CMA Astoria has taken an environmentally-friendly step in commercial espresso machine design

Story by Gary Try CMA was a rather late arrival to the category of manufacturing coffee machines. Started in 1968, quite late compared to its competitors, it has achieved the most recent and dynamic developments of this sector, taking it to being one of the two top espresso machine manufacturers in the world. Launching under the Astoria brand, the Dal Tio family of two generations now, have carefully directed the CMA company to produce espresso machines with a strong focus on their sustainable and accountable effect on the global environment. Today CMA can proudly map each machine’s impact on the world that it interacts with. The present facility in Susegana, Italy, began operations in January 2007, which consolidated the entire company manufacturing structure under one roof. Years of research and consultancy to study effective production-line strategy took the company to learn from best-practice systems employed on car manufacturing lines in Japan and on to volume consumer product manufacturers across the globe. They then adapted this collective information and philosophy into a system relative to coffee machine production. Today, the total production line structure is arguably second to none in the coffee world, capable of producing 70,000 espresso machines a year. The integrated use of high-end robotics and automated machinery, through to highly developed component supply-chain systems from outsourced suppliers, produces high quality standardised machines within effective timelines. Flavio Urizzi, Export Manager Astoria, says that the company’s ability to quickly and effectively upscale volume output allows it to respond to incoming orders promptly, attracting the important OEM (private label) category at the same time as keeping ahead of market trends and demands. Importantly, at the same time, their manufacturing practices never alter within this flexibility, maintaining no wastage of human resources, time and materials, while also focusing on being environmentally friendly. While the entire global manufacturing sectors seem to claim their environmental standard criteria, is this an active daily reality in the CMA company? Engineer and General Manager Beppino Ceotto is able to monitor the percentage of environmental impact of each component within the CMA Astoria machines. Hence he is able to control and identify the collective impact of the entire espresso machine, plus its manufacturing impact outcomes starting from a design viewpoint, before actual hard-product comes off the production line. Outcomes can be adjusted accordingly. Ceotto says the overall company philosophy is also broadly involved within the company’s general daily operations. All rainwater from the large roof structure and the outdoor parking lot is collected, cleaned and filtered, then sent back into the urban water grid. All machine testing water comes from an internal tank with filtration systems. This way the company is not using the water grid and therefor not depleting the community water supply.   Lighting is sensor monitored to maintain an even delivery of constant light, with obvious reduction of electrical use and stability of the internal environment. Off-cut and stamping remains are recycled back to regeneration of new steel sheet materials. And so the list goes on. Not just talk, but real action. This overall philosophy is also applied to machine operation. Here, the new multi-boiler Astoria Plus 4 You machine was designed in the research and development stage to have a low environmental impact. Independently tested and certified by Intertek – ETK SEMIKO, the Plus 4 You machine can reduce consumption by up to 47.6 per cent compared to traditional coffee machines while producing excellent espresso outcomes. “We listened to what the industry and the barista have been saying to us and we responded. This machine is the ultimate of the best,” says Urizzi. The good aspect of being a large company is CMA’s financial and structural support of an in-house research and development department of 25 staff. This benefits the industry that a company the size of CMA brings to the advancing espresso market, such as research into new materials for coffee machine manufacturing. The future for CMA Astoria appears strong. Now exporting to 105 countries, and with agent and coffee company on-flow the CMA Astoria espresso machines are in fact reaching 130 countries. The company is strongly focussing on supply of relevant machines to target market needs. By involving all the feedback they can source into the research and development department, CMA feels assured that it will continue to supply the right product, in time with the growth of that new market sector. “Naturally we intend to continue to remain a major player in the global supply of espresso machines,” Urizzi concludes on the company’s vision for the future. “We… will remain focussed on driving quality and advancing espresso technology forwards, strongly maintaining our presence in delivering a traditional Italian espresso machine, right off the quality,” says Urizzi. “Coffee never sleeps.” Factory fact
CMA consolidated the company under one roof in January 2007, using years of research and consultancy to study effective production-line strategy. Today, the facility can produce 70,000 espresso machines per year.