/ EDM the United States at that time and I saw a model of machine fitted with two heads. On my return, following along the lines of this principle, we decided to develop a machine for multi- head erosion. Initially, we were going to fit four heads, but the structure was too heavy and complex to handle and therefore we decided on three heads and a work recipient measuring 3,600 x 1,800 mm. The machine operated effi- ciently until last year, guaranteeing almost seventy-two hours a day of erosion. Sadly the lack of spare parts forced us in the end to work with only one head and therefore we decided to replace it with a new generation model". To replace the old model, ILMA Plastica approached ONA. "One objective we wanted to reach with the new machine”, explains Leonardo Volponi, production and technical director at ILMA Plastica, was to completely eliminate the polishing operation. After visiting the ONA production departments and conducting production tests, we decided on the TX10 model, a two-headed machine with a work recipient measu- ring 4.000 x 2.000 x 1.250 mm. We have been using the machine for five months and I can confirm that our principal objective has already been reached". ILMA Plastica uses TX10 especially for the production of grooves or details in highly significant posi- tions which the milling machine is not able to reach. “The new machine”, underlines Volponi, “even allows us to work on two different areas of a die”. The arrival at ILMA Plastica of the new ONA machine has changed production flows in the workshop. “As we have a high speed EDM system”, says Volponi, “we have decided to subdivide the production differently: we will increase the percentage use of the EDM, reducing the flow time over the high speed. In this way we are able to start the milling of the next mould sooner". Therefore, times and methods are a significant point for ILMA Plastica, a company that moves many parts in the workshop. “Our business philosophy”, says Volponi “for several years has been based on the internal management of the principal activities relating to the manufacture of the mould: dies, punches and kinematics. Other preparations (for example the structure, plates etc.) are managed by consolidated partners. ILMA Plastica is a pioneer in the field of EDM, and have been using this technology for more than fifty years. “In the early sixties”, says Caraffini, “we needed a large machine for EDM, to load the dies and punches intended for the automotive sector. Unfortunately, there were no installations of a suitable size available on the market, and so we decided to manufac- ture one internally, modifying a Hermann Kolb boring: we replaced the drill head with an AEG head and fitted the machine with a recipient measuring 3,000 x 1,500 mm”. Meanwhile, the requirements of ILMA Plastica were conti- nuously increasing. “I spent some time at our workshop in Numerous modifications during the process that we had to manage everyday led us to require a highly flexible struc- ture, able to respond immediately to the requests of our customers, who include leading car manufacturers in Europe, but not just this". Immediate response to customer requirements 66 / Thanks to the new model, polishing work can be eliminated Today, ILMA Plastica has a consolidated structure, subdivi- ded into three main areas: the department of R&D and design, the mould production department, with significant specialisation in the production of steel and aluminium moulds, and the department for injection of plastic mate- rials, which has the help of a wide range of very efficient plastic injection machines. /