Lamello AG is a family-owned company producing and located in Switzerland, managed by Susanne Affolter, Managing Director and Owner of Lamello AG. The company’s target group are companies in the field of interior fitting, furniture and kitchen manufacturing, shelf construction, shop fitting, carpenters and wood joiners.
Lamello has been in the market since 1955 when Hermann Steiner invented the original wooden biscuit. From then on Lamello launched new products with high added customer value regularly.
Quality is one of the cornerstones of business, and so their products are designed to last. If a repair is necessary, Lamello offers uncomplicated service through certified service partners. Spare parts warranty of at least 10 years.
The export share is about 85% with the focus on Europe. Lamello serves the markets of Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Belgium and Holland with their own sales offices. Furthermore, there are Lamello sales representatives in England, Spain, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe and further international distribution partners. Totally, count distributors in 50 countries and over 400 sales partners.
Interview with Samuel Hänni, Business Development & Partnerships at Lamello AG.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Samuel Hänni: Lamello AG has a high level of development, production and sales depth, which begins with the development of innovative connection solutions, where customer benefit is our top priority. Lamello not only manufactures the world-famous original wooden biscuits from the raw log to the finished sales box in-house. Also, the base plates and important functional and guiding parts are machined on our metal CNC machining centers and assembled in-house for our original biscuit joiner machines. The new plastic connectors of the Lamello P-System and the Cabineo are manufactured, assembled and packed in our own plastic processing department. Our marketing and sales department trains and supports professional and committed sales partners and our customers on request directly in their workshop.
E.E: What’s the news for 2021 about new products?
S.H: Last year we were able to introduce the new connector Clamex P-14 Flexus, which complements the profile groove connector family with the additional benefit of “flexible assembly sequence”.
This connector won the Interzum award „intelligent material & design“ with the additional award „Best of the best“ this spring.
For 2022 we will again present new interesting connector solutions with additional customer benefits.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
S.H: Our joining technology includes 3 systems:
P-System – The Lamello P-System is an award-winning connection method based on a profile groove. This allows perfect anchoring with a small construction depth and joining in all joint situations and angles. It also tightens the joint at the ideal joint position. In addition, this method enables tool-free, fast connector assembly already in the manufacturing process, and the workpieces can thus be transported with preassembled connectors as a flatt pack. This can save transport costs and assembly time on site. The P-System groove for the connector can be cut either using modern CNC technology or very simply by hand using the Zeta P2 power tool from Lamello.
Lamello System – The Lamello System is an exceptionally efficient, simple and precise joining system for various materials. It is based on a 4 mm groove and offers an enormous variety of joining solutions. The original wooden biscuit has been supplemented by the self-clamping element, the clamping element and transparent plastic element for solid surface materials. The same applies to the Simplex and Clamex S-18 detachable connectors. These can be easily assembled and disassembled. All connectors can be machined with the biscuit joiners Classic X, Top 21 and Zeta P2.
Drilling System – The Cabineo is a one-piece furniture connector and is installed into a drilled or routed shape. No edge drilling is necessary – the machining happens solely in the surface. Due to this, Cabineo can be used with all kinds of CNC machines, including very simple 3-axis and nesting machines. Invis Mx2 is the unique connection that satisfies the highest demands for aesthetics, stability and productivity. With no visible openings, Invis Mx2 can be quickly detached and reconnected at any time via its magnet drive.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
S.H: We are active in the supplier sector in connection technology, mainly for interior fittings and furniture construction. The market depends on the overall economic situation and therefore varies greatly nationally and internationally. Due to the Corona pandemic and the arranged home office situation people around the world invested in it and the interior design received more attention. This change has had a positive effect on us that is continuing. We are somewhat concerned about the purchase of raw materials and we hope that the situation will stabilise again soon.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
S.H: Digitization is noticeable everywhere in our industry and is becoming more and more visible. Above all, networked manufacturing and the associated more efficient and faster order processing are being driven forward among planning and processing companies. Customers want simpler, more reliable and faster systems from planning to assembly of orders. To this end, Lamello has established sustained collaboration with CAD, ERP, CAM and CNC manufacturers, and promoted and supported digital integration of product data to make it as easy as possible for customers to use our joining solutions. All companies want to simplify processes and produce, transport and assemble more efficiently, and Lamello’s joining systems are ideally suited for this purpose.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
S.H: The P-System from Lamello is the innovative and award-winning joining method. Clamex, Tenso and Divario connecting fittings make an entirely new level of flexibility, speed and simplicity possible throughout the design, manufacturing, transportand installation process.
The Cabineo connector was developed by us in such a way that it can be installed with all CNC machines with pure surface machining. An additional benefit of this is that it can also be installed unmanned due to this feature. Homag demonstrated this at Ligna 2019 with the CENTATEQ N-600 nesting CNC machine, which was loaded by an automatic panel storage system and a robot that placed the finished and Cabineo-equipped panels from the machine onto the stack.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2021?
S.H: A generally positive and good expectation. The sustainable and valuable material wood has been rediscovered and is being used more and more overall. These excellent properties combined with the advantages of digitization will have a positive impact on the industry not only by the end of the year but also in the coming years, as befits sustainable and future-oriented development.
