The manufacturer of screws and barrels celebrated its fiftieth anniversary at its facility in Cagno (near Como), on Friday July 7. The date chosen for the event was no coincidence: July 7 was the birthday of the late Marino Arioli, the father of the current directors, Carlo and Marco, who spoke about him during the evening. What's more, on July 6, 1967, Marino Arioli founded the company, Mast.

The open house was attended by more than 22 employees, many key suppliers and long-standing customers, and the company displayed some of the most important and representative machine tools in operation, that Mast uses to manufacture high quality screws and barrels for plastic extruders and also - though to a much lesser extent - for processing elastomers and food.

 “In more detail”, Carlo Arioli explained, when interviewed by MacPlas at the gala dinner, “we started up the two milling machines we use to make the screws. These are machines made by an Austrian manufacturer, Weingärtner, which we believe represents the state of the art for this technology. We also ran some gear-cutting machines to demonstrate how Mast makes the splined shafts of co-rotating twin screws, on which it then assembles the individual screw elements: a very different technology from that of standard screw profiles. Lastly, the horizontal-spindle grinding machine and the drill put on a good show; we use them to make barrels for extruders."

 “Despite some problems in finding qualified and, more importantly, motivated workers", Marco Arioli pointed out, “in 2016 Mast recorded positive results. Naturally, we no longer see the same results as in the 1960’s and the 1980’s, but we can confirm that the company has been doing rather well - with numbers that continue to rise - for at least 5 or 6 years”.

Actually, the two company directors announced during the event that they will soon begin work to expand the production area at the Cagno facility. In the meantime, Mast has also invested in a new machining centre, which will be installed in September in the old facility, the layout of which will have to be revised to accommodate the "new arrival".