This year Romeo Paladin, founder and president of Pal, wanted to sell his shares in the business for personal family reasons and felt that Imal was the perfect company to take on the business which he had built up over the last 28 years and to continue unchanged the philosophy of the company. Mr Paladin's partner in Pal, Antonio Dal Ben, continues as vice president and managing director of Pal, with a seat on the board of Imal, while Loris Zanasi, vice president and managing director of Imal, continues in that role but also becomes president of Pal. Meanwhile, Mr Paladin is not leaving the company he founded, but will continue to be on the board of Pal for some years yet. "The joint turnover of the two companies in 2005, due to the synergies which we have developed, was over e60m and we are all confident of increasing that figure in 2006," said Mr Zanasi, who reported a healthy order book for Imal.  "Following the share purchase, we will increase the integration of the two companies even more and exploit the synergies even more - we have held a sales meeting for the sales forces of both companies to familiarise them with each other's products so that they too can exploit the opportunities which this closer union brings to both companies," he added. Other than that, customers will not notice any difference, said Mr Zanasi - the two companies, with their total of 230 staff, will continue to operate independently but cooperatively, just as they have done for the past eight years. Imal is located in San Damaso, Modena, in northern Italy, not far from Bologna airport. Modena is world-famous for many reasons, including the legendary motoring names of Ferrari, Maserati, Bugatti, Lamborghini and De Tomaso. It is also the home of the best balsamic vinegar to be found in Italy, or indeed the world. The Imal company was founded by the current president Paolo Benedetti and today the major shareholders are Mr Benedetti and Mr Zanasi. Also very active in the business are Mr Benedetti's son Stefano and daughter Alessandra and Mr Zanasi's son Marco. Imal's premises cover a total surface area of 14,000m², where it employs 120 staff in one of the following operating divisions: marketing & sales, engineering, mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, R&D and customer service. The engineering division, which extends over an area of 600m², houses 20 CAD, latest-generation, dual processor stations, all equipped with 3-D plant and machinery engineering systems and virtual simulation of the production process and operation. Among the recent products of Imal in its specialisation on electrical/electronic systems is the Press Security Device launched in 2005. This is an x-ray-based gauge installed after the forming station, mainly for MDF mills, to detect foreign bodies or glue lumps before they enter the continuous press and damage the stainless steel belt.  "This is an indispensable device for all thin board manufacturers and there are only two manufacturers on the world market supplying such equipment to them. We have sold four systems since the launch," said Mr Zanasi. New for 2006 is the delamination/blister detector for MDF, particleboard and OSB lines. Called the Winblister WB200, it operates on the principle of ultrasound technology and employs new software developed in-house by Imal's team of over 30 graduate engineers engaged in product development. In the area of fire prevention, Imal has launched another new system. "This is the first system working with a digital protocol," said the managing director. "Rather than having one large central control unit checking all the sensors around the factory on a rotational basis, which takes time, our system has locally-located 'brains' operating on digital protocol connecting to each other. There is still a small central 'brain' but this new system leads to a big reduction in cabling and a much faster reaction speed because detection and extinguishing are localised in each area of the factory. The reaction time is less than one millisecond. "Another advantage is that there is no single central processor, which, if it failed, would leave the whole factory vulnerable. And an added bonus is that the cost of this new system is considerably lower than the previous one." The Xylexpo exhibition held in Milan in May this year was the opportunity for Imal to present its new on-the-line density profile gauge CDP500. This employs just one x-ray device on the underside of the board just after the continuous press, rather than one above and one below as in the past. The unit is pre-calibrated in-house before despatch and is claimed to be more accurate than the previous system. The minimum thickness measurable with this new system is in fact 4mm compared to the 8mm previously achieved with the above and below system. "Gluing is also a very important part of our product range and we have a major share of the international market - especially for the high-capacity mills of today," said Mr Zanasi. As well as its range of resin preparation and dosing systems and more conventional blenders, Imal offers a fibre blending system based on the application of a post-dryer blender, enabling manufacturers to achieve a drastic reduction in resin consumption during MDF production, said Mr Zanasi. For OSB, the company offers blending systems where fines are recovered from the process and resinated in a traditional particleboard blender, making it possible to reduce the amount of wood and resin needed, and to reclaim material from the process which would not normally have been used, he added. Particle dosing machines, metering bins with weigh-scales, thickness and weight-per-unit-area gauges and laboratory analysis equipment all go to make up the range of Imal products for the panel industry. However, in a departure from its 'normal' line of products, Imal also offers a complete, patented, press line for the manufacture of pallet blocks from particleboard, which has achieved success in the market.  So it is all change at Imal and Pal, right? Apparently not. The only thing which has changed is the distribution of the shares and the appointment of a new president at Pal, while Antonio Dal Ben, Pal's managing director will continue the management of the company. As far as the customers are concerned, the staff of both Imal and Pal are determined that the clients of both companies will not notice the difference - unless it is in the form of new products developed using the increased synergies of Pal and Imal.