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My name is Marco De Angelis and I am the owner and CEO of GDA Marmi and of De Angelis Giovanni, in Massa Carrara.

We take care both of marble excavation and processing; in this case, of the Carrara marble, which is as you well know one of the most famous stones in the world.
Today’s message is to introduce this new machine. We began cooperating with Breton and it is interesting to talk about the reasons for such a revolutionary - I would say - choice, also because I could say that we are one of the very few companies that started using the multi-wire machine only to cut marble.

Another thing I particularly liked of this machine (also) concerns safety, as the operator, in order to intervene inside the machine, has to stop the machine and, above all, when a wire change or any type of maintenance is required, the machine is completely still.
This is part of a modern approach that is now entering also our industry.

But what are the advantages that led us to accept this challenge?

This type of machine allows us to reach speeds that - as already happened with granite - were unthinkable of. A second point is the sawing quality, as we manage to achieve very precise and clean cuts; and we also note its advantages during machining, which is to say when it’s time to polish the product.

Another interesting thing of this machine is the speed with which thickness can be changed: we can easily decide one cut for a block and a different cut for another block.
We realized that the problems we could have had with traditional cutting have been now overcome thanks to the diamond wire.

A benefit offered by this machine is that it doesn’t need the foundation works required by the gang-saws, therefore in this case its costs are lower, but, above all, the installation of the machinery is quicker.
Depending on how the company is setup, one can decide to place it inside the warehouse or even externally, in the courtyard.
Therefore, as we already had a sawing station with its machinery in position, all we had to do was remove the old machinery and fit the new one; this is something I consider very interesting for the future.

So far, we only discovered a few of the satisfactions it will give us. In terms of noise, this machine certainly reduces noise levels when compared to other block cutting machines; it also allows us to perform maintenance interventions directly inside each component.
But we had to improve the way we are organized.

With the help of Breton technicians, we started to get this sort of feeling between our operators and the machine, and I must say that even changing the wires initially seemed a really incredible operation; after a month, I can see that changing the wires is the least of the problems for my operators; therefore, we can easily place blocks with different measurements, or even couple different blocks: among 70 wires we remove 10, we add 2 and so on.

As for anything, if the machine is well designed and is based on easy machining concepts, it’s only a matter of time and everything becomes an excellent routine.
I must say that Breton technicians fully proved their professional skills; in fact, one of our technicians helped them in order to learn more about the machine while assembling it.

An important thing about this machine, which is now a standard on all modern machines, is that when it warns of an error, it can also be read in Breton’s offices, and this allows them to intervene or in any case to let us know what is happening in the machine itself.

But this is important not only as far a service goes: with the Industry 4.0 approach we are trying to directly interface with the machine in order to be able - on a daily basis - to have its schedule and production and check its speed and its cutting history.
This allows us to optimise both the machining operations and the end product.

I chose Breton because our cooperation generated this feeling: as the first machine installed in Carrara only to cut marble blocks, this will have to be the beginning, an experimentation to improve thicknesses in wire cutting, and I also hope to increase cutting speed.

Interview with Marco De Angelis GDA, CEO of GDA Marmi e Graniti, about Paragon

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