VISITING THE PLANT IN BERGAMO
Here is a step-by-step description of the Bianchi Vending Machines production process:
Materials from suppliers arrive at the goods acceptance office. Before these materials are used in the productive process, all possible quality assurance checks are carried out, according to the goods features, to verify their compliance with the sector’s guidelines and the high quality the company aims at.
The first stage of the manufacturing process takes place on the unit where the steel sheet plate is cut and punched according to a set of computer-designed cuts that were previously processed by the Technical Office with a CAD/CAM software. Plate can be black to be painted, galvanised or aluminated, with three thickness ranges, 10, 12 or 15 tenths of millimetre. There are four intermediate stations for small plate panels, and one for large panels.
The panelling machine automatically bends the plate for 70% of the production, taking it from the trolley and putting it on the workbench where it is folded according to a computer-set process. Small pieces are bent, cut, and moulded by digitally controlled folding machines.
The spot welding process, performed by mechanical arms, is useful to grant a production homogeneity and is carried out on six intermediate workbenches. It finishes with the assembly of the complete caisson on a jig where the completed caisson is internally and externally welded. A complete welding process takes 12 to 17 minutes.
The painting cycle is carried out through four different processes. The complete process takes two hours and twenty minutes. Painting is made with atoxic and very resistant epoxy paints, environment and user friendly. First of all, the oil protecting the pieces is washed off. Then, the pieces are dried in an oven and painted in a special tunnel served by three robots. One of these is equipped with a system of  extremely flexible joints, so that it can imitate the human arm movements on the most difficult spots. Finally, they go into a high temperature oven at 140°/160°C, that polymerises the paint that is in powder and therefore fixes it . The Pieces come out of the oven at a 40°C temperature.
The foam injection has two functions: it is both for the insulation of the refrigerated vending machines as well for reinforcing the structure of the cabinet. The foam that is injected in between the two sides of the cabinet, is initially liquid, cooling it hardens and becomes polyurethane. While the foam cools down the cabinet is compressed and kept in shape by a mould. The foaming process takes about 15 minutes.
The assembly starts by screwing the cabinet onto a pallet. The first phase is then the assembling of the electrical components and the internal circuit. Subsequenty it is followed by the mounting of the whipper motors and gearmotors that have been previously assembled and tested on the workbench. In the following phases , the boiler, the coffee group and the coffee grinder doser are assembled and finally terminated with the door assembly .
In order to grant the quality of the machines, a very careful final test is carried out. The functional test is done with the aid of a special computer that simulates all the functions of vending machine when operating on location. If the machine does not pass anyone of the tests, the test phase is interrupted until the cause has been identified and solved.
When the vending machines are ready and equipped with all the accessories listed on the check list, the robotised shuttle is called. It goes to the assembly line, recognises the serial number in the bar code (previously transmitted from the management system to the shuttle memory) and collects the machines.
The vending machines are deposited on the automatic packing machine by the shuttle, where they are wrapped in a protective plastic film and the packaging is completed.
The packed vending machines are stored on a bar-code basis so that they are easily found in the automatic warehouse. The storage space is optimised thanks to an automatic shelf system, from where they are subsequently withdrawn, according to the computerised processing system, for delivery to the customers.