Together, girls and boys, for a High Education School for Applied Mechanics.
Merry Christmas!
Last Saturday, 11 December, we opened the Factory to students from the Trissino Training School to show them how the technology that we are introducing into their classrooms and into their laboratories is the same that we use every day in the company. It was wonderful to see so many of them interested and curious. They were amazed at EXAGON’s articulated arm for laser scanning of solids, supported by VERO SOLUTIONS softwares, with which we played at scanning their faces. They are girls and boys with the world ahead of them who, as well as taking their three-dimensional portrait home, left even more attracted by technology and its advanced applications, excited for their futures in which they can now see the possibility of preparing for a dynamic and profitable occupation.
The Veneto mechanical industry – the second largest in Italy with 6,000 enterprises and 55,000 employees – is one of the world’s leaders in terms of its presence on the international markets, turnover and technological innovation.
Unfortunately, the presence of women, already very low in all sectors of Italian industry, never deviates from single-digit percentages in the Veneto mechanical industry. A widespread mentality, with a certain closed mind, is to blame. Tradition has been and is the strength of Veneto entrepreneurship but it has some legacies that occasionally hold us back.
We have always been a company open to women who want to be treated the same as their male counterparts, attentive and capable women – perhaps even more so than men -, women who want to make the best of themselves at all levels in equal relationships. The environments are clean and tidy and neither women nor men are required to have any particular physical strength, as is the case now in any metal mechanics company. Instead, we need to be able to work together, be attentive, precise, organised and work well in a team, giving an important sign to young people – an opportunity for growth for young women and young men – so that they can choose the best for themselves, free from prejudices.
The specialist magazine for manufacturers of moulds for metal and plastic, models and precision equipment is dedicating an article to the new Higher Education Technology Centre for Applied Mechanics project that we are developing in conjunction with the Professional Training School in Trissino. The difficulty encountered by entrepreneurs in finding skilled workers led to the idea of training them by finding a way to have in the school the very same high performance machines as they will then find in the most advanced companies. The mastermind behind the project is Giampietro Franco, owner of NUOVA FRANCO, with the collaboration of Aldo Peruffo, President of the Youth House Foundation of Trissino, and the support of the biggest supplier companies of machines, software and accessories for mechanics. The project is now becoming reality: the machines and workstations are ready and there is very little left to do. As it is important to work as a team, the customised uniforms have also been prepared: trousers, overalls and t-shirts with the logos of the school and of NUOVA FRANCO as the sponsor. We hope that it won’t be long until the first students will pull them on, thereby starting this training path that will best meet their expectations, preparing them to face the labour market or offering them other opportunities for growth.
Read the full article of “COSTRUIRE”
“An idea of school for the future”
In thirty years we’ve definitely made more than one hundred thousand washers. Perhaps, adding them all together, more than a million. The washer, together with bolts and screws, is perhaps one of the best-selling items of technical hardware in every industry. From steel discs as big as Frisbees used in large constructions, to highly polished brass and stainless steel plates that look like sequins used in furnishings, lighting and mutatis mutandis in infinite other areas, only to finish with galvanised steel washers that we use all the time to hang a wall unit or build a fence. It is nice to hear the raindrops of freshly created washers falling down and creating such a beautiful texture as to warrant a photo. So, at NUOVA FRANCO, often our washers – which are so useful but apparently insignificant – become the stars of creative shots.
The idea of giving something back to the CFP Professional Training Centre in Trissino came to me from afar. From an education which taught me that feeling part of a community is important; from the example of my father, always involved in social life; from the many young people who have come to the company seeking work without having the necessary training; from searches for trained workers that fell on deaf ears; and, finally, of course, from an important link, shared among everyone in Trissino with the town’s most important Institution. A school that has trained since the 1950s until today, this year marks the 70th anniversary of its foundation, dozens of entrepreneurs and groups of skilled workers in many different sectors.
The project to create in the School of Trissino a Higher Education Technology Centre for Applied Mechanics is taking shape bit by bit thanks also to the support of companies and individuals who shared my aims. HAAS with Luca Pasetti, Giovanni Piccoli of VERO SOLUTIONS, Simone Dalla Vecchia of UM-Tools and with me Aldo Peruffo, the President of the Youth House Foundation of Trissino, together – with the help of other companies – we are still working to shorten the bureaucratic timescales and give new tools to young people who want to learn new skills.
Once again this year NUOVA FRANCO is the main sponsor of Hockey 05 Trissino which is taking on the A2 League with a view to repeating the brilliant season it enjoyed last year and perhaps doing even better. The goal remains the same regardless of the results at the start of the competition: to make the young grow together with our fans and ensure they all have a great time, maybe even bringing home the satisfaction of battling it out till the very end for a place at the top. In the meantime, we will make sure that the audience always has a great time at Trissino.
We design and manufacture dies for sheet metal stamping both for internal use and for third parties. We plan the production of fine blanking parts starting from feasibility studies through to finished parts by bringing into play all our skills. In addition to the stamping of sheet metal up to 15 mm thick, CNC milling, wire EDM, when necessary, for complex productions we perform internally also threading, bending, welding and assembly. In this way, we can obtain finished parts to which we can add, if needed surface treatments for which we avail of qualified partners. We check every production from the beginning to the end, for us and for you.
Gates and fences are mainly made of metal, and even when you choose wood, you cannot ignore the appropriate hardware to ensure stability and movement. That is a sector in which even the smallest innovation, the slightest improvement of the junction parts and the mechanical parts most subject to wear lead to a significant improvement in the functionality of swing gates, sliding gates and overhead doors. NUOVA FRANCO has always collaborated with manufacturers of gates, doors and fences to optimize efficiency and costs of production, installation and maintenance of the mechanical parts most subject to handling and wear. In this industry, we are able to introduce continuous small “big” improvements that fill us with pride. When our engineering work also has an impact on the beauty of the finished works, the satisfaction is twofold.
The large 500-ton press that shapes 15 mm thick sheet metal amazes even if you have seen it working every day for years. It is a different sensation, but the “rain” of thin washers with a diameter of 10 mm that descend in a hypnotic rhythm, almost as if they were carnival confetti. Two extremes of a wide and diversified production to which other in-house processes are added, such as threading, bending, welding, etc.
Threading, bending, welding and assembly, as well as other processes carried out by trusted companies, qualified partners, who carry out painting and any other kind of surface finishing.
So, when we talk about small metal parts, we really do think of a diversified production, not only of washers!