Since its foundation, Cugher has dedicated resources and energies in studying the flat glass screen printing process, and over the years it has acquired the necessary knowledge to design and produce complex, fully automatic and synchronized screen-printing lines, ensuring a fast, precise, and repeatable result.
These solutions find perfect application in the production of automotive, home appliance, interior design, and solar glass.
Interview with Dea Cizmja, Marketing Coordinator at Cugher.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Dea Cizmja: Since 2005, the core business of Cugher is the commissioning of complete screen-printing lines for the automotive industry. The flexible engineering allows to design and produce customer-oriented plants and machinery, and, over the years, the Company has increased its role of manufacturer also in the home appliance, building & interior design & solar sectors.
Thanks to its close cooperation with leading glass fabricators, Cugher has strengthened its ability to anticipate customer’s needs. Nowadays it is recognized as one of the most innovative and technologically advanced producers of glazing technologies in the world.
E.E: What’s the news about new products/services?
D.C: INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS
Specializing in industrial automation has led Cugher to become a turnkey supplier and/or integrator of automated robotic solutions, aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing process costs for every plant.
Cugher implements two main families of solutions in its projects:
Robotic islands for material handling: These are sets of machines organized within an automatic workspace, comprising robot manipulators controlled automatically for loading/unloading and palletizing, ensuring the continuity of operations.
Robots combined with vision systems: The robot collaborates with the vision system, which sends real-time information to make various adjustments each time and ensure a consistent quality standard.
E.E: What are the ranges of products/services?
D.C: SCREEN-PRINTING MACHINES
Series J
The J series is a fully automatic screen-printing machine capable of processing medium and large-sized glass, even drilled, up to sizes of 2500×4000 mm.
G Series
The automatic screen-printing machine G series is highly versatile, capable of processing strongly asymmetric glass, single large (rear windows and windshields) or small double (side windows) by ensuring a rapid cycle time.
Series Flexy
As the name suggests, this machine is characterized by high printing flexibility; it allows for the processing of one or more glasses simultaneously, handling small and large batches with very different characteristics.
Logo Print Station
For logo prints, Cugher has designed a system consisting of a conveyor and a printing head that work simultaneously to center and print the logo on the underlying glass in a single pass. The system is independent and is equipped with its own PLC to control all parameters.
DRYER
Cugher dryers are designed to achieve the best energy standards and are integrated, in line with printing machines, for ink drying.
IR DRYER
IR technology combines the action of infrared lamps with air knives to distribute heat and achieve rapid ink drying.
UV Dryer
UV technology dryers for ink polymerization are equipped with anti-reflection screens positioned at the entrance and exit of the dryer to protect operators from UV radiation.
Combined IR and UV Dryer
There are combined IR and UV solutions where each system can be activated separately. These dryers consist of 3 sections: the first IR with hot modules, the second UV, and the third IR with cold modules. When using the UV mode, the first and third sections act as conveyors, while when the IR mode is active, the second section serves as a transporter.
HANDLING SYSTEMS
A wide range of handling systems allows glass transport in all directions and its storage within the facility. The machinery is perfectly synchronized with the line productivity, and the glass movement occurs through a minimal contact surface, while ensuring maximum adhesion.
VISION SYSTEMS
Glass quality control
These allow the most efficient quality control of the glass and printing in every detail, guaranteeing a resolution from 60 to 122 microns depending on the size of the glass.
Alignment systems
These allow automatic adjustment of the frame, to which robot-guide applications typically found in highly automated handling lines are added.
ROBOT
Cugher’s specialization in industrial automation has led to the development of turnkey solutions and/or the integration of automated robotic solutions to increase efficiency and reduce process costs for each plant.
E.E: What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
D.C: Recently, driven by its various industries, Cugher has experienced a growing in demand for high-quality printed glass products. Following the technological advancements, we’ve observed an increasing trend among our customers towards enhancing efficiency, precision, and customization capabilities.
Overall, while the market offers opportunities for growth, Cugher Glass, with its global customer base, has the potential to explore emerging markets where demand for printed glass products is on the rise, such as Asia, the USA, Canada, and Europe. This enables Cugher to uphold its position as a leading provider of silk screen printing solutions in the global glass industry.