery of glass since the early 1960s. We immediately realised that shredders had a great potential for technological and market development. We thus decided to invest in them,» reports Marco Trentini, CEO of Cams. Machines connect past and future: starting with the existing ones from a functional point of view, on which frames with skids and later crawlers are installed, maintaining the electrical power supply and using diesel engines only to move the crawler and as a generator. Then comes the research. «We put ourselves to work so that shredders could be used not only to recover glass, but also to extract less raw material. We immediately adapted the shredder to recycle concrete and reinforced concrete and then understood that there was the need to recycle asphalt,» stresses Trentini. Looking ahead, before others and better than others. They pay-off is also visionary - “the future is green”. The hybrid or fully-electric technology employed by the machinery is already an important base to safeguard the environment. «We have been employing biodegradable lubricants for a few years: unlike the mineral oils usually employed for hydraulic components, they are fully biodegradable and therefore do not constitute waste when maintaining the machine, plus they are not dangerous in case of a fault or leak,» reports Trentini. But there is more. This installation also enables to halve the frequency with which filters are replaced and to drastically reduce CO2 emissions. Three pillars are at the basis of this Emilian excellence. The ability to manufacture products that are state-of-the-art. The readiness to identify and meet client needs. The attention to safeguarding the environment with machines that give value to waste. Easy to say, harder to do. But this is where the alliance with clients and the chain comes in. «Clients are the main leverage for innovation. The company policy leads us to want to meet the hardest demands. This is how pushers were developed, as well as the design of the machines perfectly stowed for road transport and most of our other technologies,» explains Trentini. Then there are the patents. Twenty five of them. A lot, a huge amount is invested in research. Around 10% of the turnover. «We set up brainstorming groups, each of which dealing with different segments such as the development of new products, product efficiency and the birth of platforms to be close to users,» illustrates Trentini.
Shredders and high-tech pushers. The Cams technology has always stood out for its electric functionality. We mentioned pushers. In this case, it’s an innovative system that enables to broaden the operating potential of the machines, making them able to process materials of a considerable size. In fact, when a block is introduced into the crushing chamber, the pushers act as large mechanical fingers. By keeping the material still on counter-rotating toothed drums, they maximise the gripping capacity of our machine and guarantee high productivity. Genius and unimaginable. But, after all, innovation is like this. One thing leads to another. A practical example? New shredder teeth were born at Cams a couple of years ago from a simple 3D printer. A way to meet the demand of some clients. And, once again, to make the difference.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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