Who we Are
“Nobody thought that you could make an automatic loader that could eliminate all fitting times until we designed XFILES in 2001”
The company’s story told by Bruno Bargellini, the founder of TOP Automazioni
The history of TOP Automazioni, as we know it today, is quite recent: we are not the “oldest” company in Italy, in the specialised automatic loader construction sector. But we can certainly say that we are unique in the world, thanks to the innovation of our products achieved through years of work and sacrifice.
In 2001 we patented the first loader with a 100% automatic bar diameter change system in just 60 seconds.
But how did we get here? Until receiving the award as “the most innovative company in Italy”, in 2005?
In fact, our story begins some time ago, starting in the ’70s, when we were still a simple turnery. The company that we managed in those years was a family business, and in fact it was still called Torneria Automatica Bargellini.
We worked for third parties: we had automatic lathes and workers in the company who worked all day to the machines to better meet customer needs. At a certain point, however, we realised that the market was changing.
The pace continued to accelerate. Companies that worked with us needed faster delivery times. The orders became important. In a company such as ours, those were the times when workloads began to become increasingly heavy, and precision mechanics required greater speed and perfection in work.
For this reason, at a certain point we found ourselves thinking of a solution to speed up delivery times, but that could make workloads less heavy while still guaranteeing excellent service.
We had already produced another product within the company before the automatic loader, a drill chuck. But this time it was different because I knew I had a product that could change the way I work in this sector.
Yet it was not easy to make it clear to the market and to the companies that are now our customers.
The system we used had a totally new and innovative way of conceiving loader work: it consisted of automatically adjusting the loader from the PLC, eliminating fitting times. So much so that it was not believed possible.
But without hesitation we went ahead, and that’s how the product we know today was created. Not because it was “engineered”, but because of an internal need of our company.
The automatic loader that we patented in the 2000s therefore was not originally created to be sold to the public.
In the following years our automatic loader was perfected: and so, while it used to take hours to change the bar diameters, our loaders now allow you to do it in just 60 seconds.
Thus, in 2000, the new company TOP Automazioni was founded which: from an in-house need, we found a solution to the working methods that no one else had yet found.
The product was developed and other 100% automatic loader models were designed over the years: in 2001, the automatic management system was patented. It is a new way of understanding the lathe loader which even penetrated foreign markets: in 2003, our products successfully reached America, as well as being sold throughout Europe.
I like to think that we can satisfy two people in our work: the owner who saves time in moving from one job to another, and the operator who is not fatigued because the machine self-adjusts itself.
Our ace in the hole?
In addition to the cost of the machine, in general, companies must incur additional costs to buy other parts, other spare parts, mainly to change guides and bushings to modify bar passage. Instead, we provide all the options internally and there are no additional expenses for ancillary equipment.
This provides the customer with a technological and economic advantage with:
- zero outfitting times.
- costs for spare parts and equipment equal to zero.
In 2005 we were awarded the first prize as “the most innovative company in Italy” out of 100,000 companies by Unioncamere.
Since then, TOP Automazioni continues to allow companies to increase profits with the time savings that the total automation entails while allowing operators to live a better and less tiring quality of life at work.
Are you looking for an automatic loader for your lathe that is 100% automatic, that your workers can manage quickly and easily via a PLC touch screen, and that allows you to change diameter in less than 60 seconds?
Visit the PRODUCTS page and choose the model based on the bar passage you need!