Our History

Foundation Year

A few months after the birth of the Fiat 500, Mr. Gianni Picchi founded the company after he had developed in secret for two years the new-superfinishing machines, which use tools made of natural diamond, then renamed “diamond-superfinishing machines”.

Machine for cones finishings for gas taps

In 1958 the news was represented in using tools made of natural diamond for the internal/external finishing surface, which has allowed degrees of roughness on cones extremely contained and with record production times.
The machine with two counterposed spindles  allowed the production of the cone and the body of the gas tap at the same time with a single carriage, guaranteeing the perfect coupling of the two parts.

First diamond-superfinishing machine for spheres

The industrial production of ball valves has been possible thanks to the intuition of the founder Gianni Picchi in the creation of the first machine for the superfinishing of the spheres. The first company to propose the ball valve was a company in Lumezzane which ,thanks to the machine "diamond-superfinishing machine Picchi", imposed itself powerfully on the market.
Not by chance today the majority of the leader manufacturers are Italian, most of them are situated in Brescia.

First Transfer

A first automatic transfer machine for machining at two drilling-tapping stations, has immediately evolved with the addition of a Recess Unit.

Office for the internal design

An image of a design and project station internal to the company, symbol of a continuous innovation of the machine tool and automations.

Horizontal axis Transfer

The evolution of the horizontal axis Transfer is suitable for automations for the machining in the usual three ways of the industrial faucets’ production.

The Company

An image of the old “mechanical machining” department with the at the time new machines with 4+1 CNC axis for the production of precision details of PICCHI machines. 

First plc

Always attentive to the not only mechanical evolution, it introduces the first electronical machines which are managed by the new logic programmable program PLC.

First electronic bar machine

Electronic Transfer managed by PLC for the machining starting from the bar in its two variants.

•     Full bar cut with integrated cutter;
•     Cut from the pipe with cutting tool.

Mcs spheres machining island

Completely automated machining center composed of vertical axis transfer machine for the machining of spheres up to 4 ways and two diamond-superfinishing machines. The work cell is completely automated and it can work, not controlled, for long times. All the automation is realized inside our company. Different manipulators guarantee the work not controlled by:

• The transfer load of raw spheres
• The transfer between the transfer and the diamond-superfinishing machines of the semi-finished spheres and the "DELICATE" deposit of the spheres worked on accumulation warehouses that avoid contact between the finished spheres.

The company joins the Bugatti Group. 

100% Mecatech acquisition & Birth of Combyax machines

Mecatech projects, company founded from young engineers strongly directed to multiprocess machines whose innumerable axis are managed by numerical controls. These are extremely evolved transfer machines with different machines tools integrated in their inner , such as three axes machining centers, lathes, presses etc.

First completely flexible Transfer COMBYAX_T10-CL9

Picchi, with the help of new Mechatec engineers, ends the realization of the high performance flexible machine COMBYAX T10-CL9. Flexible Transfer strongly innovative which integrates inside it nein three-axes machining centers for a total of 37 controlled axes. News also for the Siemens, which provides for the first time a numerical control which manages at the same time all these axes. Each machining center has built a revolver head with 4 tools. The machine can therefore build 36 tools. In addition, numerous cycles are implemented for the first time for the most complete transfer machine flexibility, such as the loaded workpiece recognition for up to 10 different pieces simultaneously.

First "Zero2" 5-axes machining center

Picchi, always attentive to the need of its costumers, which have the necessity to produce increasingly complex pieces and smaller lots, creates the “Zero2” machining center.
Double-spindle for the production pushed in 4-axes machining becomes a 5-axes machining center where the tool change times are reset when one spindle is working and the other changes the tools in masked time. This is also a machine with significant numbers:

• Tool change time : 0
• Chip to chip time: 0.7 sec.
• Maximum acceleration:  1G
• Maximum axes speed: 60m/min

Patent U-ΔTzero

The requests for precision increase also for the turning machining of a fixed piece, for this reason a U axis or "recess" is designed and realized (for the responsible at work) which is not influenced by the different operation temperatures. In this way the "U Δtzero" recess is born, which is able of an extreme repeatability even at 5000 rpm and different operation temperatures.

Diamond-superfinishing machine for inox steel spheres

The production lots grow also for the machining of the inox ball valves. The answer is the ds2003.

Chrono presentation

Multicenter Chrono; the 4 axes multispindle machining center Chrono is presented with:

• 3 machining centers with 4 axes continuously
• 54 tools
• Independent  load station
• etc.

3 spindles machining centers on 5-axes Transfer machine

An example of the continuous and constant evolution is the flexible transfer with 4/5 axes machining center, 32 spindles installed.

Transfer hp 1,5" with integrated robot

High performance transfer fully automated with robot and vision system, where the production cycles drop below 1.5 seconds with an efficiency higher than 95%.

Third series Chrono

With the third series, the Chrono range is consolidated and completed with configurations that include:

• Machining centers with 4 or 5 axes.
• Machining centers with 6 turning axes with stationary or electro-spindle.
• Completed automated cells that can work not controlled.