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he new system of glass transportationand storage by Officine Mistrello is soinnovative and important is that it can be

adapted to suit any kind of glassworks. Thisstorage and transport system - the GLT 6000 -was custom-built for Mornagoglass, based inMornago, Varese, northern Italy, and ispresently being installed in two other Italianglassworks: Baù, near Como, northern Italy,and Santelli, in the area of Florence, centralItaly. The same system will also be on show atthis year’s edition of Vitrum.

In fact, custom-built is the exact descriptionof this system, as it was in the planning phasesfor almost a year before the project wasdefined and approved. It has now been up andrunning for a year and Glass-TechnologyInternational went to speak to the Owner ofMornagoglass, Walter Cantaluppi, to get aninside view on this new way of applying totalmanagement.

MORNAGOGLASSMornagoglass was established 25 years ago

with a company philosophy that has been main-tained over the years - total quality. The compa-ny was one of the first in Italy to obtain UNIcertification on its insulating glass and is theofficial licensee of the Climalit brand of Saint-Gobain Glass.

The first and foremost ideal of Cantaluppi isthat of total management, especially withregards to production processes. In fact, thenumerous investments made also include a soft-ware system from Lisec, thanks to which it ispossible to handle all activities in the companydirectly from the offices.

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One of the best ways to give anidea and to demonstrate in full thepotential of equipment andmachinery is on-site, in realworking conditions. After havinginstalled a completely innovativeand automated system of glassstorage and transportation in aglassworks in northern Italy,Officine Mistrello invited Glass-Technology International to see for itself how the system worksand to speak with the owner of the glassworks to get hisimpressions first hand.

A view of the OfficineMistrello GLT 6000

system in action

Thewarehouse

andworkshop at

Mornago-glass

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INVESTMENTSCantaluppi informed us that other invest-

ments include the enlarging of its premises,expanding the workshop and covered environ-ment to 5,200 square metres, and of course theequipment from Officine Mistrello presented inthis article, as well as a vertical cutting line forlaminated glass from For.El., an Intermac workcentre and the completion of the insulating glassline which includes For.El. machinery forarrissing and edging.

In the intention of expanding its activities,Mornagoglass has also entered a collaborationand partnership with nine other companies,which has led to the establishing of Isotempra,where activities such as tempering, laminating,HST (Heat Soak Test) of glass of 2,600 x 4,500millimetres are carried out using machinery andequipment from Bovone and Tamglass.

AUTOMATIONThe idea to reduce working times also includ-

ed the storage and movement of the glass in thewarehouse. In fact, the first idea that Cantaluppihad was to automate the storage of the glasssheets. Mornagoglass bought its first manual andsemi-automatic classifiers from OfficineMistrello six or seven years ago, and this recentimportant “made-to-measure” system has revolu-tionized the entire glass storage warehouse.

When Cantaluppi decided to update his stor-age and movement equipment, the choice was

between three different companies. After decid-ing on Officine Mistrello, the two companies gottogether and studied exactly how the machineryneeded to be. After considerable planning anddesigning, the GLT 6000 plant has now been upand running for a year to the satisfaction ofCantaluppi and the entire Mornagoglass staff.

Glass-Technology International 2/2007w w w . g l a s s o n l i n e . c o m

Mornagoglass, near Varese, northern Italy

Optimized useof a terrace

with solarcontrol glass

Optimization of processing time and operatorsFor the first time, a classifier and bridge stock

selector have automatic movement and two shut-tles, which supply glass to three different cuttinglines: two horizontal (Lisec) and one vertical(For.El.). The equipment also involves the auto-matic selection and unloading of the frames fromthe truck without operator intervention and, more

A glass facade withspecial glass

All-glass partions by Mornagoglass

The warehouse atMornagoglass

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important, without downtime for production andstorage of the same glass sheets to the classifiersas per type and size.

The decision for this kind of equipment wasmade in order to eliminate the “dead” times inproduction, while ensuring safety for the oper-ators. There was also the need to reduce costsand not to be tied to having special qualifiedoperators for the machinery. With this type ofsystem from Officine Mistrello this is possible.There is no need to take operators from theproduction line to unload the trucks, whichused to take up almost two operators for abouttwo hours per day. This is obviously a consid-erable saving in production costs. The same isvalid for the automatic selection and move-ment of the glass sheets to the cutting tables,which takes place quickly and safely.

Moreover, with the Officine Mistrello sys-tem, there is no need to stop work at the cut-ting table to choose and transport the nextsheet of glass to be processed - the systemdoes it all thanks to the information that itreceives directly from the offices.

Today’s glassworks have the most sophisti-cated, high-tech and high-speed machinery onthe market but a considerable amount of time islost in the transport of the glass from the classi-fiers to the cutting tables, and often these high-

tech machines are left idle because they haveto wait for the glass.

“It is because of this problem that I need-ed this kind of system, developed togetherwith Officine Mistrello, further expandedand improved compared to the initial idea,”said Walter Cantaluppi. “However, I wouldnow like to make other modifications so thatthe system can work at night without humanintervention in the unloading of the frames.”This is the next development that OfficineMistrello will be carrying out.

Detail of the rack and screwmechanism of the bridge crane

The GLT 6000transporting

glass

A detail of the OfficineMistrello transportsystem mechanism

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DIFFERENT SIZES AND DIFFERENT SHAPESDO NOT MEAN DIFFERENT SYSTEMS!

An important fact to be taken into considera-tion when designing, planning and constructinga machine is that of the size and type of glass tobe processed.

In fact, Officine Mistrello’s standard machinedeals with glass sizes of 6 x 3.21 metres, but canalso handle 1.60 x 1.80-metre sizes thanks to thespecial management of the suction cups that canbe activated and/or de-activated as the need aris-es. The system automatically recognizes the dif-ferent sizes and shapes of the glass sheets sothat there is no down time when going from onesize and shape to another, all without any inter-vention at all from operators. This is also validfor different thicknesses - from 3 to 19/20 mil-limetres - (and very different weights as per thethicknesses), which are automatically placed inthe correct classifiers.

This is made possible because the position ofthe glass sheet has already been decided direct-ly from the office, providing the system withinformation regarding the classifier, the numberof glass sheets to be put there, and the type ofglass it has to contain. The system can evenidentify where and when a particular sheet ofglass has been manufactured.

“Another feature that we requested,” contin-ued Cantaluppi, “is that the machine not onlysupplies horizontal cutting tables but also verti-cal ones.” In fact, the system can store the glasson “A” shaped frames and from classifiers, as

well as from and to different positions andheights. The same is valid for the position-ing of the classifiers - these can be placeddiagonally or further forward or back (notin a fixed position).

“This is what I wanted from the sys-tem, and Officine Mistrello has satisfied to thefull these requests,” said Cantaluppi. “Otherfeatures are that when the three cutting tablesdo not need glass, the machine automaticallygoes to remove the glass from the frames of thetruck and positions it on the correct classifier -recognizing glass type and size. The machinenever stops - it is always active which meansthat there is no production loss of any kind forthe company.”

Another feature that is made-to-measure for Mornagoglass is the high speed of transportof the glass - obviously in complete safety -with glass moving from the most distant posi-tion in the company to the cutting tables inonly three minutes.

“We have worked hard on company organiza-tion and management. We are now certain thatthe office that controls this system is the heart ofthe company where everything is controlled viacomputer. We have been using this type of totalmanagement system for about four or five yearsnow. This means that our production manage-ment ranges from the arrival of the glass sheetsfrom the glassworks right up to the positioningof the processed glass sheet on the frames readyto go to the client. It means that each operatorwho works here, in any position, knows exactlywhat to do, where the glass is and what is hap-pening to it.”

Cutting optimization becomes easier with theOfficine Mistrello system, as the machinereceives information regarding the shape and

A detail of thetransportsystem of theGLT 6000

120 size of the smaller piece of glass to be cut, goesinto the storage area, and looks for the sheet ofglass “left over” from previous smaller cuts.This is just one of the innovative features of thisOfficine Mistrello system.

INVESTMENTS THAT PAY OFFWith regards to the choice made by

Mornagoglass, the aim was to cut costs and tohave more possibility to invest in different and

more high-tech glass types, which are seeingincreasing demand from the market.

While we were visiting Mornagoglass andthe Officine Mistrello plant, Cantaluppi alsoshowed us how these investments are payingoff, even in terms of personnel. In fact, saidCantaluppi, because of the automatic machinerythe company now has, there are employees whocan concentrate on developing new products.

In the special showroom of the company,there were many of these specialtypes of glass on display, such asheated glass, used in situationswhere a normal radiator would notbe acceptable due to the historicalor cultural environment, or anti-misting glass used in bathroommirrors. Electro-chromic glass wasalso on show, as well as differentpastel-coloured glass that couldalso light up when and if required.The company is also starting tolook into photovoltaic glass. ■

Mistrello OfficineMeccaniche SrlVia Dell’Artigiano 13

35040 PonsoPadova - Italy

Tel:+39 - 0429 - 95046

Fax:+39 - 0429 - 657825E-mail: info@mistrello.it

www.mistrello.it

Another example ofspecial glass processed

by Mornagoglass

via Consorziale dei Ressi, 22 -21020 CRUGNOLA DI MORNAGO - VATel. +39 0331 987400 - fax: +39 0331 987287 www.mornagoglass.it - e-mail: info@mornagoglass.it