Testimonial Serimétal

Serimétal - a steel fabricator

Serimétal is a steel fabricator in France, founded in 1986. Over the years the company experienced significant growth and became specialized in steel structures for large and small industries, roof and wall cladding and engaged partnerships with other manufacturers for the supply of various products. The company growth is reflected in the amount of employees and acreage. In 2008 the company moved from the suburbs of Lyon to a new building in the nearby village Toussieu. Although they started with three employees, there are now 28 people working in four different departments within Serimétal.

Voortman equipment in MSI line

When Serimétal had plans for investing in machinery, one of their main partners mentioned the name Voortman. This was followed by a meeting with the French representative of Voortman and an invitation for further acquaintance in the Netherlands. During the visit to the Voortman headquarters, Serimétal gained knowledge about the Voortman automation, speed and quality. This resulted in an order for four new machines which were integrated in one complete 'Multi System Integration (MSI)' beam processing line.

Mr. Bruno Bianco (President): "This acquisition allows us to become more competitive by decreasing our tonnes per hour rate and increase the product quality as well."

Adding a plate machine and punching & shearing machine

In addition to the MSI line, the Voortman V320 plate machine is running stand-alone. The combination of a drill unit and a plasma torch enables the machine to perform fully automatic from the input to the output of the machine.

Process manager Mr. Benoit Bianco mentioned a 50% gain of productivity, thanks to their investment. Serimétal contacted Voortman again when they were interested in a new angle punching and shearing line. Again they invested in a Voortman system and added the Voortman V505-160M to their machine park.

Mr. Bruno Bianco: "This machine - like all the Voortman machines - gives us a lot of productivity improvement. Moreover this machine does not request a full time operator."

Very satisfied, experiencing growth

Due to the experience with the Voortman machines, Serimétal forms a clear opinion: "We are very impressed with the reliability, quality and continuous software developments. Thanks to the maintenance contracts for all the machines, error messages are eliminated in a short period of time by the service department. When needed, an engineer will be on site within 24 hours to solve the problem."

Mr. Bruno Bianco: "Before we were able to produce 65 to 70 tonnes per week. Currently we produce 100 tonnes per week and we could easily produce 150 tonnes per week."

In order to accommodate the continuous growth, Serimétal made plans for the construction of a new 6.000m2 factory plant. The production in this new facility is fully dedicated to the Voortman V320 plate machine and V505-160M angle line machine. According to Mr. Bruno Bianco, all investments are made in order to maintain their market share in the French steel market. "The Voortman machines totally address to competitiveness and productivity obligations that the market requires from us."