Camozzi Group

The new telescope will have a resolving power ten times greater than today’s leading global telescopes

• Ingersoll will produce the huge 1,300 ton precision steel optical support structure which will allow frictionless movement made possible thanks to the Camozzi Group’s highly advanced, globally recognized hydrostatic technology
• In total this is a 135 million dollar investment, the biggest realized to date by GMTO. The contract was won following a 2-year global tendering process. Over the next 9 years GMTO, MT Mechatronics and Ingersoll Machine Tools will work together to deliver the 1,300 ton steel structure, which is due to be delivered to Chile by the end of 2025, ready for mirrors to be installed in 2028.
• The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is the result of the collaboration of 12 of the world’s leading universities and scientific institutes and it is planned to become operational in 2029 following its construction in the Chilean desert. Funding for the project comes from the partner institutions, governments and private donors
• The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will significantly advance our knowledge and understanding of the universe through the study of planets beyond the solar system in the search for signs of life and the study of black holes and dark energy. The GMT will have a resolving power ten times greater than today’s leading global telescopes and could make discoveries that will change the view of our place in the Universe

Lodovico Camozzi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Camozzi Group, stated: “We are delighted that we will be working on the creation of an exclusive scientific and revolutionary system for studying the deep cosmos. The project fills us all in Camozzi with pride and is an inspiration to us. We are also very pleased at having been selected in a tender involving the world’s leading groups”.

30 October 2019 – Brescia – The Italian Group Camozzi, through its fully owned subsidiary Ingersoll Machine Tools headquartered in Rockford (Illinois), has entered into an agreement in conjunction with MT Mechatronics, located in Mainz (Germany) - with GMTO, the organization managing   the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) on behalf of its US and international founders, to build the telescope’s steel precision structure.

The GMT is a 24.5 meter (80-ft) diameter next-generation giant optical-infrared observatory that will  explore the frontiers of astronomy, seeking forms of life beyond our solar system and capable of changing the history of space exploration.

Ingersoll Machine Tools together with MT Mechatronics will design and manufacture the 1,300- ton precision mechanism, known as the “telescope structure” that holds the GMT’s optics which will smoothly track celestial targets as they move across the sky. The telescope will be designed by MT Mechatronics and manufactured, assembled, and tested by Ingersoll before being shipped to, and installed at, the GMT observatory site high in the remote Chilean Andes.

The telescope structure contract will require nine years of effort by a large workforce of engineers, designers,

metal workers, and machinists and have total value of $ 135 million.

“Manufacturing the telescope structure is one of the biggest steps we will take on our journey to building the

Giant Magellan Telescope “, said Dr. Robert N. Shelton, GMTO President.

 “We selected Ingersoll Machine Tools and MT Mechatronics for their commitment to quality, extensive experience with astronomical telescopes and abilities to manufacture complex precision structures, following a two-year global competition”, added Dr. James Fanson, GMTO Project Manager.

The structure of the telescope will hold the seven giant mirrors of the GMT in position as they bring the light of distant stars and galaxies into focus so that they can be analyzed by the scientific instrumentation built into the telescope. The mirrors, the largest in the world, have been produced by the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab of the University of Arizona. The structure of the telescope, complete with mirrors and all instrumentation, will weigh 2,100 tons and will float on a 50 microns thick (2 thousandths of an inch) oil film which will ensure frictionless movement to offset the earth’s rotation and follow the celestial bodies in their paths across the sky.  This “hydrostatic” technology was patented several years ago by INNSE, a Camozzi Group company, renowned throughout the world for this technology. With its unique design the GMT will have a resolving power 10 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope in the infra-red section of the spectrum.

“It will be a special day when the GMT’ telescope structure is completed and placed in service in Chile, as part of one of the most complicated and fascinating projects that the world scientific community has ever undertaken”, said Chip Storie, CEO of Ingersoll Machine Tools.

The contract between GMTO, Ingersoll Machine Tools and MT Mechatronics will involve nine years of work and 1,300 tons of structural steel and the structure is expected to be delivered to Chile at the end of 2025 and be ready to accept mirrors in 2028.

The Giant Magellan Telescope

 The Giant Magellan Telescope is a next-generation ground-based telescope that promises to revolutionize our understanding and view of the universe. The GMT is poised to enable breakthrough discoveries in cosmology, the study of black holes, dark matter, dark energy, and the search for life beyond our solar system. The telescope’s primary mirror combines seven 8.4-meter (27 feet) diameter circular segments to form an effective aperture 24.5 meters in diameter. The GMT will be located at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert and the project is the work of a distinguished international consortium of leading universities and science institutions.

Information about the GMT Organization (GMTO)

GMTO manages the GMT project on behalf of its international founders:

Arizona State University, Astronomy Australia Ltd., The Australian National University, Carnegie Institution for Science, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Harvard University, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Texas A&M University, The University of Arizona, The University of Chicago and The University of Texas at Austin.

The 3D MasterPrint printer - included in the Guinness Book of World Records - is able to create objects up to 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall.

Built at the Ingersoll plant in Rockford (USA), it was designed mainly to make tools for the aerospace industry.

The University of Maine has recently purchased MasterPrint to make molds for the boat-building industry, which is really large in the state of Maine.

The university has already used the device to produce a 25-foot, 5.000-pound boat in less than 72 hours. The boat was launched Thursday 10th October in an ocean simulator and has the distinction of being the world’s largest solid 3D-printed item and largest 3D-printed boat.

Moreover, the university researchers are partnering with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create a plastic that uses wood fibers in it, which is more environmentally friendly than material with carbon fiber or fiberglass in it.

Important players of the sector, like Marzoli, took part at the event as they have a significant role in the development of innovative technologies for the sustainability of the cotton-textile industry: Hugo Boss, Filmar Group, International Cotton Research Association – ICRA – ICAC, and Circle Economy.

The discussion developed around three strategic pillars of textile innovation:

• Smart and high-performance materials
• Advanced digital manufacturing, value chains and business models
• Recycling, upcycling and resource efficiency in fashion textile

Started from September 12, 2019, Fausto Villa – collaborator of  Camozzi Group – has been appointed President of the new FEDERTEC Association.

FEDERTEC is the national association resulting from the merger of ASSIOT and Assofluid. It represents the Italian industry operating in Mechatronics Technologies for Fluid Power, Industrial Components, Power Transmission, Control and Smart Automation of Industrial Products and Processes. The total amount of the industrial sector reaches more than 12 Billion Euros.

Camozzi Group is proud of the trust FEDERTEC associates have granted to Fausto Villa and wish him to be a successful support for the Association in achieving relevant goals.

A framework agreement for scientific collaboration has been signed by Lodovico Camozzi, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Camozzi Group, and Professor Ferruccio Resta, Dean of the Polytechnic University of Milan. Camozzi is an international group active in industrial automation, machine tools, textile machinery and raw materials processing.

Under the agreement both organisations will combine resources and skills to develop common research and training initiatives. The aim is to seize opportunities created by industrial digitalisation and collaborative robotics to develop smart solutions and innovative production processes.

The agreement is structured along three main lines:

• Maximising the use of collaborative robots on Camozzi’s own production lines, from component assembly to communication with the company’s MES for the optimisation of layouts and scheduling. Special attention will be given to intelligent task planning and the analysis of robot and operator interaction;
• Development of components, sensors and software for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) applications;
• Study and analysis of additive manufacturing processes.

Students and researchers from the university will operate from the Camozzi Research Centre in Milan, a new state-of-the-art facility with 3000sqm of industrial space and 3600sqm of offices and laboratories that has been created within Innse Milano – a Camozzi Group company. They will develop common study and research programmes and also seek to broaden the scientific horizons around these fields. Camozzi will also conduct research in many of its group companies around the world.

Camozzi Automation manufactures intelligent Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) components and already uses collaborative robots in its production systems. Under the agreement, it will focus on advancing intelligent components and I4.0 technologies for future production processes, along with the field testing of man-machine collaboration.

In relation to additive manufacturing, Ingersoll Machine Tools – an American company of the Camozzi Group – will build on its already considerable experience in producing 3D printing machines for use with the innovative materials used in aerospace, navigation, power generation and large scale industrial plants and infrastructure.

For the university Ferruccio Resta says: “The relationship between the Polytechnic University of Milan and business is strengthened today through this agreement with the Camozzi Group, a leading partner in Italy and worldwide in the field of industrial automation. Camozzi represents for our university an excellent example of a company that invests in research, promotes digital innovation processes within the production system and offers a unique opportunity to our students and researchers in a modern laboratory. With this collaboration our university will advance with some of the best skills sets in the region to achieve common development and growth goals.”

Lodovico Camozzi explains: “We are very proud of this important agreement with the Polytechnic University of Milan. It is of great strategic importance to our Group and ensures continuous progress both in the research and the design of production models based on the connection between physical and digital systems. It is a goal that can only be achieved through sharing our consolidated know-how of industrial processes and our continuous investment in technological content, with the important innovation cues that Politecnico’s work-teams will bring, to outline a development path towards 4.0 Manufacturing.”

The agreement between the Dean of the Polytechnic University of Milan and thre President of the Camozzi Group