SUMMA Celebrates 50TH Anniversary and Unveils New Experience Centre
The year 2023 is a special year for Summa in Belgium because it is 50 years since the origins of Summa were founded. For this occasion, Summa is celebrating its anniversary in style with the opening of a brand new Experience Centre located next to their headquarters in Gistel. The grand opening was held in the week of 24 to 28 April together with their valued employees and partners.
Going back in time, the business looked very different 50 years ago. In those days, Summa started assembling recording equipment to produce precision optical lenses. A decade later, the first pen plotter and cutter were introduced, leading Summa into new markets.
Summa has since grown into a company with a solid international reputation and has become particularly well known for its top-class vinyl cutters. To this day, Summa's S Class Series vinyl cutters belong to the highest segment of the market renowned by their Legendary Performance. In the range of flatbed cutters and laser cutters too, Summa remains true to its values of developing high-quality cutting solutions that are versatile and productive.
“We are pleased, proud and grateful for the many successes Summa has achieved in its 50 years of business," says Geert Pierloot, CEO of Summa. “On the one hand, we attribute the success to the innovative and durable solutions we developed over the years. On the other hand, it is the hard work, knowledge and commitment of our employees who have made Summa the company it is today. We would also like to thank our international network of skilled partners for their commitment and loyalty, as well as other people we have met along the way. These are many reasons for us to celebrate this special anniversary together during the grand opening of our new Experience Centre.“
The Experience Centre enables Summa to showcase and demonstrate its growing range of cutting solutions. As a result of the developments in recent years, a new workflow automation solution will be on display for the first time. The set-up is built around Summa's well-known F1612 Flatbed cutter: the new Board Feed Pro 75 is placed on the side of input and a Cobot system is installed to pick-up the cut pieces and collect them at predetermined locations.
As part of the experience, the new facility will be fully decorated with applications finished on one of Summa's cutters, ranging from window decals, to creative board applications, displays, textile frames and swimwear. The Experience Centre will also serve as a space to host future events.
About Summa
Summa manufactures high quality vinyl and contour cutters, finishing flatbeds and laser cutters. Its cutting edge solutions are targeted at the printing, signage, display, textile and packaging industries. Summa’s global headquarters is in Gistel, Belgium with divisions in Boston (MA), USA and Nottingham, UK. Valiani, which became part of the Summa group in June 2022, is based in Certaldo in Italy. For more information about Summa and Valiani, visit www.summa.com or www.valiani.com.