Italpresse has delivered at the end of 2015 and put into operation at the beginning of 2016 a line for the production of RV panels to Laika Caravans Spa. This line is the „heart“ of the production of caravans, because it provides all the external elements (sides, floors, ceilings ) which constitute the caravan. It’s extremely innovative and flexible, like no other plant of its kind in the world. Laika is part of the German group Hymer, a world leader in the production of caravans.
This plant was delivered to the new plant of Laika Caravans in San Casciano in Val di Pesa (Florence), the covered area of 30,000 m2. The plant was inaugurated by the President of the Council Renzi.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUCTION LINE FOR RV PANELS BY ITALPRESSE
This production line is particularly innovative, has a high productivity and requires little manpower, thanks to the high level of automation in the processes of preparation and composition of the materials. The line has a total flexibility: it can work with batch size 1 (meaning that all the elements that compose a single caravan are produced in sequence – then the line can move on to the next set which may be identical or completely different from the previous one) simply by recalling a sequence of operations from the control panel of the line supervisor. The complete line supplied by Italpresse spa is over 80 m long and has many highly innovative solutions, the result of the interaction between the technical department of Italpresse and Laika. In particular, the line includes a very innovative panel lay-up system, as had never been seen before in the caravan industry worldwide. The frames are prepared thanks to laser light projectors and then automatically matched and glued to the outside and inside skins, automatically positioned by large size gantry unit with vacuum cups. The sandwich so composed enters a press with solid steel drilled heating platens (full dimensions 9,2 x 3 meters) with a sophisticated scanner system, developed by Italpresse, which detects the shape and dimensions of the pieces to be pressed and distributes the pressure homogeneously. An important technological factor is the extreme precision required for pressing over very large areas. Released from the press the panels are received from a special conveyor that is able to transfer them crosswise left or right, with or without 180° flipping to one of two successive work centers for perform the further mechanical finishing.