Established in 1974 close to its present home in Vigevano in Lombardy, Tocchio srl has a well-established global position in the manufacture of paper impregnation lines, but founder Umberto Tocchio admits that the last two years have been every challenging for his company as orders “fell off a cliffin the global economic downturn, in common with many machinery makers.
However, those orders taken in early 2008 helped to see the company through a difficult period and now things are beginning to look much better.
One such order was for a line for Formica Brasil at its Suzano factory, which started production in May of this year.
“This is the fastest line for phenolic resin impregnation of Kraft paper in the world,said Mr Tocchio when interviewed at his factory in June. “It has a maximum mechanical speed of 300 metres per minute and regularly runs at 270 metres per minute. The inner temperature of the drying tunnel is high, at 190-210oC, which is possible because phenolic resin has no hardener.”
A new feature of this line is that access to the side of the machine is enhanced by a vertically sliding upper box, which exposes the centre-line of the machine internals.
The construction comprises upper and lower boxes. The lower one is fixed, while the upper box is lifted by a motor which drives a series of screws. This simplifies cleaning the machine.
Apart from loading of the paper roll by a gantry crane operated by a remote handheld unit, the entire process is fully automated, including automated jointing of a new paper roll. The line has full thermal and sound insulation and also emits no odours from the phenolic resin.
A double-knife rotary cutter separates the continuous web of impregnated Kraft paper into sheets, which go to two stacking stations; two are needed to cope with the speed of the line.
Another recent contract for Tocchio was the supply of a multi-function melamine impregnation line to produce normal impregnated paper for low pressure laminate as well as overlay with an aluminium oxide abrasive in it for laminate flooring. The same line can also produce finish foil. It went into production in June 2009 at Eucatex’s Botucatu line in Brazil with normal running speeds of 60-70m/min.
Again in Brazil, the company has received orders for two new melamine lines for Duratex. The first has already been delivered to the Uberaba factory and is due to start production at the end of 2010. The second line will be delivered in October this year for start-up inMarch 2011 at Duratex Agudos in Sâo Paolo state. Both these lines have a capacity of 75m/min.
Over a year ago, Tocchio supplied a melamine line to Kronostar’s mega-site in Sharija, Russia and now a second line is close to start-up there. Mr Tocchio pointed out that all machines are fully made in Italy and custom- designed to customers’ requirements in the company’s own technical office, using the latest software, and that the company employs a team of expert mechanical, electrical and electronic engineers.
As well as impregnation plants, Tocchio supplies gravimetric resin preparation, onthe- line weight and moisture devices and air cleaning systems.
Thanks to its team of chemists, conversant with the specific requirements of resins for different impregnation processes, Tocchio says it can support all customers, from resin production to the final laminated boards in the press.
