IDEA Innovation Design Expo Area

12-15.04.2016 Fiera di Bergamo Exhibition Center

Scm Group at IDEA Innovation Design Expo Area with the world premiere of its first prototype for the “Close to Customer” project, based on the idea of Furniture on Demand.

Fiera di Bergamo Exhibition Center
12-15 April 2016
Hall A – Booth 97

A “mini-factory on display”, in a shopping centre, where the customer can use a simple interface to “draw” the piece of furniture he or she would like to buy - customizing its shape, size, colour, etc. - which is then immediately produced, on-the-spot, and delivered. This cuts associated transport costs and pollution. It is the ultimate in “Mass customization”. Design, production and delivery, all in one step: fully automated production, but at the same time an expression of something unique and extreme customization, which puts the customer at the heart of the process, so he becomes his own furniture designer.

The Furniture on Demand concept is the basis of the “Close to Customer" project that Scm Group, a leader in the production of high-tech solutions for the woodworking industry, will unveil to the world at the first IDEA Innovation Design Expo Area trade fair, running from 12 to 15 April, at the modern Fiera di Bergamo exhibition centre.

On a huge screen set up in the Scm Group display area (Hall A – Stand 97), a video will present the “mini-factory” installed in the Shopping Centre in Brianza, Paderno Dugnano (Milan province), the first prototype of the project dedicated to Furniture on Demand, opening a captivating window onto what could be the future of furniture production. It will be a Scm machining centre that produces “live on demand”, in a fully automated way, the furniture that will be configured – starting from a ready-made portfolio of products - directly by customers, who will be able to immediately “take home” an object made with an industrial process but which is the only one of its kind in the world.

The “Close to Customer” project, financed by the European Community, is the result of more than three years of research involving not just Scm, but another 10 European partners, including companies that are leaders in their sectors, and universities. It was conceived with the aim of supporting the furniture industry, providing real tools for responding to changes in the world market, by developing innovative methods and technologies for flexible and local production of sustainable and customised products, which are increasingly close to the customer in terms of the features offered, the production location, delivery times and price.  

Pictures from Scm Group booth

Scm Group will also hold a workshop at the Caravaggio Hall, on 13 April at 11.00 a.m., with the participation of Federico Ratti, the group’s technical director, where visitors can experience a live demonstration of the project and all of its innovative features. 

Scm Group’s presence at the IDEA exhibition will also be an opportunity to display some of the company’s most innovative technologies, able to make important contributions to the future of the furniture sector. These include:

  • Five new machining units for edge-banding by STEFANI, guaranteeing perfect finishing quality, together with the Scm Olimpic K800 industrial edge-banding machine;
  • System, the DMC sanding machine with flexible abrasive, a modular “technological triumph” that, with its innovative devices unique in the sector, allow prestigious effects achievable to date only by experienced craftsmen;
  • The Gabbiani blade carriage, a solution designed for single-blade panel sizing machines to provide top quality finishing and cutting combined with high productivity;
  • Hiteco electro-spindles and aggregate units, high-tech functional components for achieving top performances with machines for wood, light alloys, plastics and composite materials.